acertainblindness
rock throwing, tunisia
i thought about trying to revisit the revolution.
to assess, somehow, what the passage of time had done, or revealed, or not. either way.
there were snippets of conversations - in a car, in a cafe, with a taxi driver.
but somehow it was all a little vague, a sense of wondering, of waiting, of not yet, of soon and shortly and nearby.
so we passed the afternoon throwing rocks at the sea,
though i never did see the splash
through the lenses of hope, scratched
habib bourguiba’s trademark glasses.
goodbye tunisia, goodbye.
day 33
protest tent run by taxi drivers, gafsa.
aymen 27
maths teacher. qualified. four years at university. wanted to begin his research masters, no places available. two years as a building labourer. two months as a shop keeper. will accept a teaching job anywhere, none available.
74 percent of us here in sidi bouzid are unemployed. in tunis? only 12 percent. the development of the costal regions has been at the expense of the interior. we have no proper hospital, no companies providing employment, no factories, no services, nothing. the only thing we had here was the police.
and we still don’t have justice.
fuck ben ali
i had heard rumours about the existence of a burned villa on the outskirts of hammamet, overlooking the sea. during the revolution the villa was ransacked and today, it sits as a charred shell, filled with shards of bullet proof glass and graffiti. rubbish fills the swimming pool.
we met an elderly neighbour in the grounds of the villa removing some chicken wire.
the gabsi family used to grow vegetables on this land. they grew tomatoes, paprika and jute. i remember the smell of the freshly baked bread they would eat during lunch. bread with grilled paprika. they used animals to draw water from the well.
bourguiba [the first president of tunisia] took the land from the gabsi family. he gave it to the husband of shirley maclean. i forget his name. bourguiba gave it to him because he helped his son. something to do with las vegas. the nefew of ben ali bought the land in 2005 and built the villa.
when the villa was looted, i noticed some plants has been pulled out of the ground.
the plants now grow quietly in his garden, apparently without protest.
