Individual Commentary

The Tunisian diaspora: Between ‘digital riots’ and Web activism: Teresa Graziano

As Henry Kissinger once said, “the internet matters.” During the Arab Spring, the “revolts which spread like wildfire across the Arab world, spurring events that changed the region,” the day-to-day events of the protests were being communicated via social media - that is, “forms of media that allow people to communicate and share information using the internet or mobile phones.” The sharing of regular updates was done via platforms such as Facebook or Twitter in Tunisia, where the protests first erupted. Media was communicated via these platforms to facilitate the coordination of the protests in a hope to topple authoritarian leaders. In all four corners of the world, from far reaching countries, Tunisian diasporas watched the Arab spring and did not abstain from sharing their thoughts and forming networks. These interactions over the internet allowed the actors to virtually and physically plan the fall of the regime - the Tunisian diaspora is an actor that cannot be neglected.

This paper’s digital inquiry questions how, and to what extent, do Twitter activists in Tunisia shape and contribute to political issue-formation on Twitter. The hypotheses which emerge from this question are twofold: a) Twitter has expanded existing echo chambers on the current controversy surrounding Tunisian President Kais Saeid’s authoritarian tendencies; and b) the latter further polarized the pro-Saied and anti-Saeid political camps in the Twitter space. This paper will discuss particularly the role of diasporas using Teresa Graziano’s “The Tunisian diaspora: Between ‘digital riots’ and Web activism” published in 2012. To test this hypothesis, this paper will look into how Tunisia’s diaspora used twitter to contribute to informing public opinion during and after the Arab Spring. Then, it will transition to discuss how the arab spring experience was the precursor for the creation of activist networks.

First, Tunisians abroad were crucial in spreading information. They were the catalyst in communicating any and all matters related to the protests. Graziano advances that “migrants mold stratified social relationships across national boundaries and local territories.” Diasporas were in far reaching countries yet they felt no proximity when discussing what was happening on the ground. This leaves deep marks on host societies and opens the multilayered cyberspace. To reiterate, diasporas played an important role in informing public opinion with cyberspace serving as their fora thanks to a “radical shift in the extent, speed and intensity of communication flows’ (Borkert, Cingolani and Premazzi, 2009). Graziano looks into how diasporas have capitalized on the use of the web during the time which Tunisia started experiencing the unprecedented dynamics - or “irreversible democratic transition” like the current government stresses via its social media. “Conducting political conversations, exchanging opinions, claiming for liberty and accessing credible information” was made easy and this did not stop the diaspora from taking advantage to coordinate political strategy. Briefly, it established what we call “grassroots journalism” to cover stories the mainstream media was reluctant to recognize. Networks of cyber activists were formed - in this paper's personal view, they are divided into two: the woke and the enlightened; where the woke assumes to know everything and the enlightened takes a step back and privileges analysis, distinguishing facts from interpretation.

Second, even as time passed after the revolution, Tunisian diaspora activists still use Twitter “to assure up-to-the-minute news,“ but more so to address political issues in a deeper way. Tweeting completely replaced blogging and Tunisian “netizens” have discovered the “highly attractive power of such tools to advocate their legitimate democratic claims.” The “children of the revolution” who are now 11 years older and are evermore concerned about their country. The continue to discuss current affairs in Tunisia with great detail. They have created multi-nodal networks to stay informed and keep their followers informed too. Some have even become references to major stakeholders in the region to advise on policy - supported by the “who-follows-who” and “who-is-followed-by-who” approaches. The author advances that diaspora “have become the main connection points for a widening network, the fundamental driving forces not only of [...] remittances but above all [...] accessing the ‘information highways.' Our group is fortunate enough to have access to this network and we hope to give an edge to our research project by going to the source directly.

An accurate example of an actor of the Tunisian diaspora “keeping an eye on Tunisia” is 31 year old Mohamed Dhia Hammami, a PhD student at Syracuse University. Hammami grew up in Tunisia and participated in the 2011 Jasmin Revolution. Today, he observes Tunisia’s political scene from the United States with tens of thousands of followers - he is followed by Tunisian’s in Tunisia, international organizations, and is regularly solicited to speak about the current state of political affairs.

Current debates often ignore the fact that there isn't only one network in the Tunisian activist space. In Tunisia, the space is made up of different activists who share one common sense of solidarity for the fragile state of the country. The great majority of activists form a big block and they maintain solid relations between each other with disagreements over the accuracy of sources sometimes.

In conclusion, the author advanced the importance of diasporas, their contribution to their home societies, and the tendency to form activist networks. This commentary will greatly deepen the scope of our research as we look to create the first modern-day visualization of Tunisia's activist network inside and outside the country's borders. We are impatient to take on this challenge and present our findings.