Mournir Abassi (right), 48, a driver in Tunis, sits with his family in his two-bedroom apartment. Photo: Zhang Yiqian/GT

As the sun sets in Tunis and the sing-song voice of the call to prayer spreads from mosque to mosque, Mohamed, a driver for travel agency Atlantis Voyages, finishes up work. In the next morning he heads for his hometown Gafsa, more than four hours away on the edge of the Sahara.

At the same time, Mounir Abassi, a driver stationed in Tunis, is eating tuna fish soup with his wife, two children and elderly mother.

Mohamed drives through the trash-ridden street, carefully avoiding passers-by. He is happy he has this job, especially since unemployment may be as high as 16 percent, according to research by the Tunisian Institute for Strategic Studies, a Tunis-based think tank.

In Tunisia, civil resistance including large-scale demonstrations against the dictatorship headed by former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali started on December 17, 2010. On January 14, 2011, Ben Ali stepped down after 23 years in power.

The campaign, known as the Jasmine Revolution, ignited the Arab Spring, a wave of demonstrations, protests, riots and civil wars demanding democracy throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Tunisia elected a new government in 2011.

For ordinary Tunisians, there's a wide acknowledgement that things have changed, but an uncertainty about the future.

Abassi's main complaint is that living expenses have gone up.

"The price of tomatoes has gone up five times, from 0.2 Tunisian dinars ($0.12) a kilogram to 1 dinar per kilogram, and bananas from 1 dinar to 3 dinar per kilogram," he told the Global Times. His family of five lives on a monthly salary of 3,000 dinars. The situation wasn't like this under Ben Ali, he complains. 

The main street of Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia.Photo: Zhang Yiqian/GT

 
Changes in society

Mohamed, who has worked in tourism in 15 years, praises the benefits brought by the democratic government.

In his opinion, the new administration responds better to people's economic needs.

"We didn't like Ben Ali or his family," he told us. "For the public there was no houses and no money, but Ben Ali's family did OK, houses, cars, many projects."

Even though unemployment is still high, it's down from 18 percent in 2011, according to the institute. Mohamed has felt a change in the number of jobs being created, saying the people of Gafsa have benefitted from booming tourism.

"There's change in Tunisia and that's good. For tourism, small projects started developing and life has changed," he said.

Zouhair El Kadhi, a researcher at the institute, believes the new political system is beneficial for the poor in certain ways.

"In the past, when the economy improved, 80 percent of the people couldn't enjoy the benefits. There are many poor people and they are concentrated in southern part of the country," he said. "But the government now hopes the growth can benefit more people, especially the poor."

Democratization has brought change throughout society.

Foued Allani, editor-in-chief of a Tunis-based French language newspaper La Presse, said the media, especially social media, played an important role leading up to the revolution.

The demonstrations that started in December 2010 were triggered by a Facebook video of a police slapping a vendor, which evoked widespread anger and question of government corruption.

After the revolution, the legacy of activism has continued. The number of newspapers and journalists has increased exponentially, Allani said.

"Not only journalists belong to the media now. Many party leaders and commentators are often invited to the broadcasting room or invited to write pieces for the newspaper," he said. "Now it's not only the journalists who are reporting news, it's the public, and the politicians often give their two cents."

Of the existing newspapers, many see it as their duty to criticize the government. Even La Presse, which used to be a state newspaper, criticizes the government now.

Ezzeddine Jebali, chairman of the Tunisia China Friendship Association, agreed with Allani'e statements.

"In the past, many ministers didn't do anything. But now, if they buy a new car, there are journalists taking photos of it, so they need to be careful," Jebali said. "We give you a nice car, nice house, then you must do nice things. If you don't, someone else will do it in your place."

In culture and arts there have been small changes brought by democratization. Mehdi Mabrouk, minister of culture in Tunisia, told the Global Times that now the cultural industries in the country are developing more freely and are market-orientated.

"Many exhibitions and activities take a non-governmental form; not all of them are organized by the government now and can be arranged freely," he said.

However, he points out problems, saying the revolution also caused an economic crisis and budget deficit. Right now, culture and arts only make up about 0.64 percent of the annual budget.

Passers-by walk along the main street in Tunis, the Tunisian capital. The city has sprung back to life after the social turbulence of revolution. Photo: Zhang Yiqian/GT

La Kasbah, the government center in Tunis, in the evening. Photo: Zhang Yiqian/GT

Uncertain path 

Right now, Tunisia is still in a transition period and exploring the best way to deploy democracy, said Tarek Kahlaoui, general director of the institute.

"We are discovering we have a very problematic legacy left to us by the old regime," he said, explaining problems such as energy scarcity has been the main source of the government's budget deficit. Energy subsidies have ballooned from 500 million dinars to 3,500 million dinars in a few years.

When economic problems continue, the development of democracy and the stability of government is affected. El Kadhi told the Global Times that after the old regime was  removed, people had high expectation of the new government, but didn't give it enough time. When things didn't improve immediately, people were disappointed.

Abassi is a case in point. He pays more attention to daily living costs than abstract concepts.

Even though education is free in Tunisia, Abassi spends about 400 dinars for each of his two children in buying books and stationary in the new school season that has just begun, which he considers high. The family of five lives in a two-bedroom apartment, which costs 800 dinars monthly.

He feels that the cabinet lacks experience in running the country and is facing economic challenges at the current stage.

"Even if our salaries increase, it doesn't help, because the commodity prices are soaring," he said. "Many of my neighbors voted for the current ruling party, but are now regretting it."

The working out of a democratic state is not necessarily helping with rebuilding the economy, Kahlaoui said. The current government is a coalition of three parties, which makes its agenda uncertain.

"Even the government might not know what it wants to do next month, that's the biggest problem," El Kadhi said.

Kahlaoui, however, thinks it's too early to evaluate the whole experiment and the process of democratization. He acknowledges existing problems, but says the country cannot regress.

"We are still in the process of solving problems. Even though there are lots of people who aren't happy with what's happening, going back to the pre-January 14 situation is not an option, because the whole system of corruption top to bottom was clearly no longer viable for Tunisia," he said.

But for some, the current process isn't about fast improvements and installing democracy right away, but changing people's mindsets.

"Maybe the world doesn't know much about our revolution, and the results or effects cannot be seen right now, maybe it'll take 10 or 20 years," Jebali said. "But as for me, my mind works differently now. Before we had a government that supposedly solved problems for us, but now we do that for ourselves. The country needs a government but the government needs people to supervise."

The government center in Tunis in daylight, with its national flags. Photo: Zhang Yiqian/GT