After the hunger riots
Solidarity with the Tunisian people week of popular demonstrations representing a school student youth.
shook Tunisia from December These massive demonstrations had an aspect of a
1983. This spontaneous movement was in response to real confrontation with the regime, attacking differa price rise for foodstuffs of 70 to 120 per cent, par- ent symbols of bourgeois power: luxury goods, banks, ticularly for cereals and bread. These rises were de- the headquarters of the governing PSD creed by the Mohamed Mzali government, to take Socialist Party) (2), and the police stations.
TUNISIA
A place at the beginning of 1984.
This was under the
(Destourien only demands were the cancelling of pressure of the
'true price' policy demanded by the he price rises and the departure of the government
International Monetarv Fund (IMF) and the World
Che reaction of the regime, that is of Habib Bour gulba and his head of government, Mohamed Mzali,
There were two phases to this explosion of popular was particularly violent.
the biggest since January 1978(1) The first was the revolt in the mining and rural regions of the rears, a state of emergency was declared, with the police and the army shooting on sight. (3) The outcome
The second wave took the form of solidarity
- 120 deaths and hundreds of wounded - show the demonstrations in Sfax,
Monastir, Tunis and its poor bloody shock that the regime wanted to inflict on the suburbs, at the initiative of the unemployed and popular movement.
Rene MASSIGNON
These 'bread riots' mark a new stage in the political and social crisis that has existed in Tunisia since 1977. However, unlike the January
1978 mobilisations which followed a long period of rise in working class struggles culminating in a general strike, those of January above all revealed the immense explosive potential of the impoverished layers in the towns and country.
specific social inequalities in the structure of Third World countries.
From the beginning of the 1970s, the social structure of Tunisia has been thoroughly shaken
A minimal economic development has led to the growth of a large working class, at the same time as the social structure of countryside has been completely
A massive rural exodus has swollen the urban centers along the coast, where shanty towns have sprung up with enormous areas of poverty and unem-
There are an estimated 500,000 unemployed in a population of 6.5 million inhabitants. Sixty per cent of the unemployed are young people with nothing to do. In addition, as access to the land has become more and more difficult for the underprivileged masses, the extent of malnutrition has increasd.
Faced with the economic crisis, the other choice than to take measures to satisfy their social base - that is the racketeer bourgeoisie that has developed during the past few years.
The government's measures were, thus intended to develop the conditions to allow this neocolonial bourgeoisie to integrate itself into the world market. As a consequence the country suffered from a heavier and heavier debt to the international financial organisations.
Thus, the only choice for the regime was to attack the income and consumption of the popular masses and accept the plans dictated by the International Mone-
One of the measures it demanded was the suppression of the General Compensation Fund. tion intervened to keep down the prices of cereals and cereal products.
But, completely ignoring the contradictions, and preoccupied with socially integrating the workers and the UGTT (General Union of Tunisian Workers) into its political game, the bourgeoisie was incapable of imagining such a broad response from the masses, other than the waged workers. Imperialist responsibility
Bread and other cereal-based foodstuffs are not like any other product for
They are not only a symbol but the basic staple for most of
Since 1960 cereal products have remained at a steady 10 per cent of the family budget for 75 percent of homes. Half the population spends 50 per cent of its budget on food. Thus, this governmental measure meant concretely more malnutrition and a more imbalanced diet for the masses.
Moreover, as in many other dominated countries, where similar social explosions have taken place - hunger riots in Brazil in 1983, Morocco in 1981 — the responsibility can be very clearly traced back to the imperialists. commended by the IMF are unrelated to the real state of world cereals production, which is in surplus.
The objective of these measures was to hold up the cereals market for the benefit of the imperialist countries, which dominate it by condemning millions of inhabitants of the third world to live in malnutrition, or indeed in famine. United States play a particularly cynical
For the third time in six role in this situation. By dumping underpriced cereals on the market in 1983, they succeeded in becoming the primary supplier to Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. Relayed by bourgeois comprador regimes, the imperialist manipulation of cereals prices had a particularly grave
This social crisis also exposed the derisory aspect of the "Tunisian democratic experience' and the politics of consensus. The legalisation of the two bourgeois opposition forces, the Movement of Democratic Socialists (MSD) and the Movement for People's Unity (MUP), a few days before the price rises, as well as the granting of some wage compensations, were not enough to avoid the con-
The recourse to savage repression was the only way for the government to save the situation, as in each of the previous tests of strength.
Certainly, the government finally withdrew and postponed the price rises. Bourguiba found the way to extricate himself, by playing on his declining Bonapartist role to appear as a saviour. manoeuvres did not inspire any illusions, and if the government drew back, it was mainly to avoid a spread of the struggle. It had no intention of making any major thousands of workers took part in a general strike called by the Tunisian union confedera-
This was harshly repressed: arrests, including all the union leadership of the
The Destourien movement was the former bourgeois nationalist movement led by Bour-
The name comes from the Arabic word Bourguiba think they have found a scapegoat in the person of Driss Guiga. the minister of the interior,
Without misestimating the role of this who was supported by certain factions of the bourgeoisie, it is as well to recall that it was the provocation to masses contained in the price rises decreed by the head of government Mzali that made their cup overflow. it is the government as a whole which is responsible for the repression and its scope.
