Abstract
The dominant narrative of Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution has been defined by a struggle flowing from the rural South to the capital of Tunis in a span of four weeks. Less attention, however, has been attributed to the spatiality of demonstrations once protests reached the capital of Tunis. Protesters, mostly ordinary inhabitants of the capital city, strategically chose spaces of resistance: First the square in front of the Tunisian General Union of Labor (UGTT), re-politicizing an organization that has historically held a contentious relationship with the ruling regime, and later moving to the now familiar Avenue Habib Bourguiba, the city’s main boulevard connecting the traditional medina to the colonial city. The height of contentious activity occurred in January 14, 2011 in front of the notorious Ministry of the Interior on Avenue Bourguiba, before moving to the ex-ruling RCD party headquarters and later to the offices of the Prime Minister (Kasbah).
This paper will examine the spatiality of protest, particularly its movement and flow within the city of Tunis. I am especially attentive to the symbolic dimension of protest, and, in the case of the Jasmine revolution, the predominance of secular over religious spaces and symbols. What is the signification of the choice of secular spaces for demonstrations? How does a spatial analysis of protests in Tunis confirm or contest a historical reading of Tunisian society? How does religion figure in an understanding of the Jasmine revolution?
Based on first-hand observations of Jasmine revolution events in the city of Tunis, my paper will discuss three overlapping political phenomena: (1) the flow of the protest within the city of Tunis itself before the January 14th ouster of President Ben Ali and (2) the semiotic dimension of contentious space, and (3), the secular-sacred dimension of the Jasmine revolution.
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