, Columnist
No Need To Fear For Tunisian Democracy
Protests show the room for contestation in then public square is growing.
Celebrate this!
Photographer: Fethi Belaidi/AFP
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The 10th anniversary of the ouster of Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali came and went without much celebration among the people who brought him down. The wider world may marvel at the fact that, alone among the Arab Spring countries, Tunisia has preserved the freedoms won in 2011, but few Tunisians were looking back with satisfaction.
Instead, thousands have been taking to the streets again, to protest against the failure of their revolution’s greatest promise: a more just and inclusive socioeconomic order. They see their democracy, rated “free” by the U.S. nonprofit Freedom House, as no more than a facade.