LIBERATION WITHOUT BORDERS TOUR 

- DAY 4 -

  The fourth day of the Liberation Without Borders Tour was very rich in terms of interviews, encounters, and meetings. From early in the morning, the various KLF delegations met activists from various groups and organizations: Raid-Attac, Le Manifest, Amnesty International Tunisia, Front 14 Janvier and the labor union UGTT.

These intense meetings were concentrated around the topic of the continual development of the revolutionary processes, the conflicts between the movement and the transitional government as well as the coming constituent assembly. One clear point that emerged throughout all of our discussions was the complete exhaustion of representative politics and the vast distance between traditional political parties and the movement that toppled Ben Aliís regime. Contrary to the image generally portrayed by the mainstream media in Europe, the reality of the revolt here have a striking similarity to the conditions caused by the global financial crisis; the genealogy of the insurrection can be found in a long process of labor struggles (specifically in the minerís strikes of 2008) and the protests above all in the underprivileged regions of the south.  Moreover, the social composition of educated precarious workers and students perfectly square with the conflictual processes in Europe, Latin America and the United States.

A pertinent example of the similarity of the struggles here and elsewhere can be seen in the illegitimate decisions made by the transitional government, without the consent of the broader population, to continue to fulfill the demands of the supranational institutions of global capitalism like the IMF and the World Bank to pay the countryís debts rather than investing in social services, education and welfare structures. On one hand, this underlines the transnational character of the struggles here in Tunisia while, however, moving well beyond the antiquated notions of international solidarity. ìTo liberate Palestine,î one activist stressed, ìwe have to liberate ourselvesî.

At the same time, what is at stake in this extraordinary political laboratory is whether the movement that was able to destroy the dictatorship will find the necessary strategies of collective organization to transform itself into a truly constituent force composed of new social relationships.

Meanwhile, another delegation went into the outskirts of the capital to meet with the young activists who were protagonists in this yearís revolt. Again, the answer to the ìthreatî of a living revolutionary society are seen in explicit mechanisms of repressive control, marginalization and normalization: here, the curfew is enforced not only with armed military patrols but also through the elimination of basic services like electricity. It is evident that the powers that be are truly afraid of the sectors of Tunisian society that were responsible for beginning the insurrection.

Following these stimulating discussions, KLF met with the activists of the Front de Liberation Populaire Tunisienne, bloggers, students, unemployed and precarious workers and other groups to begin formalizing the organization for a transnational meeting that is planned for the fall here in Tunis. The anticipation and expectations are high for the construction of a real Euro-Mediterranean network of struggles and common liberation. 

Knowledge Liberation Front

 16th of May

- DAY 3 -

Today, the Liberation without borders tour continued its activites in political research regarding post-insurectional Tunisia. The delegation organized itself into smaller working groups in order to follow multiple initiatives that took place simultaneously this morning.

One of these was a delegation from the NoBorder groups that visited a self-organized support center that gathers materials to provide to incoming Libyian refugees. While a small crew armed with video cameras went to conduct interviews with prominent figures of the revolutionary movement who are now forced to maintain a low profile due to sweeping police repression, others participated in a rally organized in solidarity with the  Palestinaian people. This latter occasion provided a rich mix of Maghreb and Middle Eastern collectives Who have been working on multiple social and political issues over the past decade. Here, speaking with this panorama of perspectives we were able to collect different points of view on the current developments on a transnational scale.

Intersting exchanges were observed between the more traditionally organized political parties and groups. While - interestingly enough - the younger participants took relatively little interest in these debates.

What we are seeing on a general level is the separation and growing disinterest of the youth for more traditional political representations. On one hand, most political parties are calling for the normalization and order of "post-revolutionary" civil society. On the other hand, as a few students commented at the margins of this rally, the political reorganisation of Tunisia for them is a merely technical question and the people who were at the core of the effort to topple Ben Ali's regime are ready to do the same again if the next goverment is deemed unsatisfactory. The echo of the 2001 Argentinian slogan 'que se vayan todos' can be heard in their willing for the possibility of continual and permanent mobilization. 

Another component of the Liberation Without Borders Tour met with Haithem Ben Farhat, a documentariest who is currently putting together a project based on interviews with young school children around the topic of the Tunisian revolution.

In the early afternoon, an exursion into a neighbouring afluent city was made in order to gather materials and and perspectives from members of the upper-class of Tunisian society regarding the changes seen over the last few months. Generally speaking, merchants and wealthy citizens were content to see Ben Ali's departure but mostly from an economic and commercial point of view. They told of secret police and mafia-like oppression what was excersized under the previous regime. Thus, while their interpretation of the revolution was limited to a neoliberal economic perspective, they too had passively supported the latest governmental change.

