The London School of Economics and Political Science From Resistance to Revolutionary Praxis: Subaltern Politics in the Tunisian Revolution Jann Boeddeling A thesis submitted to the Department of Government of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, April 2020 1 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 86,014 words. 2 Abstract How and where did mass mobilization for radical demands emerge in the process of the 2010/11 Tunisian revolution? And how can this inform theories of revolution, especially considering conditions of hegemony? These questions were addressed using secondary and archival sources as well as an event catalogue to identify time periods, localities and social groups for ethnographic study, leading to a focus on subaltern social groups, primarily in the provincial interior, where eight months of fieldwork and over one hundred open, narrative interviews were conducted. The thesis argues that provincial subalterns responded to their hegemonic disincorporation and increased policing during the Ben Ali regime by developing new forms of politics and resistance. Entailing interactions with political activists and unionists as well as significant levels of self-activity, this process furnished local solidarities, defensive logics, and principally economic-corporate claims which drove mobilization in the Tunisian interior during the first three weeks of the revolution. For the people there, indiscriminate violence and killings caused a collapse of existing hegemony, leading them to re-interpret their struggle in revolutionary terms by drawing on local histories of revolt. This revolutionary praxis of subaltern social groups and the radical demands they articulated pushed UGTT leaders and coastal middle-classes to turn against Ben Ali, thus creating national-level revolutionary mobilization. From this it is concluded that scholarship on the Tunisian revolution has assigned undue weight to organized and activist agencies while largely ignoring subaltern self-activity. It also suggests that Tunisian studies had overplayed the social and regional reach of the Ben Ali era hegemonic formation. The conclusion that revolutionary praxis developed among disincorporated subaltern groups in Tunisia further intervenes in studies of subaltern politics which have tended to posit everyday politics, hidden resistance, and defensive mobilization as a certain ceiling to subaltern self-activity. Addressing critical theories of revolution, the thesis concludes that self-change through revolutionary praxis appears possible in the context of a contemporary hegemonic formation, pointing to potentials for subaltern self-emancipation. Absent significant (organic) intellectual labor and organizational resources, however, revolutionary transformation will likely be limited by persistent forms of domination, counter-revolutionary forces and hegemonic ideas. 3 Dedication To my mother Dr Elisabeth Lohmann 8.11.1958 – 18.12.2016 4 Acknowledgments Throughout the work on this thesis, I was fortunate to receive support, inspiration, love, kindness, and encouragement from many more people than I can mention here. My first thanks go to my parents without whose love and support I would not have been able to embark on this journey. John Chalcraft, my supervisor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), deserves special mention as a mentor who went far beyond the call of duty in shepherding me through this process and without whom I would not have completed this thesis. From my conversations with him I drew much intellectual inspiration, as is true for the deep friendship I am honored to have with Annika Boeddeling and Andrew Knox. I am grateful for Annika’s love and her companionship over all these years. At LSE, I found an intellectual home in the Contentious Politics Workshop whose many contributors, participants, and presenters I would like to thank. I am especially grateful to my co-conveners Fuad Musallam and Birgan Gokmenoglu who have blessed me with their friendship and comradery. The Writing Club was a wonderful forum to discuss chapters of this thesis and I want to thank Birgan again as well as Adélie Chevée and Leon Kunz. Among my friends at home in Germany, Tim Lehmann, Maja Bünsche, Janis Kluge, and Alex Krappe have all helped me in their own way and I hope to spend more time with them again. The support of two people was decisive in the final stages of writing this thesis: Marlene Strasser and John Bisset have picked me up when I was beaten down and kept me sane with their kindness and love. When I was in Tunisia for my fieldwork, that burden fell on my friends and fellow rock climbers there and I want to thank Hajer Dargouth, Youssef Tourjmen, Mohamed Abderrahim Ben Salem, Hana Diah, Yves Gosselin, and Ghassen Aljane. My work in Tunisia also would not have been possible without my colleagues and friends Mohamed Al-Ahmadi, Rabii Gharsalli, Shady Rebhi, and Mohamed Slim Ben Youssef. I also want to thank all my interlocutors who honored me with their trust and openness and from whom I learned so much. I hope that this thesis can repay at least some of it. Finally, I acknowledge the support of the Sir Patrick Gillam Fund for Fieldwork. 5 A Note on Transliteration I have used a simplified version of the International Journal of Middle East Studies transliteration system when rendering Arabic words into the Latin alphabet. Diacritics are used for the Arabic letters ʿayn (ʿ) and the long vowels alif (ā), wāw (ū) and ya (ī). When quoting colloquial Arabic, I follow the Tunisian pronunciation. Whenever my interlocutors use a particular of spelling their names, I follow those. I also use Anglicized or French variants of places and names, which are spelled according to convention. 6 Table of Contents I: Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 9 Definitions of Key Terms .................................................................................................... 15 Political Context ................................................................................................................. 20 II: Reviewing Scholarship on the Tunisian Revolution ........................................................... 32 Arguments on Causal Anteriorities .................................................................................... 33 Processual and Transformation Perspectives .................................................................... 40 Critical Perspectives on Subaltern Politics ......................................................................... 52 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 64 III: Theoretical Framework and Empirical Research Process ................................................. 66 III i: Hegemony, Subalternity and Incorporation ............................................................... 66 Subaltern Politics and Learning in Struggle.................................................................... 73 Revolutionary Processes and Vectors of Mobilization .................................................. 79 III ii: Empirical Research and Methods ............................................................................... 87 Event Catalogue ............................................................................................................. 88 Sites of Enquiry and Access ............................................................................................ 93 Social Groups, Interviews and Ethical Considerations ................................................... 99 Self-reflective Notes ..................................................................................................... 103 IV: Subaltern Politics on the Eve of the Revolution ............................................................. 107 Economic Disincorporation .............................................................................................. 108 The Policing of Everyday Life ........................................................................................... 119 Self-Activity of the Unemployed ...................................................................................... 125 Cultures and Spirits of Resistance .................................................................................... 133 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 139 V: From Subaltern Politics to Local Revolts ......................................................................... 143 The Young Men of Sidi Bouzid Rise Up ............................................................................ 145 Spread and Containment of Mobilization