TUNIS // When the Arab Spring was born, it had a young face. On the streets of Sidi Bouzid, then Tunis, then Cairo, Benghazi, and beyond, it was 20- and 30-somethings who hit the pavement to demand change in the face of tear gas and bullets.
They were lauded as a new, internet-savvy generation fed up with the archaic dictators of the past.
But 10 months later, the revolution has aged. In the first democratic election since the turmoil began, Tunisia has elected a greying political class. More than half the candidates for the new Constituent Assembly to draft a new Constitution over the next year were over 46. And the leaders of the three most successful parties are all over 65. Two of these men lived in exile in France for 20 years, removed from the hard reality that spurred revolution.
It's often said revolutions eat their young, but rarely has it been such a feast. On the streets of Tunis and across the Middle East, the young revolutionaries have been taken aback. A movement that spread on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube is today being run by a generation that lived without computers most of their lives. Now, if the Arab Spring fails to incorporate the younger generation, it could meet the fate that so many revolutions do - leaving out those who first sparked change.
"The people on the streets in January all went back to their normal lives because other people came back from Paris and started talking on behalf of 'the people'," argues Moez Ali, a founder of the newly-created Union of Independent Tunisians for Liberty. "We who made the revolution were not organised to keep control of it."
"It was a missed chance with liberty," agrees Raouf Raissi, a human-rights activist and an independent newspaper publisher who believes the revolution has been merely in name. He believes one corrupt political class — that of ousted President Zide El Abidine Ben Ali — has simply been replaced by another ageing, self-interested cadre. "Those who marched for liberty became its orphans."
In many ways, the young revolutionaries were never a match for the organisation that older parties boasted by the time the barriers of dictatorship fell. When Ben Ali fled, parties such as Ettakatol immediately kicked their underground political machinery into gear. Exiled leaders began coming home from years abroad organising a political class-in-waiting and an abundance of funds.
No one was better prepared for a homecoming than Rached Ghannouchi, the 71-year-old leader of the moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, which won the most votes and 41 per cent of the seats on October 23. His party was equipped with resources that, by all appearances, dwarfed any of his nearest competitors. And it used them. The party produced media material that would impress even the slickest western campaigns. Fluent translators offered broadcasts of Arabic news conferences in French and English better than the election commission's.
"(Ennahda is) present in every small town with even a few houses," says Khaled Houssein, a project coordinator at the Centre of Arab Woman Training and Research, who toured the countryside in the weeks before the election.
That institutionalism appealed to many voters - even young ones - who by October had been living for months without any such stability to cling to. No independent parties had ever run Tunisia but at least Ennahda had several decades of running itself.
"Ennahda is not a young party," says Aymen Brayek, a university student and party youth organiser. "It was the party who said no to Ben Ali and refused all forms of corruption (under his regime)."
Yet while Ennahda retains legitimacy for its history of resistance to Ben Ali, there have been more extreme cases of the revolution being co-opted as well. A party run by Hechmi Haamdi, a media mogul who spent the past two decades living in London and who failed to return home even to campaign, won a surprising 39 of 217 seats in the assembly.
His victory can almost certainly be attributed to the Tunisian expatriate TV channel, Al Mustakillah, which allowed him to reach voters in places and at times other candidates weren't allowed or couldn't afford to. However, Haamdi was found in violation of regulations and several of his party's seats have been cancelled.
In the face of such organised politicking, the revolutionary machinery that first brought protesters onto the streets fractured.
"The January 14 movement is today divided," laments Nargh Aname, a 27-year-old who participated in the revolution but who says his peers have scattered into various political camps.
For those who couldn't bear to be swallowed by an existing party or ideology, apathy often followed, says Ali of the Union of Independent Tunisians for Liberty. "Most of the youth don't know who they voted for. They don't know the parties and they don't trust the parties, which are saying the same thing we have heard for decades. We need to see action before we start believing in them."
In recent weeks, and particularly ahead of Tunisia's vote, the emerging political class has begun to worry about cutting off the youth — and their vote.