International Viewpoint
to the very end, despite the violent opposition of the population. It should be dealterations in the fragile political edifice that has existed since 1979. For the government, maintaining a certain political liberalisation is the only way of keeping a small social base and to be able relatively to contain the struggle.
It is from this point of view that the attitude of the legalised opposition forces is the most shameful, particularly the position taken by the Tunisian Communist Party. While demanding 'a postponement of the measures', the CP denounced "vandalism' and the 'recourse to street demonstrations'. The forces which present themselves as the democratic alternative have neither denounced the responsibility of the Mzali government nor demanded its resignation.
These so- called opposition parties are essentially aiming at a compromise with the regime, and have once more discredited them-
Bourguiba welcomes Mitterrand on his first official visit (DR)
selves in the eyes of the Tunisian masses.
The attitude of the only trade union,
Throughout 1983, it could not figure out of the General Fund.
the UGTT, was not brilliant either.
what position to take on the suppression demonstrations, it thus found itself completely outside the active movement.
While some union activists took part in the demonstrations, and while solidarity
Tunisian Fourth Internationalists declaration We publish below major extracts from a declaration by the Revolutionary Workers Group, sympathising organisation of the Fourth International in Tunisia.
More than one hundred deaths and several hundred wounded, this is the appalling outcome of the riots that have taken place throughout the country.
Today, three days after the proclamation of the state of emergency, surprised by the rapid response and the breadth of the movement, the regime has gone back on its decisions. Whatever political motives may lie behind Bourguiba's manoeuvres aimed at defusing the mass discontent, the mass movement, despite its spontaneity, has inflicted a serious defeat on government policy.
The working class as an organised force was the major absentee from these
The UGTT leadership, by supporting Mzali's leadership, by refusing to mobilise the workers around clear and unifying objectives, found itself in a false position in relation to the mass movement, despite the strong discontent in the
The workers demonstrations and strike movements, which were initiated by cer tain regional trade unions or at the sectoral level, and the widespread discontent at the base, will have to transform themselves into a broad movement of the working class to respond to, and confront, the austerity plans and policies of the regime in
Immediate unconditional lifting of the state of emergency and the curfew throughout the country!
The army back to the barracks!
- Immediate unconditional release of all those arrested and an end to the
Compensation for the families of those who were victims of the bloody repression!
Dissolution of the Destourien militias and judgements on their members and Dissolution of the BOP and all the repressive troops!
While the regime has today retreated on some of its decisions, it will not hesitate to use any means to get back what it has lost in the last few days. working class and the popular masses to pay for it at a high price, while continuing to apply its austerity policies and implement its policy of repression.
That means that the working class must go forward in united ranks to defend its buying power by putting forward unifying objectives through its own methods of struggle and organisation, defending the thus taking charge of the defence of all the interests of all the workers and under-
For a price freeze for basic products! No to the austerity plan! For a policy of full employment! For indexing of wages to prices on the basis of the union index! For unrestricted freedom of organisation, expression and the press!
-
The Chamber of Deputies, which is only a rubber-stamp body and was not democratically elected, wholeheartedly defended decisions of the government right nounced and its dissolution demanded. International Viewpoint 30 January 1984
It will force the autonomy of its union organisation, and sit-down strikes took place in enterprises like the RNTA (public transport), the SNT, the SNCFT (railways), the UGTT leadership's position was from start to finish. It did not demand the cancellation of the price rises and contented itself with demanding wage compensation which would only put of! the problem for a while. It was finally pushed to make an basis with the only a few hours before the 'supreme fighter' (Bourguiba) announced the suspension of the The need for unity
The postponement of these measures mainly signified that the problem has to the next few months - with still more force. ever, the government is hoping to win time between now and then to defuse the social explosions and divide the workers by giving them small wage rises that will be quickly eaten away by price rises.
A broad debate within the union and the adoption of a positive position on this question could help the UGTT to gain credibility with a number of sections of the population that it does not
In these political conditions it is not surprising that the Islamic currents have at the moment taken on a weight that is out of line with their real influence. Being present in the poor quarters of Tunis, such as Melassine and Djebel Lahmar, where their populist rhetoric has a certain resonance, they have appeared in some places as the only radical alterna• tive to the regime.
These fundamentalist currents have exercised a not inconsiderable influence among high school and student youth in the last few years, and have used fascistic methods to consolidate themselves. They were thus able to organise certain groups to profit from the demonstrations, in which in fact they got in-
9
NOUSC volved only quite late on. The absence of trade-union and political forces from the workers movement opened the way for the influence of these Isalmic groups to grow.
Thus it falls on the workers political and union organisations to change their
N'ACCEPTON attitude and understand that defence of
AUCHN the exploited masses demands a clear position on these vital economic questions.
LICENCIE
Such an orientation can only be a general denunciation of the government and the demand for the dropping of these meas-
These struggles should not be only waged by the plebeian masses in daily revolt against poverty. In fact, they link up with the struggle of the preserve buying power, and the rejection of all forms of austerity policies or any social pact that the bourgeoisie wants to extract from the UGTT leadership.
These popular explosions against price rises are the continuation, on another ter:
rain, of the 1983 workers struggles for the renewal of collective
These struggles were often victorious.
The necessary alliance between the union militants who represent an important force, and the pauperised layers in
'We will not accept any redundancies' (DR)