In its centennial, Regueb seeks to launch a model for success in post-revolution Tunisia
02-03-2018 00:53:07
Civil society bodies in the city of Regueb in the province of Sidi Bouzid - The cradle of the Tunisian revolution - are organizing a cultural and developmental event on the days of 09, 10 and 11th of March, marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the city in the center of Tunisia. This is the first initiative of its kind to give the city and the region a new start. The title of the event is “Regueb: 100 years as a center” and a slogan which is “fulfilment for history... building for the future”, which attracts wide attention, especially among young people through social networking sites.
The program of the event includes a number of heritage, artistic and cultural events, as well as sports and entertainment competitions with a participation of Maghreb countries. The program also includes lectures, discussion sessions and specialized workshops. The first day (Friday) will be devoted to the local history of Regueb, and the second day to the appreciation of local heritage.
The third day will be devoted to presenting and discussing a strategic development vision for Regueb 2030. Experts and local actors will provide studies and researches on some topics. These topics include: the administrative and architectural establishment of Regueb, the local heritage, the national work and the armed struggle of French colonization in the city, as well as futuristic visions of the development of Regueb and the role of the region's emigrants in the development and promotion of the city.
The event will be organized by the Association of “Regueb gathers us”, in cooperation with the municipality of Regueb gathers us and sponsored by “Dar Al Shabab”(Youth Haus), “Dar Al-Thaqafa”(Culture Haus) in Regueb, and a number of economic and cultural institutions. The Association will mobilize dozens of activists and young talents from the region to ensure the success of this event covered by local, Arab and European media.
In the presentation document of the event, the organizing body emphasizes that it is seeking through the program of the "100 years of Regueb as a center" to offer "a joint effort to document the roots of belonging to the homeland and to fulfill the legacy of the ancestors and making it at the level of what the martyrs of Regueb had offered to their homeland which reflects their efforts in developing their homeland, as we want it an event that envisions the future of Regueb: a city and a countryside in accordance with a strategic and developmental vision for Regueb that brings us together. "
Strategic location
Nearly 60,000 people live in Regueb area, 18 per cent of them in the town of Regueb, the urban center of the region. The population is mainly dependent on agriculture, livestock and trade. It has a strategic location in the center of Tunisia, at a crossroads heading north towards Tunisia through Kairouan, south to Libya via Gabès and west to Algeria through the cities of Sidi Bouzid and Kasserine, east towards Sfax and the cities of the Tunisian coast.
The distance between The region of Regueb and the coast of the Mediterranean Sea is only 100 km, which is the same distance from the city of Sfax, the capital of the south of Tunisia and the country's second largest economy. Regueb is located south of the city of Kairouan, known as one of the most important centers of Islamic civilization in North Africa. Regueb is a constituency of Sidi Bouzid, bordered to the south by “Gafsa” region, rich in phosphates and the well-known Tunisian Palm leaf and many fabulous oases. It is also bordered by “Kasserine” on the borders with Algeria.
Regueb is located in the middle of about half a circle of mountains that surrounds it to the west and south and does not separate it eastwards from the borders or the topography of the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, which gives it a dry and wonderful atmosphere, and it is also characterized by its fertile lands and flat plains.
Historical heritage
Regueb region is one of the most important historical strongholds of the liberation struggle against French colonialism, that is documented by historical testimonies and documents in the book titled: " Regueb: from liberation to reconstruction" by Mohamed El-Arabi Al-Zribi. But in the era of the independence state, like many areas in the west and south of the country, Regueb was subjected to marginalization.
The inhabitants of the region, most of whom belong to the tribes of “Al Hamama”, are extremely chivalry. The city is considered as a historical reservoir of syndicate unions and political movements, protests and uprisings in the country.
When the Tunisian revolution broke out in Sidi Bouzid after Mohammed Bouazizi burned himself on December 17th, 2010, Regueb, the neighboring city were at the forefront of the uprising. It was severely oppressed and besieged which resulted in six martyrs of the region's youth who confronted the brutality of the security forces, which kept on firing live ammunition without stopping even after the announcement of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of the ceasing fire.
