(Vienna, March 5th 2017) Since Friday, 22nd January 2016, Tunisia is in a state of emergency as a consequence of the biggest social movement since the ‘revolution’ in 2011.
Two thirds of the Tunisians aged under 40 don’t have a job despite the fact that many of them are well educated and qualified.
This social revolt has started in Kasserine, in the centre of the country, after the death of the qualified unemployed Yahyaoui during a demonstration against unemployment.
The rage in Kasserine has a long tradition: from the tribal revolts against the Ottomans (19th century) to the fight for independence against the colonial rule of France, the bread revolts of 1984 (at least 143 casualties throughout Tunisia), up to the revolution of 2011.
Kasserine is enclosed between the tourist regions of the north (whose development has been sped up by the International Monetary Fund) and the islamist rebels of the Atlas Mountains.
This geographical position is like a symbol of what the economic dictates of the IMF, which are hostile to the people, and the corrupted political developments have caused: a terrible catch-22 situation.
A further symbol is that the events have just taken place during the attendance of the prime minister of Tunisia at the exploiters of the world economic forum in Davos.
The prime minister of Tunisia has immediately said that he can’t really do magic about the unemployment and the injustice…
Is it any wonder?
From our own experience we are surely not surprised.
We, ‘Aktive Arbeitslose’ (active unemployed people), committed victims of the system of the egoists and their lackeys, show our solidarity with the rebels of Tunisia and we demand, like they do, that the words “democracy” and “human rights” no longer remain empty shells.