Tunisia when the university produces the vanguard of the revolution in the rural area

This paper is based on an empirical observation derived from a field survey conducted in 2011–2012 in the regions where the Tunisian revolution was sparked. The spearhead of the protests consisted of unemployed rural graduates from Tunisian universities, guided by local leaders of the Regional Labour Union (which represents central syndicate (UGTT), who themselves were rural individuals with secondary education or university experience in the country’s major cities. The protesters, generally the sons of idle peasants or civil servants who maintained a strong connection with their rural origins, did not demand land and did not denounce the exploitation of the proletariat’s labour force; instead, they called for employment, freedom, and dignity. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that, unlike the most famous and dramatic historical revolutions, the expansion of universities into rural areas made the Tunisian revolution peaceful and transformed its meaning.