In Tunisia you cannot escape the revolution. On arrival at my hotel in Tunis the bell boy took the opportunity to update me on “el thawra” (the revolution) as we travelled in the lift. “There is progress,” he said “but it is going to take time.”
My morning walk along the Avenue Bourgibathat that cuts through the capital was interrupted by a protest from a group of women.
They were attempting to invade the ministry for women and the family. It quickly became an impromptu public meeting.
The display window of the bookshop nearby advertised the launch of a new book “How do we revolutionise our tourist industry”. Across the road the ministry of the interior was barricaded behind rolls of new razor wire.
Throughout the day, and well into the night, there are demonstrations and outbursts of revolutionary songs.
Inhibitions
Tunis is a city that has lost all political inhibitions.
One passer by explained that deposed dictator Zine al-Abdine Ben Ali was “not that bad. It was his wife’s family that was the problem”.
Another interrupted to complain that people were “too impatient” and a third disagreed, saying that “change was not coming fast enough.”
This spirit of open discussion still feels alien in a region where so recently any political talk was rare.
At one street meeting a young police officer was nodding away as a speaker denounced the growing influence of Gulf money in the country.
It was into this atmosphere that international delegates gathered for the World Social Forum (WSF).
A demonstration traditionally marks the start of the global gathering.
It felt natural, here in the birthplace of the Arab revolutions, marching through the streets where the slogan, “The people demand the fall of the regime” was first heard.
The march was led by families of martyrs of revolution.
It was a cross section of Tunisian society that gave an insight into the uprising that toppled Ben Ali.
A veiled woman from a rural region held up a picture of her son. Next to her was an elegant middle class woman.
Together they clutched a banner that announced in Arabic, French and English “We do not trust the military.”
Behind them was a large and angry contingent from the Tunisian Popular Front, headed by the widow of murdered left-wing leader Chokri Belaid.
Then came the colourful banners and balloons of the Italian, Spanish and French delegations.
They marched alongside the families of migrants who had drowned attempting to cross the Mediterranean.
There were Moroccan trade unions, Tuareg rights groups and delegations of peasants from sub Saharan Africa, among many others.
At one point a group of Tunisian anarchists ran down the road chanting, “The people demand the fall of capitalism”.
This spirit of revolution, and the demand that “another world is possible”, feels at home in Tunisia.
The lively, and often chaotic, debates were everywhere in the forum which was held in the capital’s university campus.
The meeting “building solidarity with Tunisian trade unions” organised by Britain’s Mena Solidarity Campaign, was constantly interrupted by a loud argument among Egyptians next door.
The promise to “keep the noise down” was quickly forgotten as the discussion on “post revolution Egypt” with left wing opposition leader Hamdeen Sabahi erupted once again.
At the end of the first day delegates had to negotiate their way past a group of Tunisian youth dancing to revolutionary hip hop near the campus gates.
But everywhere there are reminders that this revolution is far from over—and that all the gains of the Arab Spring could be quickly snatched away.
The WSF was marred by two days of unprovoked and violent attacks on Syrian revolutionaries by supporters of the Assad regime.
Many of the Syrians had made the journey to Tunis to share their experiences of the revolution with the global movement.
Despite this levels of violence, supporters of the Syrian revolution refused to abandon the event and were eventually given protection by Tunisian, Palestinian, Egyptian and other international delegates.
It is also the case that Ben Ali’s state apparatus is still here.
Huge groups of the hated, and much feared, plainclothes police suddenly appear and steam down into the city centre.
Groups of well-armed soldiers guard ministries and state buildings.
Unemployment is rising, as are shortages and frustration. The Tunisian, and Arab revolutions, remain unfinished and their success uncertain.
But the atmosphere is one of hope, and once awakened it seems difficult to imagine a return the old era.
