Tunisia and superheroes | policy

Today, Tunisia is experiencing one of its darkest chapters since the revolution. More than a decade after the launch of the democratic process, the country finds itself in a state of comprehensive unemployment affecting the state, society, political life, the economy, the media, and even the symbolic and rhetorical sphere.

Since President Kais Saied seized all powers following the coup of July 25, 2021, the tools of the democratic system that was born after the revolution have been dismantled and replaced with a system of individual rule based on populist discourse and the absolute authority of the individual, without any clear horizon or tangible rescue project.

An ineffective state: the administration is in a state of paralysis

One of the most prominent manifestations of this inertia is the state’s clear inability to manage public affairs. President Saied entered into a direct confrontation with the Tunisian administration, considering it an extension of the “corruption” system.

This silent war led to almost complete paralysis of the administrative apparatus, as the state began to move with heaviness and fear, lacking vision and efficiency. The administration has always been the backbone of the Tunisian state, but the coup dwarfed it and turned it into a mere outlet subject to orders from above, without actual participation or real authorization.

A society emptied of tools for action

In parallel with the disruption of institutions, the authorities waged a systematic campaign to weaken civil society, empty it of all its tools, and marginalize it. Associations, unions, human rights and media organizations have all been subjected to attempts to restrict and distort.

Every power of suggestion and oversight has been targeted, and every critical voice has been besieged by threats or prosecution. This dismantling of civil society led to a dangerous political and social vacuum, as citizens became trapped between the tyranny of the state and the indifference and impotence of the elites, without channels for expression or influence.

Systematic political blockage

Since the suspension and dissolution of Parliament, a loyal parliament of one color has been established with no real powers, and the political process has been emptied of its meaning. Parties were presented as the root of the disease, political action was demonized, and the president was portrayed as the savior and the only spokesman for the “true people.”

But in reality, what happened was the killing of politics as a negotiating field that balances interests and produces solutions, and replacing it with the logic of imposing decisions from above in the name of “popular will.” The result: a hollow political scene, with no effective parties, no organized opposition, no horizon, and no deliberative mechanisms.

Media under control: one voice

The media is considered one of the most prominent victims of the coup regime and the most important gain that Tunisians lost. In recent years, most media platforms have been subjugated and tamed by laws, financial files, or judicial threats.

The opposition media is besieged, the independent media is afraid, and the official media is promoting presidential propaganda. The absence of media pluralism has broken the bridge between the citizen and the state, and turned public space into an echo of official discourse, or digital isolation on social media platforms.

A suffocating economy and rising social tension

The economic and social crisis has reached dangerous levels, with inflation at its highest levels, unemployment widespread, and the collapse of basic services becoming a daily occurrence. Medicine is missing, food is monopolized, and purchasing power is collapsing.

Protests erupt daily, especially in marginalized areas, most recently in the environmentally afflicted state of Gabès, but the authority has only a rhetorical diagnosis of the crisis, which it sometimes attributes to “conspiracies” and sometimes to “monopoly,” without the slightest effort to provide practical solutions.

Security: from the function of protection to the function of deterrence

The increase in crime, the disintegration of the societal fabric, and the rise in irregular migration are all indicators of the collapse of societal security in Tunisia. In the absence of preventive policies and comprehensive social solutions, the state’s role in the security field has shifted from protection to deterrence.

Instead of security being a tool to protect citizens and secure rights and freedoms, it has become mainly used to control protests and control social anger, the most recent of which was the deployment of military police forces to suppress popular protests in the city of Gabes in southern Tunisia.

What is more dangerous than that is that the features of republican security that were built during the years of the democratic transition, with the qualitative transformation it represented in the state’s relationship with the citizen, are today being subjected to rapid erosion. The institution’s role and security doctrine have been reshaped to turn into a tool in the regime’s hands to confront a defenseless people, rather than a republican force that stands at the same distance from everyone.

The police have become a constant presence in every protest scene, while the state is absent as an interlocutor or party seeking a solution. This slippage in the security function deepens the feeling of alienation between the citizen and the institutions of government, and turns public space into a space of fear instead of a space for participation and expression.

An impotent populist discourse that reproduces the mistakes of the previous decade

President Kais Saied adopts populist rhetoric: sovereign slogans, a constant attack on “corruption,” and promises to return power to “the people.” But behind this resonant language, there is only an institutional and administrative vacuum, and a complete monopoly on decision-making without the actual production of any effective public policies.

Kais Saied’s populism, like all populism, does not propose solutions, but rather justifies failure, creates illusions, demonizes opponents, and reproduces authoritarianism in the name of a vague and ambiguous will.

What is worse is that this discourse does not differ much from the discourse of the “previous decade” system, whose communication with people was limited to debates, political battles, and partisan speeches, in which there were no social projects or achievements that improved the lives of citizens.

