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Rabat – Unsatisfied with the performance of the current authorities, a group of young Tunisian activists has called for a general strike to protest against bad governance.
Calling themselves ‘Red Vests,’ an apparent nod to France’s ongoing rising prices and anti-‘arrogant elite’ protests, the Tunisian group said that their resentment and desire to demonstrate is motivated by systemic government failure and widespread corruption in the country.
Like their French counterparts, Tunisia’s Red Vests say that an aloof and corrupt government has driven up unemployment and poverty, exacerbating the grievances of the North African country’s large portion of disenfranchised.
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Despite Tunisia’s reputation for progressive reform and most performing democracy in the Arab world, the Red Vests accuse the country’s authorities of championing “a policy of systemic impoverishment.”
In a Facebook post on Friday, December 7, the group said it wants to “save Tunisia” from both its harsh socio-economic circumstances and the “lack of vision” prevailing in government circles.
The Red Vests movement’s call for a general strike to commemorate the eleventh anniversary of the Arab Spring comes amid a spiral of strikes. In November alone, the North African country was home to 746 social protests, according to the Economic and Social Rights Forum quoted by Middle East Eye.
While Tunisia has collected enthusiastic applause from the international community for its bold liberal-minded reforms, the IMF-monitored austerity measures have created quarters of unhappy and economically disaffected.
