YOUTH OF THE REVOLUTION UNION
AIMS AND ACTIVITIES
The “Youth of the Revolution Union“ is a youth formation or a youth front that was established after the 14th of January, it was initiated by the youth forces that had participated in the revolution before the 14th of January and further strengthened by the youth formations that were established after the 14th of January.
During the first and second sit-in of the revolutionary progress we noticed that the Tunisian youth had effectively contributed to the overthrowing of the dictator and aided in the progress of achieving the aims of the revolution. The aims were a compulsory democracy after despotism; social justice after corruption, bribery and exploitation; and our national dignity after total obedience to neo-liberalistic policies of international imperialism.
Therefore the frame in which the “Youth of the Revolution Union“ was established was due to the following reasons. It came as a reaction, or as an answer to the incidents on the level of the dissipation of the Tunisian youth. So the answer was a union of the Tunisian youth with different orientations.
Secondly, it came as a response to the common struggle of the whole Tunisian youth.
Thirdly, it believes in permanent struggle and permanent resistance on behalf of achieving the aims of the revolution.
So the three pillars of this coalition are, first of all, the continuation of the permanent struggle for the sake of achieving the aims of the revolution which have not been achieved so far, second, the common struggle and third, diversity and the belief in diversity within this combative union.
The basis of work also wishes to cohere with the aims that are set by our people, regardless of whether they are adolescents, men or women. Regardless of whether they are workers, farmers or unemployed people. As there are primarily a lot of students, pupils and jobless adolescents in the “Youth of the Revolution Union“.
Therefore, within this basis there are the particularities of what the Tunisian youth aspires after, which is basically the camaraderie of our people in terms of what will come up to them. This is the continuation of the struggle for the sake of the dissolution of the structure of dictatorship, be it on the level of justice or security or (on the level of) the judiciary or the media, for the sake of independence of the judiciary, for the sake of free media that respect the aspirations of our people, and also for the sake of a righteous and transparent administration. This is the first aim.
The second aim is the release of individual and general liberties, be it the right to set up organizations, the right to free expression, the right to demonstrate or the right to peaceful protest.
Thirdly, on the political level, it is (an aim) to continue the struggle for Tunisia to have equal trading ties with international imperial powers. This means that the former regime utterly submitted to neo-liberalistic policies on the level of its political resolution, on the level of its economic choices and on the level of linking Tunisia to the world’s imperialist system in terms of structure, progress and function. We will seek to struggle for the sake of an equal relationship on the level of trade ties with foreign countries, especially with the European Union and the United States of America. This is why we will struggle for suspending the debts hoping that one day they will be dissolved… suspending the foreign debts, because our people are not responsible for that. We will also struggle for employment for unemployed people, be it those with university degrees or those who have not yet finished their studies. They have the right to work.
We will also struggle for support on the national level and for supporting all revolutions of the Arab people because I guess that every step that is taken forward by the Tunisian revolution is a guarantee for the expansion of the protest terrain and for the expansion of the revolutionary progress on the level of the Arab world in general. Furthermore, every step that is taken forward by any revolution in the Arab world is an amelioration of our revolution contrary to external conspiracy and internal enemies.
We will also struggle for culture or for an advanced cultural choice with its thriving Arab profoundness that encourages progress with its revolutionary international horizon.
So to sum up, we can say that there are three fronts of our struggle:
First, on a political level, we strive for dissolving the structure of dictatorship and for instilling an authentic democracy that is established for a political, democratic, revolutionary society that guarantees individual and general liberties; a constitution of life and all rights, be it economic, social or cultural (rights).
Secondly, we struggle for employment for our unemployed youth and for establishing a respectable standard of living that leads to achieving social emancipation from the exploitative authority.
Thirdly, we strive for support for the progress of Arab revolutions, the people and nations of the disadvantaged world in general; against the peoples’ enemies; and the struggle for advanced culture for gender equality to promote the capability of creation and creativity for our people and to liberate the skills that were restricted by the dictatorship.
The horizons of the work of the “Youth of the Revolution Union“ are based on the fact that we seek the establishment of a work agenda after the fixation of the basis that has been defined as I have already said before. “Youth of the Revolution“ or the “Youth of the Revolution Union“ will start its struggle on Monday, be it in universities, institutes, or on the streets, to appeal to our people to continue civil resistance for the sake of a final emancipation from the remnants of the dictatorship.
On the national level or on the level of the capital Tunis, a media committee was formed in order to promote the basis and the program of this union. There is a committee to elaborate or a committee of promotion and media, and there is also a committee of control of movements and the work agenda and a committee for elaborating a cultural choice.
On the regional level, there are parallels in terms of work because there are committees formed on the regional or local level that will also push on with uniting the Tunisian youth for the sake of finishing the tasks of this revolution.
Soon, we will move in order to eliminate the remnants of the Constitutional Democratic Rally so that they are not predominate in the elections of the constituent assembly, and indeed, we will exclude them from political work for a period of five to ten years for the sake of protecting a democratic establishment.
Furthermore, we will seek the destruction of the symbolic figures of the former regime, and we will lend our support to every popular contribution that aspires in continuing the revolution and to a permanent struggle for the sake of realizing social self-emancipation.
On the level of the forms of struggle that we will apply, we will use the university as a space for activity, the street as a space for demonstration and protest, and with all our forces we will strive for imposing our voice within the mass media and for imposing our voice and our pens on each member of the media for the sake of enlightening our people and driving the continuation of the struggle forward.
The march has not finished yet, but is still continuing.
To explain it more precisely, it was the Tunisian youth that has effectively contributed to the revolution. It is liberating itself from the devotion to a president.
It is also liberating itself from the mindset of ideological manipulation that distinguished the sovereigns of the seventies in Tunisia in terms of what is within the left wing itself, like this is a Stalinist, this is a Trotskyist, this is a Maoist, this is Baathist, this is a Nasserist.
This also means that it is aware of the diversity that is inside it, but diversity is its base. Its base is opposition and cooperation.
This means it is a continuation and, as far as the connection with the old generation is concerned, cooperates with every person who struggles with reference to these principles.
Based on this, it cooperates with the old generation in order to struggle on a common basis with reference to these principles.
Within the “Youth of the Revolution Union“ there are people who belong to left-wing parties or left-wing nationalism. But the connection with those left-wing parties, even if we belong to them, is a horizontal connection, not a vertical connection that replicates dictatorship within the structure of parties that struggle against dictatorship.
As far as the media committee is concerned, it works, for example, on Facebook and virtually, it works in the field…it tries to advertise its discourses, its opinions and its movements in newspapers, in official newspapers, and it also tries to go in front of the radio and TV station and impose its program or to transmit it by television or radio and so on because this is our right.
In terms of issuing a journal we consider that we do not have the means to issue our own journal. We will try to go either to the existing radio stations or to the Tunisian TV station for the purpose of attempting to get the right to be found within this space.
The media committee tries to make publicity on Facebook, in virtual space. It tries to publish its announcements, be it in newspapers that exist in public or in other newspapers all over the world. The media committee will also inform the people all over Tunisia and encourage them to start demonstrating at a time for demonstration. This means that it will strive for uniting and making propaganda on the level of our opinions and the agenda of our movements …locally, regionally and nationally. The second point is that we try to impose our voices within the existing institutions, be it radio channels or the Tunisian television.