President Ben Ali was overthrown on January 14, 2011 at the start of the Arab Spring uprising.
Tunisians yesterday, January 14, 2013 marked two years since the overthrow of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali amid a highly uncertain future beset by social and security tensions, a sluggish economy, and deadlock over a new constitution. Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit seller from the central town of Sidi Bouzid who was disgusted with his condition, sparked the uprising when he set himself ablaze.
In spite of the gloomy atmosphere, the government still went ahead with the anniversary festivities, hoisting flags along the capital's streets and erecting tents to host cultural activities. Representatives of both Libya and Egypt, two other Arab Spring states, also attended yesterday’s ceremony. A social pact was also due to be signed by trade unions, business leaders and the authorities.
Ahram newspaper reported that hopes that accompanied the first Arab Spring uprising in 2011 have since given way to frustration at persistent poverty and hardship despite Ben Ali fleeing to Saudi Arabia after 23 years in power. According to Salem Ayari of the union for jobless graduates, the rate of unemployment has risen since the revolution and graduates now represent more than a third of around one million job seekers.
Popular frustration was starkly illustrated on December 17, 2012 when protesters heckled President Moncef Marzouki and pelted him with stones in Sidi Bouzid, the poor central town where the revolution erupted exactly two years earlier. Strikes and protests have multiplied in the past year, often degenerating into violence, as in late November 2012 when around 300 people were hurt in running clashes between police and protesters in Siliana. Apart from this, the authorities face another kind of threat from the minority jihadist movement.
The government points to the revolution's achievements such as freedom of expression and political pluralism, and a return to economic growth which went from negative in 2011 to 3.5 percent last year.
