Beneath Tunisia’s silence, public anger simmers

Five years after Tunisian President Kais Saied’s dramatic power grab, few of the hopes that charged the region following the country’s landmark 2011 revolution remain intact.The people’s sense of participation in forming a template for a new constitution and democratic order that followed the revolution has all but vanished.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Tunisia grapples with five years of crisis since Saied’s power grablist 2 of 4Five years after Saied’s power grab, Tunisians are no better offlist 3 of 4Tunisia bars family, lawyers from seeing Ghannouchi after prison collapselist 4 of 4Tunisia’s body politic is in crisisend of listPolitical debates that dominated the airwaves following the 2011 uprising have given way to sports and entertainment shows.The economy – which served as both a springboard for the 2011 revolution and a pretext for Saied’s 2021 “self-coup” – has been left to deteriorate. As a heatwave and wildfires ravage the country, blackouts have become routine, kindling public anger.On Saturday, thousands took to the streets of the capital to protest against what demonstrators saw as Saied’s increasingly autocratic hold on power and worsening living con...