The Art of Revolution: Tunisia, Egypt, what's next?

The world is surprised by the events in Tunisia. Until a few weeks ago, Tunisia was put as an example of political and economical stability by the western world. From outside, nobody could expect what is now known as the ‘Jasmine Revolution’. Although the rulers of the world already knew about how things were going wrong. A young Tunisian who burned himself – in the news presented as a fact – was the starting point of the uprising of the Tunisians against a dictatorship, a nondemocratic regime and a mafia. The fact is that the Tunisian people was living under a system of oppression which during more than twenty years left no room for freedom: no free press, no free internet, no real opposition, no independent NGO’s, no syndicate… Numerous Tunisian films that used the space provided by the secular approach of the regime that were subversive towards the regime. In theatre, film and video artists at least tried to show something of the suffocating atmosphere. From that point of view Making off by Nouri Bouzid is an excellent example. The film shows the frustration of the Tunisian youth. It shows how young people have no liberty at all. The filmmaker quite guessed the explosion that the world witnesses today. And there were other young filmmakers who witnessed the suffocation of a nation. The last couple of years one could see a big number of independent short films made with local and small possibilities. A lot of these films were connected to the heavy oppression that the regime put on the Tunisian society but they were could not get abroad. We also want to show video's from performances from Tunisian theatre that always has been very strong, like the plays by Fadel Jaibi, notably his Khamsoun, which was forbidden by the censorship for a while. Those by Toufik Jebali of El Teatro, the dance productions by Selma and Sofian Ouissi, could be also very pertinent. For the Dutch – same as for all Europeans - Tunisia was mainly a holiday destination. As a tourist one could not see or feel this deep tension. Obviously, the sunny beaches of the tourist zones and the circuits of souvenir shops in the narrow streets of the medina were far away from the poor and neglected countryside and the popular neighborhoods of the big cities – the rumbling volcano’s that were about to erupt. Showing some of these works of art could be an invitation to the public to have a deeper look at what happened, and how artists in fact listened to what was happening in society. Partly due to the urgency and partly due to financial considerations, we propose to give an impression of those theatre performances through video presentations and debates. Contacts : Hassouna Mansouri e-mail: mansourihassouna@yahoo.fr Mobile: 0621877422 http://www.debalie.nl/artikel.jsp;jsessionid=AAE83A4FF5694DB16376DA580BF207F9?articleid=368493