Tunisia is commemorating this Wednesday, December 17, 2025, the fifteenth anniversary of the outbreak of the revolution, the spark of which started from Sidi Bouzid on December 17, 2010. This founding event marked a major rupture in the contemporary history of the country, opening the way to a sequence of popular protests which will lead, less than a month later, to the fall of the regime in place on January 14, 2011.
Originally, the Tunisian revolution carried demands for dignity, social justice and freedom, in a context of regional marginalization, high unemployment and severe restrictions on public freedoms. The movement, initially localized, quickly spread across the entire territory, revealing deep and transversal social anger.
Fifteen years later, this December 17 retains a strong symbolic charge. It remains associated with the idea of popular sovereignty and the hope of a fairer state, even if the post-revolutionary journey has been punctuated by political, economic and institutional crises. However, the transformations undertaken since 2011 have profoundly reshaped the political and social landscape, without meeting all the expectations expressed during the uprising.
Collective memory
On the occasion of this commemoration, the President of the Republic, Kaïs Saïed, announced on Tuesday a measure of presidential pardon. This provides for the release of 2,014 prisoners, as well as the granting of conditional release to 674 other prisoners. A decision presented as a gesture with strong symbolic significance, occurring in a national context marked by persistent debates around freedoms, justice and reconciliation with the ideals of the revolution.
Between collective memory and questions about the future, the date of December 17 continues to crystallize the tensions and aspirations of a Tunisian society always in search of balance and lasting perspectives.
