Was it all for nothing? The Tunisian crucible of the Arab Spring

[Jefferson23]

Their cry for food and dignity sparked a wave of revolts across the Arab world. But five years on, the people of Sidi Bouzid are largely ignored



A woman sweeps on Mohamed Bouazizi Avenue in Sidi Bouzid on 14 December, 2015 (AFP)

SIDI BOUZID, Tunisia - In downtown Sidi Bouzid, a few blocks from where Mohamed Bouazizi burned himself alive, a replica of his vegetable cart stands high above the street. An inscription reads: “Tunisia above everything.”

Two young boys stand nearby. When asked what they dream of becoming in life, the boys, both 12, respond respectively: “A police officer so I can carry a gun” and “a football player for Olympique Sidi Bouzid”.

Their answers are cliche for young boys, but symbolic nonetheless. Sidi Bouzid’s only source of dignity since the revolution has been its football team and many of its residents see the country returning back to a one-party system which dominated for decades in the form of a police state.

Last week, the Nobel Foundation awarded Tunisia’s National Dialogue Quartet with the Nobel Peace Prize, five years after social unrest swept across the Arab world.

- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/five-years-sidi-bouzid-remains-neglected-161378680#sthash.cCFn74Fs.dpuf

[KoKo]

1. Very sad....and that Bouazzi's fatal effort for change is fading from the peoples' memory.

From the article:

Alimi himself understands why many young men of Sidi Bouzid feel apathetic. According to him, the city's cinema and theatre closed after the revolution, and all of its sports fields are private and cost money to use.

Young boys are forced to play football in streets instead of paying the four-dollar fee for a football match.

Ayda Daly, a journalist, told MEE: “Young men have three places to spend time. Their homes, cafes, and the internet.”

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Bouazizi was his family’s main source of income, but having to bribe his way to work on the streets took away the point.

Adel Alimi says the situation is still the same: “They don’t confiscate all of a merchant’s vegetables anymore, but they always take samplings of different products, a few carrots, some potatoes,” as an informal tax.

For many residents of Sidi Bouzid, the one consolation has been their local football team. Olympique Sidi Bouzid has climbed from the third to the first division in the last five years. These residents have longed for dignity and only recently found it in their football team’s success.

The ideals of the revolution are certainly not dead. Freedom of speech is still largely a reality in Tunisia and the 2014 elections were fair and free.

However, according to many residents, their lives and issues are still the same. Just as it was forgotten before the revolution, Sidi Bouzid has been forgotten in the years following. Tunisia’s revolution started in a city in the interior, but those in the capital got most of the glory.

[Jefferson23]

4. Indeed. n/t

[2naSalit]

2. Saw a video about this

last night but I can't find where I saw now. The people in this country and this specific village/city as severely disenchanted and some say they wish the revolt had never taken place.

Sad.

[Jefferson23]

3. Not hard to understand, when no gains surface from sacrifices, regret and despair mounts. n/t

[2naSalit]

5. True.

It's what's happening here at a slightly slower pace, which is assisting the current crop of deranged buffoons running in the GOP race.

[Jefferson23]

6. Disaffected voters, yes..there are millions of them in America. n/t

[KoKo]

7. ....! n/t