Later in the afternoon, an intersting and organizationally useful meeting was held with the activists of the NoBorder Network, where the relationship between the mobile political subject that was responsible for animating the recent events here and issues of migration and transnational solidarity were confronted and elaborated. 

Tomorrow, a plurality of meetings is scheduled, with a series of groups, associations and organizations in the morning hours.  Later, an organizational meeting is planned with various acitivist groups toward the construction of a transnational meeting this fall. Stay tuned...

Knowledge Liberation Front

15 may 2011, Tunis

- DAY 2 -

In our second day here in Tunis, the Knowledge Without Borders Tour was plunged into the chaotic but stimulating reality of post-insurrectional Tunisia. While the transitional government and the mainstream media try to give a vision of a pacified political situation, calling for order and normalization, the reality is that there are still many groups calling for the continuation of the revolutionary process.

In fact, at 10 a.m. this morning, we took part in a lively protest organized by the Neighborhood Committees for the Defense of the Revolution that happened on the now-famed Avenue Bourghiba. After assembling hundreds of people on the steps of the Municipal Theater and chanting slogans calling for the continuation of the revolution against the oppressive transitional government, the Committees were brutally attacked by militia groups armed with clubs and knives and secretly organized by the Minister of the Interior.

The repression here is being implemented through the use of unofficial squads of armed citizen in civilian attire who are hired and given free reign in the city squares; this is a strategy of low-intensity warfare similar to those that have been used in Latin America and elsewhere. The result is an unrestrained social violence aimed at creating political tensions without directly implicating the government itself. Arrests and veritable man hunts against activists and young people are  continuing, especially against those who come from the countryside and who persist in their protests in Avenue Bourghiba even after the end of the last Casbah. Moreover, various people told us of an activist who was arrested and then raped in the police station. 

Following this unreasonable violence, the demonstrators reassembled in front of the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs and then did in a sit-in in front of the UGTT, the Tunisian Workersí Union calling for a general strike to support the continued revolutionary effort. These revolutionary committees, together with young activists, are working for real systemic change where political and economic powers are simply attempting to substitute the positions previously held by the Ben Ali entourage.

At the same time, an important demonstration of lawyers and magistrates took place in front of the Ministry of Justice calling for independent justice, freedom of expression and the end of government censorship, as well as the end of political persecution. A mainstream media information black-out has now been implemented, resulting in a real censorship surrounding all protests and demonstrations, with the exception of magistrates.

After this morningís events, our delegation then proceeded to collect materials with various actors still working on the political scene here in the capital. The afternoon was rich in meetings, interviews and organizational encounters working towards a transnational Meeting envisioned for the coming fall here in Tunis.

Tomorrow, the delegation from the Knowledge Liberation Front will continue our militant research, deepening our understanding of this complex situation that Tunisian social movements are going through. In collaboration with the many collectives we have already met here, the material transnationalization of Euro-Mediterranean struggles is underway

Knowledge Liberation Front

14 May 2011

 

- DAY 1 - 

Tonight, the transnational delegation from  Knowledge Liberation Front reunited in Tunis to begin the Liberation Without Borders Tour. This delegation is a project of militant research that was initated at Meeting in Paris last February. It aims to reenforce the grassroots political relations among mediterranean social movements.

Right off, we began making connections in the extremely complex situation that the Tunisian movements are currently facing. The barbwire that cuts off a piece of Avenue Bourghiba is the most evident sign of the social and political tension that has mounted over the last week. These tensions were above all fueled by the scandal caused by a video of the Minister of the Interior who denouced what he called the coming of a military coup d'etat. Following the public release of this video, the Minister resigned.

This afternoon we also witnessed the arrest of young activists from the FLPT only a short distance from the Ministry of the Interior. Another result of the rising tension, beyond the indefinite curfew imposed between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., is the new ban on all demonstrations in the city.

In response to this growing repression, demonstrations and strikes have been called for the coming days. As one activist commented, "It was an error to have abandoned the Khasba, [...] but now we will take the streets back to push the revolution forward".

From the countryside and the neighboring cities, hundreds of young Tunisians continue to fill the streets of the capital and the other major cities pushing for radical transformation.These young activists have now become the target of governmental repression due to their fundamental role as the driving force of the revolution while the transitional government appears more and more interested in restoring the status quo rather than a real political transformation.

Overall, the contacts made today that will continue to be developed over the next week tell of an open-ended process of political change driven by the force of the social movements.

Knowledge Liberation Front

13 May 2011