The difference is that Kais Saied is repeating the same mistake, but at a high cost in terms of rights and freedoms, and with a clear threat to the gains of democracy and the peaceful transfer of power.

Political discourse in Tunisia, whether before or after July 25, has remained a tool for consuming issues rather than addressing them. Thus, the president does not offer an alternative, but rather perpetuates a vicious cycle of slogans, betrayal, and impotence, at a time when the country is facing structural crises that require actual solutions, not constructive speeches.

The political process has stopped.. What are the alternatives?

In light of the disruption of the official political process in Tunisia, and the transformation of institutions into formal tools in the hands of the authorities, and with the role of parties being undermined and the monopoly of decision-making, this path no longer represents a real horizon for change.

On the other hand, alternative opportunities appear outside this official framework, whether from within the state itself or through a broad social explosion, which opens the way for unconventional scenarios to reshape the political scene.

Current Tunisian data indicate increasing administrative and judicial restlessness with the logic of exclusion and monopoly of powers, matched by escalating internal and external pressures that may lead to divisions within state institutions, or possible moves by agencies such as defense or the judiciary if the collapse reaches a level that threatens the continuity of the state itself.

At the same time, social tension is exacerbated as a result of high prices, unemployment, and the absence of a horizon, which portends random popular movements that may turn into an unorganized revolution in the absence of political media, with the risk of this vacuum being exploited by non-democratic forces.

In the face of this complex situation, there are many possible scenarios: from internal change through state institutions, to a widespread popular uprising that forces the reopening of the political sphere, or a combination of institutional and street pressure that changes the rules of the existing game.

In all cases, passive waiting is no longer a possible option. Rather, political, civil, and media elites are today required to play a resistance and effective role that restores respect to the political process, by organizing efforts, building collective alternatives, and engaging in a national project that restores respect to the democratic path, and breaks with the logic of authoritarianism and unilateral decision-making.

Tunisia is at a fateful crossroads

What is happening today in Tunisia is not just a circumstantial political crisis, but rather a comprehensive blockage that threatens the existence of the state and the meaning of citizenship. Tunisia has two paths: either surrender to the path of collapse, or take collective action to save what remains and build what is better.

In the face of the decline of the official political process, society has not lost its inherent vitality, nor have the elites completely lost their ability to influence, provided that they move outside traditional calculations and leave the logic of reaction to the position of action and initiative.

At this moment, Tunisia needs solid political and civil will, intellectual audacity, and moral courage, in order to build a path of national salvation that breaks with tyranny, but also corrects the mistakes of the broken democracy that paved the way for it.

The battle against the July 25 coup does not mean blindly defending what came before it, but rather it means returning to legitimacy in a critical way, benefiting from the lessons of the decade, and laying new foundations for a more mature democracy, more just, more efficient, and more in touch with social reality.

What is required is not merely to restore institutions, but to rebuild them on strong foundations: an independent and effective judiciary, a pluralistic parliament that represents the true will of the people, an efficient and responsible government, a free civil society, a pluralistic and responsible media, and a fair electoral system that prevents fraud and tampering.

What is required of the elites: organized resistance, not passive waiting

In this context, the need for organized resistance that goes beyond situational reactions is emphasized. Today, the political, civil and media elites are required to fulfill their historical role, through practical steps that begin with the formation of a national democratic front that transcends partisan and ideological differences, and focuses on restoring legitimacy and building a new transitional phase.

It is also expected to mobilize the street and connect the political and the living, by going out to forgotten regions and regions and organizing peaceful movements that bring mass action back to the heart of the equation.

It is also required to intensify media and human rights pressure to expose violations, expose the authority’s discourse, and build a support network that supports the path of returning to democracy.

These efforts will not be complete except by presenting a vision for what comes after Kais Saied: an integrated political project that reassures people and presents a new economic and social vision that stems from a critical review of the experience of the past decade and establishes a true democratic future.

The elites today face a critical test: either they fulfill their responsibility to resist the coup and build an alternative, or they turn into false witnesses to the end of the democratic experiment. Change is inevitably coming, but what is at stake is how we frame it and protect it from chaos, and ensure that it is democratic and comprehensive, and not a relapse into violence or a new tyranny with a different face.

Tunisia today does not need individual heroes, but rather a broad coalition of pure minds, living consciences, and free wills. The moment of redress and resumption is still possible, but the window is narrowing day by day.

Either we open the public space for dialogue and construction, or we leave it vulnerable to slow collapse, or to an uncalculated explosion. History does not wait, and people do not die, but sometimes they are absent for a long time from shaping their destiny. Let us go back to history before it turns into the graveyard of our dreams.