This article aims to offer an innovative re-reading of the dynamics of social and political transformation in North Africa. Starting from the hypothesis that mechanisms of dispossession alongside processes of privatizing “the commons”, which can be traced back to the colonial era, were foundational for the formation of the modern states in North Africa and continue to (re)form those states today, this project aims to analyze the proliferation of social contestation in the margins of Moroccan and Tunisian society since 2011 as a form of resistance to this longer terrm political process. My work understands the phenomenon of dispossession as a part of a global phenomenon, and will explain the existing systemic connections between processes linked to the monopolization of agricultural lands in rural areas and procedures of eviction and expropriation in urban areas. The article will be based on two ethnographic case studies. (1) The Guich Oudaya tribe live in collective lands in Rabat (originally 3000 hectares), the capital of Morocco, which has experienced dispossession since the arrival of colonization. Their dispossessions has accelerated since independence, and today they have only 250 hectares of land left, which is also targeted by an eviction procedure. Since 2014, I have been conducting a longitudinal study on the eviction procedures carried out by the state and the forms of resistance and negotiation carried out by the tribe. (2) In Tozeur, the inhabitants organized in the form of a Tensiqia "Tozeur El Jadida” (coordination committee New Tozeur) and have used the tactic of Haouz on state land to assert their right to housing through the construction of a large urban project, where more than 1000 houses will be built. Currently negotiations are underway with the state to grant them the permits to build.