Shady Rabhi

After the Jasmin Revolution, from December 2010 until February 2011, everything changed in Tunisia: freedom, hardly achieved, enabled many Tunisian citizens to integrate in associations and to develop their willingness to participate and be active citizens.

This attitude, which has just started to develop, is increasingly spreading among people, stimulating a sort of competition among the several associations that are active in different fields: culture, art, citizenship, democracy, constitutional law. Nowadays, citizen participation reached a high percentage of people, who are now used to the fact that these activities are part of their daily life, both in urban and rural areas.

As activist and General Manager of an association, I’m aware of daily problems we have to face and solve, such as financial issues, pedagogical issues concerning the method and drafting of a project, as well as communication and marketing problems. But we do not have a passive approach in front of these problems: cooperation with other national and foreign associations, which have more experience and resources than us, it’s without any doubt the wisest solution. That’s why we will continue along this path, improving the communication between our civil society, associations and local authorities.

In this last period, the recent attacks that took place in Tunisia deeply destabilized our country and, consequently, external collaborations with Tunisia. It is an attack against human lives, freedom, human rights, development and against democracy, definitively. But it doesn’t hinder our mission: we are peaceful people and we are more and more sure that democracy is the key to succeed in our country. That’s why we won’t stop the research of better conditions to improve the Tunisian situation, and we will get involved more and more to motivate citizens in participation at different levels.

Our future is in our hands. We have the choice to change everything, respecting our traditions and culture. The Tunisian Revolution cannot be a useless attempt, without any result. A bit of time would be necessary, for sure, but we still have our chance to turn back into the game.

Shady Rabhi

The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the author, and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of ALDA and the European Union.