Manich Msamah

In response to people-powered movements over the past decade, regimes across the Middle East and Africa have become more sly. Many initially successful revolutions, from Egypt to Zimbabwe, have been co-opted by pre-existing power structures through a premeditated shuffle in governance to maintain the status quo (see: THEORY: Palace coup). While the revolution in Tunisia was not co-opted (gladly!), the powerful elite of former President’s Ben Ali’s pre-revolution regime still sought arrangements to serve their interests.

In 2015, President Essebsi proposed the “Economic Reconciliation Act,” which would allow corrupt business owners and officials to walk away scot-free from corruption charges, as well as be exempt of debts and taxes owed to the state treasury. The Bill was met by widespread resistance under the banner “no reconciliation without accountability,” giving birth to the youth-led movement known as Manich Msamah (“I won’t forgive” in Arabic).

The battle over the Bill was like a three-round boxing bout, bringing the capitalist forces, in one corner, and labour and progressive forces, in another corner, into head-to-head combat, while Parliament acted as the referee. Exploiting the economic deterioration that followed Tunisia’s 2011 revolution (see: THEORY: The shock doctrine), business owners technically threatened to withdraw their investments if the Bill was scrapped. Meanwhile, with the same dire economic conditions — unemployment, poverty, and inflation — that sparked the revolution getting worse by the day, the vast majority of people were as opposed to the Bill as the capitalists were for it.

The visibility of the T-shirts and the unity inspired by the campaign logo, made people feel part of the campaign in the way they feel part of a soccer team.

In spite of the ferocity of popular sentiment against the Bill, the mainstream opposition adopted a traditional (and ineffective) framework of issuing press releases and holding seminars. Frustrated with this approach, a group of youth in the opposition got creative. Instead of leafleting, they handed out T-shirts (see: TACTIC: Advanced leafleting) and made the design readily available so that people could print their own. Quickly, people were walking around wearing the campaign’s logo — a judicial mallet — which became the symbol of their demand for post-revolutionary justice and accountability (see: THEORY: Floating signifier).

Instead of long and sophisticated political speeches, they rewrote popular songs and used comical caricatures and satirical slogans to get their message across (see: PRINCIPLE: Use humour to undermine authority). The youth group who started Manich Msamah wasn’t content to win the battle over the story only on the Internet, they also took it to the streets, roaming alleys and neighbourhoods recruiting people.

At the beginning, politicians supporting the Bill labelled the movement “a bunch of kids playing in the streets” (see: THEORY: Gerontocracy), but soon enough their tactics caught on fire. The visibility of the T-shirts and the unity inspired by the campaign logo (see: PRINCIPLE: Brand or be branded), made people feel part of the campaign in the way they feel part of a soccer team, and as the satirical songs went viral, the campaign’s narrative advanced far and wide (see: PRINCIPLE: Do the media’s work for them).

The Tunisian General Labour Union (TGLU) and several other of the country’s largest syndicates joined forces to mobilize en masse, while others like the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) offered logistical support and protection. Dozens of civil society organizations from across the political spectrum became part of the movement. It was the first time since the revolution that civil society came together and worked collectively under one banner.

In 2015, about 300 protesters participating in a street action against the first draft of the Bill were met by police violence, sparking a wave of anger and attracting wider support for the movement (see: THEORY: Al faza’a [a surge of solidarity]). The Bill was tabled, amended, and proposed for a second reading in 2016, which was met by even larger civil society mobilization. The Bill was tabled again, re-drafted, and proposed for the third time in 2017 when it finally passed as the “Administrative Reconciliation Act.”

While the movement did not succeed in scrapping the Bill altogether, they succeeded in significantly reducing the scope of amnesty proposed in the original draft. Perhaps more importantly, the movement succeeded in mainstreaming new organizing approaches that placed creativity and playfulness in the forefront. Further, it unified the diverse political spectrum of civil society under one banner, facilitated the exchange of knowledge between activists, and enriched their learnings on strategic planning and coalition building. Crony-capitalists will think long and hard before they try to swindle the Tunisian people again.