Anarchists Against Counter-Revolution in Tunisia

Protests in Tunisia

Protests have spread across Tunisia after the assassination of a leftist opposition leader, Chokri Belaid. The new Islamist government is also cracking down on the Tunisian anarchist movement, following the example of their brethren in Egypt. Recently, I have been posting selections from Kropotkin’s Words of a Rebel on the counter-revolutionary nature of representative and “revolutionary” governments. Here, I reproduce a declaration of Tunisian anarchists calling for libertarian socialism in Tunisia.

Ambulance carrying Chokri Belaid surrounded by protesters

English translation by Ryan Harvey of the manifesto of Disobedience Movement ( هيئات العمل الثوري/حركة عصيان, Tunisian anarchist group):

Haraket A’ssyann – Disobediance Movement, Tunisia

A DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES:

Haraket A’ssyan is a libertarian anarchist movement that struggles against capitalism and its authoritarian system; for accomplishing a self-organized mass and for direct power in its affairs.

We aim to:

-Support the revolutionary movement with all kinds of social resistance.

-Put efforts into driving the self-organized mass to realize independence from authoritarian and
centralized power.

-Get-around representative elections, and push for direct-democracy, which guarantees self-organization and management.

-Unite libertarian socialists in Tunisia to move further towards achieving the goals of the revolution.

-Strive to cancel all forms of persecution and discrimination in the quest for real equality between woman and man, and among all people.

-Resist any kind of colonialism and hegemony, in addition to supporting worldly liberatory movements, especially the Palestinian struggle.

-Devote a true culture of critique and praxis to liberatory anarchism.

-Unite the revolutionary tasks in coordination with its committed participants to bring it to life.

-Refrain from all forms of hierarchy and bureaucracy.

-Ensure the enforcement of free group decision-making and discourse over all cases, accompanied by an explicit rejection of all of democratic-centralist systems and voting conferences.

-Confront all forms of privelleges of competence, experience, age or sybolism. Emphasize the principle of sharing responsibilities and the right to disagree.

A’ssyan movement is free, independent and creatively innovative on an individual and group level.

A’ssyan movement is one of the revolution’s driving forces, with no authority or leadership over the mass, struggling in its shadow, providing it with theoretical and tangible support, and will dissolve once it becomes self-organized.

A’ssyan Movement (Nov, 2012)

Tunisian Anarchist Flag