The visitors of the city of Regueb find a memorial erected in “The Martyr Square” that is symbolizes the epic of the youth of the region during the revolution. The people of the region explain the ruthlessness of the security services with instructions from some members of the Ben Ali family who had agricultural projects in the area known for its fertility and abundance of water resources, where the people of the region exploited as cheap-cost labors, while buying the lands of the territory and establishing projects where its products directed for export outside the country, without any benefits to the region. These data were revealed by many reports in the corruption files revealed after the revolution.
Economic marginalization
Historically, the inhabitants of the region lived on agriculture and grazing. The scarcity of water and the lack of rain were not helping them but with a changeful seasonal production. However, the discovery of large underground water resources contributed to an agricultural boom in the last three decades, which changed the area into a source of the agricultural products to the different places of Tunisia.
However, the weak infrastructure, the lack of sustainable development and the dominance of social exploitation have made large segments of the population of the region not benefiting from the results of local development, resulting in exodus and migration to other parts of Tunisia or beyond, especially young people, including university degree holders.
As of 2011, when the revolution started, the unemployment rate of young people with diplomas in Sidi Bouzid was one of the highest in Tunisia, with an average of 40.2 per cent in 2012. For many years before the revolution, Sidi Bouzid had the highest rates of general unemployment compared with the rest of the country with 27 per cent, while the general average in Tunisia was 17.5 per cent.
A leading role for youth and women
Unlike many parts of the country that witness disturbances and protracted protests since the revolution, the region of the Regueb has a distinctive trajectory.
The city and towns belonging to the municipality (the Department) occasionally witness protests in which social or political demands are raised, but do not amount to paralysis the economic activity or disruption of the security situation. Youth-led civil society organizations play an influential role in framing social, cultural and political mobility in the region.
The municipality of Regueb was classified as one of the six best municipalities in post-revolution Tunisia, like famous cities Mounastir and Sidi Bousaid(North Tunis), in terms of the participation of youth and civil society in the management of local affairs, according to a joint classification issued in 2016 by the organization of cooperation between the cities and the municipalities “CoMun”and the German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ).
However, the problems of unemployment of university graduates and the weakness of the labor force specialized in the strategic economic sectors are still holding back the rise of this promising region. Experts expect that in the post-municipal elections (May 2018), if the factors of support and incentives are available, Regueb will be an examples of success in sustainable development and local democracy in Tunisia.
The region of Regueb which is a province of Sidi Bouzid is one of seven agricultural areas of Tunisia that attracts economic support programs from International and European institutions, especially in the promotion of agricultural projects such as 15 programs sponsored by the German Cooperation Agency GIZ, and include small and medium farmers in the sectors of environmental and biological crops. This helps in the emergence of a new category of small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises, including a significant proportion led by women.
A report of the German Cooperation Agency highlights how technical and training programs have contributed is raising the efficiency of women from the region to lead agrarian institutions that challenge local difficulties and lack of funding resources through the development of local production, for example in the biological olive oil sector, to markets outside Tunisia.
However, the rise of the agricultural sector in the region is accompanied by phenomena of concern to the experts, the first of which is the phenomenon of widespread use of women's labor, especially from rural areas, sometimes accompanied by exploitation and lack of social and legal guarantees, secondly, over-exploitation of water resources which represents a future environmental risk.
The peculiarities of migration of the people of Regueb
In contrast to many areas of Tunisia, the region of Regueb is not a major source of migration abroad, but mainly to the domestic market. Tunisian official reports report that two-thirds of the migrants from Sidi Bouzid settle in other areas of Tunisia, such as Sfax, the coast and Tunis, the capital, while one-thirds of them are moving abroad.
Libya is the most historic attraction point for migration from the region of Regueb, and over decades it has been an important source of local income for families in Regueb. However, the instability of the labor market in Libya during the past two decades, whether due to the disruption of relations between Tunisia and Libya or due to the instability of Libya in the wake of the events of the Arab Spring, has made Regueb, like other areas in south and central Tunisia, affected by household income and Taking advantage of the local economy from the Libyan market.
In recent years, the Arab Gulf region and Europe, especially Italy, France and Germany, have been a major destination for Regueb immigrants, some of them are having high capabilities. This is what makes the experts think about the necessity of having an appropriate strategy to employ these skilled people and the human resources to help their region in promoting and building a network of constructive and productive cooperation relations with economic institutions and other regions in the world.
Threatened cultural resources
