[2-1-1978] Protestors attacking ruling party office, during a general strike organized by the General Union of Tunisian Workers, which turned into an intifada [Photo from Socialist Worker Archives]

* Following the 1967 war, anti-Jewish riots spread in Tunisia as well as attacks on western interests and embassies [1]. The movement, however, was soon to assume a more mature political character, with students coming in the forefront. Strikes and demonstrations continued over the following year by the students, with support of the lecturers against state repression [2]. The government noted the militant intervention of Communists and Maoists in the events [3]. It also stepped in more than once to ban demonstrations in support of the Vietnamese struggle and the French students during the May Parisian uprising [4]. Maoism became a dominant force in the Tunisian universities, drawing its main inspiration from the French student movement [5]. The radicalization reached the peak by the 1970s, to explode into a workers’ uprising led by the trade unions against the government in 1978, that was put down brutally by the security services and the army.

* The above paragraph is an edited excerpt from my MA thesis, which I wrote around eight years ago on the 1977 Egyptian bread intifada. I previously posted excerpts here and here…
1] Arab Report And Record, London, 1-15 June 1967: 196.
2] Arab Report And Record, London, 16-31 March 1968: 79; 1-15 April 1968: 95-6.
3] Arab Report And Record, London, 1-15 August 1968: 229; 1-15 September 1968: 266.
4] Arab Report And Record, London, 16-31 May 1968: 138; 16-30 November 1967: 368.
5] Harmel, Mohamed. Men ‘l-Hizb al-Wahed ‘l-ta’dodya: Massira Majida le-Tahqiq al-Badil al-Demoqrati (From one Party to pluralism: a glorious march towards achieving the democratic alternative). Damascus: Markaz El-Abhath We El-Derassat El-Ishtirakyya Fi El-Alam El-Arabi, n.d., Page 47.