Demotix/Chedly Ben Ibrahim. All rights reserved.The 5th anniversary of the beginning of the Tunisian Dignity Revolution falls around this time. It marks the wave of political and social unrest sparked in December 2010, which detonated a massive chain reaction across the Arab world. In a process of popular awakening, first in Tunisia and Egypt, then in Libya and Yemen, these uprisings against long-standing authoritarian regimes managed to bring about the resignation, flight, or death of their historical dictators.
All the Arab countries involved in the 2010-2011 protests have developed in distinct ways (just look at Syria), leading to different outcomes. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify a common framework shared by the protagonists of this momentous revolutionary movement. Unfortunately, this mostly concerns the political recovery process put in place by counter-revolutionary forces, through the escalation of internal conflicts and the backlash against invigorated Islamist movements. All this has led to a generalised feeling of disappointment and unfulfilled expectations, often associated with a social and political climate marked by state repression and intolerance.
In this article we want to talk about Tunisia and describe the great paradox it represents, by attempting to reconcile—at least on paper—two apparently incompatible aspects of Tunisian reality. Drawing on Ouejdane Mejri and Afef Hagi’s work, we have on the one hand the visible space, which is a postcard-like construction of Tunisia as exceptional; a successful democratic transition unique to the region, recently granted the Nobel Peace Prize. On the other hand, we have the lived space, the reality of everyday life. The revolutionary anniversary has been made bitter by the most severe post-revolution security crackdown, which threatens to overturn recent democratic gains—the implementation of which Tunisian society is still demanding, in a desperate attempt to save the revolution.
