Demonstrations took place in Sidi Bouzid on December 17, ten years after the death of Mohamed Bouazizi.
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Riadh Dridi / AP / SIPA
On December 17, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi committed suicide to protest against the misery and precariousness of Tunisian youth.
His death, after weeks of protests, will eventually lead to the fall of the dictatorial regime of Ben Ali.
If Tunisia is certainly doing better than most of the other countries which experienced their “Arab Spring”, its political and economic situation remains difficult.
According to the experts interviewed by
20 Minutes
, we should not too quickly judge the Tunisian revolution as a failure.
A revolutionary process is long and ten years is short.
Who could say, ten years ago, the day after the suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi, in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, that this event would be the spark of the Arab Spring, which was going to upset part of North Africa and the Near - East?
From Tunisia to Libya, from Egypt to Syria.
A decade later, Tunisia is arguably the country that has done the best alongside an Egypt that has returned to the status quo ante, a Syria bled by civil war and a Libya in chaos. .
"Democratic institutions have been set up and they still exist, it is already a great success", judge Amel Boubekeur, sociologist at the EHESS, interviewed by
20 Minutes
.
But beyond that, ten years later, the jasmine seems faded.
"The country is in crisis," admits for its part, the political scientist specializing in Tunisia, Aude-Annabelle Canesse.
The fault of what or the fault of whom?
Opinions differ.
Political arrangements and an economic crisis
Amel Boubekeur accuses political parties, guilty of marginalizing institutions to advance their particular agendas.
“Very early on, there was a loss of interest in the elections, which were more or less transparent.
Because if there is indeed a multi-party competition, it is like privatized.
"Between the Islamists on one side and the ghosts of the former dictatorial regime of Ben Ali, it is difficult for the new entrants to emerge during elections which have" no concrete impact on the lives of Tunisians ".
“We sometimes talk about consensus in the political class, I think we should rather talk about arrangements.
"
Aude-Annabelle Canesse, an expert on behalf of international organizations, is less harsh with political staff, focusing instead on the economic crisis from which the country is not recovering.
"It is said a lot that it is the fault of the revolution, I believe that it is rather the collapse of the liberal economic system set up by Ben Ali, based on exports, which causes the situation today .
The international situation, with terrorism which has struck Tunisia several times, has also undermined tourism, a fundamental sector of the local economy.
Limited nostalgia
The population, which has seen its standard of living fall, due to galloping inflation, also finds itself with a less efficient administration than under Ben Ali.
She is bogged down, "weary", recognizes Aude-Annabelle Canesse.
And there is, here or there, a certain nostalgia, a "it was better" before.
"But it's a great classic of revolutions," Amel Boubekeur immediately cuts.
This romanticization of the Ben Ali era is hollow, a criticism of today's political elites.
"And then it's easy to say that it was better before when we had the party card which gave privileges in everyday life," breathes Aude-Annabelle Canesse.
"Not many people would like to go back to before", thinks Amel Boubekeur.
A feeling confirmed by Aude-Annabelle Canesse, who recalls the political prisoners, the single party, the closure of the country under Ben Ali.
“At the time of the revolution there was a great political upheaval.
The situation cannot be stable immediately: And then, it is not necessarily a bad omen.
It's normal.
There is a big change compared to the Ben Ali and Bouguiba years.
And in public opinion there are also people who consider that the current situation is the price to pay for democracy, ”relates the political scientist.
Democracy is unstable
“There is political instability but it is a consequence of freedom of expression and multipartyism,” adds Aude-Annabelle Canesse, who is betting on a new generation of journalists who are forming and emerging in a country and a power having changed its relationship to the media.
"We must also talk about the cultural abundance created by the revolution, very impressive," she insists.
The expert, who lived in Tunisia for several years before and after the revolution, sums up the changes that have taken place over the past ten years in one formula: “Yes, you can see women in niqabs in the street, which would not have happened. never been the case before.
But on the same day, I also saw young people smoking cannabis, that too would not have been possible.
"
Even if she thought that it would go faster, and that she notes blockages in recent years, Aude-Annabelle Canesse "refuses to think that it's over".
The two specialists insist on the fact that a revolutionary process takes a long time.
Especially in the case of a country, Tunisia, which seems from afar without democratic tradition.
“The rebalancing of powers is not completed, observes Amel Boubekeur.
For ten years, a culture of demonstration has emerged and it has never stopped.
Because the political landscape froze, it was said that the revolution was over.
But on the ground, the revolt continues.
"
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