Tunisia: what follows the revolution?

Tunisia: what follows the revolution?

The campaign for democracy continues in Tunisia, over one month after the Tunisian revolution succeeded in ousting former president Ben Ali after 23 years in power forcing him to flee the country. And whilst the majority of Tunisians are celebrating the fall of the former regime, many are wondering about what happens next.

Selim, a Tunisian man living in France, explains that managing the transition between the former regime and a more democratic system is far from easy. Channeling protesters demands, overcoming a crisis of trust in the interim government and also dealing with those who profited from the Ben Ali era: he lists here the challenges he thinks the authorities need to overcome in order to normalize the situation in Tunisia.

Many are accusing the interim government of time wasting. According to Houssem Hajlaoui, many Tunisians feel the intentions have not been made clear enough. He thinks the people should monitor the decisions made by this temporary government and continue to apply pressure to ensure they begin political reforms.

But Said Qais, the creator of this online petition, says these reforms can only be put into place once the new constitution has been adopted. The petition asks that the democratic developments requested by the citizens who took part in the revolution finally be acknowledged.

The country seems to be slowly putting the focus back on economic issues. The authorities have set up an online campaign to revive tourism in Tunisia, an activity which represents a large source of income for the country. Web users are being asked to circulate the “I love Tunisia” logo via social networks to encourage foreign visitors to visit the “free and democratic Tunisia”.

Tunisia: dreaming of a better tomorrow

« Proud to be Tunisian » is the chorus of this song, currently circulating on social networks. The track was written by rappers DonKoss, Shooma and El General to pay tribute to the Jasmine Revolution and to celebrate a new start for the country.

And although the transition is set to be complicated, Tunisians are dreaming of a better tomorrow, as illustrated in this newspaper supplement published by “La Presse” on Tuesday, but dated the 16th of June 2014 to take readers to the Tunisia of tomorrow, as imagined by the daily’s journalists.

The edition has sparked a surge of enthusiasm among Twitter users who are thinking about the headlines that could be dominating Tunisian current affairs in three years’ time.

For web user Ramzi Tounsi, the country could become the world’s leading producer of phosphate.

Imen Ben Achour says the Tunisian economy will be so prosperous that American and European citizens will enter the country illegally in order to benefit from its financial growth.

Others like Rahoui Yazid, are dreaming of an environmentally friendly Tunisia with, in particular, a ban on all non-electric cars in the capital.

And Chawki Tabi is imagining the heated televised debates on these subjects that will reflect the force of Tunisia’s future democracy.

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