The Revolution’s Anniversary

Tunisia’s Ennahda movement is split into two currents that represent different political and ideological approaches. We can sum up the difference between them in the position each occupied during Ben Ali’s rule: we had the political prisoners on the one hand, and the exiled tourists around the world on the other. While Ben Ali remains in his safe haven in Saudi Arabia, his ghost still looms large in the Tunisian streets as we mark the fourth anniversary of the Arab revolutions. It also hovers over Egyptian president, Abd el-Fattah al-Sisi, as Egyptian revolutionaries are currently divided into two main groups: the prisoners inside, who are either detained in jails or face restrictions in the country; and the other group is comprised of immigrants, runaways and those who opted for exile abroad. It is safe to say that things will never be the same after the January revolution due to the social changes unfolding thanks to the eruption of the revolution and the interactions that succeeded it. For the near future, however, optimistic expectations will depend on the anticipated relationship between the returnees from abroad and those released from the dungeons. This will only happen after the revolution’s desired recovery.