In Tunis suburb, a revolutionary demand: jobs, not freedoms

Here in Tunisia’s own “Paris suburbs,” the unemployed, unrepresented, and unheard young men who led the Tunisian revolution have a message that is both simple and provocative.

“We don’t want freedoms, we want jobs,” says Yassin Ben, 24.

In neighborhoods like this one at the edge of the capital, Tunis, the very same conditions that led to Tunisia’s 2011 revolution – unemployment, marginalization, urban migration, and police harassment – persist.

Economic experts warn that the government must find a way for the young people of Douar Hicher and neighborhoods like it across the country to be included in the decisionmaking about their future and provided with the means to lift themselves out of poverty.

It was no surprise that Douar Hicher was one of the hotspots of violent protests

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