Identity Politics; or why a protest can never be ‘apolitical’

The recent protest ‘against internet censorship’ in Tunisia has been talked about in the media as an ‘apolitical’ movement, in the sense that it was held without the support of any of the mainstream opposition parties, but rather was the genuine expression of a popular demand to lift censorship which the protesters had put forth on behalf of 'all' internet users. I believe it was also the wish of the organizers, Sim and Yassine, to distance themselves from the opposition, although of course in practice they were not immune from that interference and many figures of the opposition did sign up.

The emphasis on the ‘apolitical’ character of the protest has truly puzzled me. We all know that any form of resistance, however low-key it may appear, is essentially a political response to a political situation. So, although the term 'apolitical' was perhaps used to wash away the sin vis-à-vis the the establishment, I want to argue that there actually was nothing apolitical about the sayeb salah movement.

One has to look at the demographics of the protest to understand the specific kind of politics at play here. On facebook I half-jokingly referred to this movement as the “thirties’ rebellion” (la révolte des trentenaires). But this is exactly what it is. Most protesters belong to the post-Bourguibist generation which Zied aptly describes here as one that has never fought for any cause. It might look like a harsh judgment but it is a very accurate one. Except for a few people who were engaged in Marxist or Islamist student movements on troubled campuses, most of us members of this generation, were disciplined to focus on gaining education and achieving (a state-sanctioned version of) economic welfare. And most of us did well on both fronts.

To what extent the attempt to fully 'de-politicise' my generation was successful is beyond the scope of this post, but it is a critical aspect of the overall context and timing of the protest which we must be aware of in order to understand what is going on. As I repeatedly argued in this Vcast, censorship (and, by extension, acts of resistance) must never be analysed out of context.

The politics behind this protest are what we may refer to as ‘identity politics’, because they are connected to a clearly bounded social group striving for visibility and recognition. It is not a coincidence that Slim and Yassine were offended when the first official they approached to publicise the event referred to them as “two boys” (zooz awled). This is exactly how the state views this generation, and this is exactly how this generation no longer wishes to be viewed.