"The young are the last ones to think about politics right now," says Abdelfattah Mourou, a founding member of Ennahda who ran as an independent.
Indeed, if for no other reason than their numbers, Tunisia's new leaders will have to find a way to bring the young on board.
Forty per cent of the population is under 24, according to United Nations data. What's more, their economic conditions are more desperate than their elders. The African Development Bank says unemployment for university graduates skyrocketed from just under five per cent in 1994 to 20 per cent by 2010 - even as overall unemployment hovered around 15 per cent.
They are also the group most likely to come onto the streets again if the revolution heads off track.
After all, this was their revolution.
"Only two words were respected after the 14th of January: democracy and revolution," recalls Raissi. "The words felt full of substance. Now we have a demcracy of thieves."
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
THE SPECS
Engine: Four-cylinder 2.5-litre
Transmission: Seven-speed auto
Power: 165hp
Torque: 241Nm
Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000
On sale: now
The 24-man squad:
Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea), Simon Mignolet (Liverpool), Koen Casteels (VfL Wolfsburg).
Defenders: Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham), Thomas Meunier (Paris Saint-Germain), Thomas Vermaelen (Barcelona), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham), Dedryck Boyata (Celtic), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City).
Midfielders: Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United), Axel Witsel (Tianjin Quanjian), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Nacer Chadli (West Bromwich Albion), Leander Dendoncker (Anderlecht), Thorgan Hazard (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Youri Tielemans (Monaco), Mousa Dembele (Tottenham Hotspur).
Forwards: Michy Batshuayi (Chelsea/Dortmund), Yannick Carrasco (Dalian Yifang), Adnan Januzaj (Real Sociedad), Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United), Dries Mertens (Napoli).
Standby player: Laurent Ciman (Los Angeles FC).
Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
Set-jetting on the Emerald Isle
Other shows filmed in Ireland include: Vikings (County Wicklow), The Fall (Belfast), Line of Duty (Belfast), Penny Dreadful (Dublin), Ripper Street (Dublin), Krypton (Belfast)
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
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ABU%20DHABI'S%20KEY%20TOURISM%20GOALS%3A%20BY%20THE%20NUMBERS
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Watford v Leicester City (3.30pm)
Brighton v Arsenal (6pm)
West Ham v Wolves (8.30pm)
Bournemouth v Crystal Palace (10.45pm)
Sunday
Newcastle United v Sheffield United (5pm)
Aston Villa v Chelsea (7.15pm)
Everton v Liverpool (10pm)
Monday
Manchester City v Burnley (11pm)
The bio
His favourite book - 1984 by George Orwell
His favourite quote - 'If you think education is expensive, try ignorance' by Derek Bok, Former President of Harvard
Favourite place to travel to - Peloponnese, Southern Greece
Favourite movie - The Last Emperor
Favourite personality from history - Alexander the Great
Role Model - My father, Yiannis Davos
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Sanju
Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Manish’s Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Boman Irani
Rating: 3.5 stars
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
Kibsons%20Cares
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LA LIGA FIXTURES
Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Leganes v Getafe (12am)
Levante v Alaves (4pm)
Real Madrid v Sevilla (7pm)
Osasuna v Valladolid (9.30pm)
Sunday
Eibar v Atletico Madrid (12am)
Mallorca v Valencia (3pm)
Real Betis v Real Sociedad (5pm)
Villarreal v Espanyol (7pm)
Athletic Bilbao v Celta Vigo (9.30pm)
Monday
Barcelona v Granada (12am)
The Orwell Prize for Political Writing
Twelve books were longlisted for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing. The non-fiction works cover various themes from education, gender bias, and the environment to surveillance and political power. Some of the books that made it to the non-fiction longlist include:
- Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War by Tim Bouverie
- Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by Kate Clanchy
- Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez
- Follow Me, Akhi: The Online World of British Muslims by Hussein Kesvani
- Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS by Azadeh Moaveni
Porsche Taycan Turbo specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 1050Nm
Range: 450km
Price: Dh601,800
On sale: now
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
RESULT
Everton 2 Huddersfield Town 0
Everton: Sigurdsson (47'), Calvert-Lewin (73')
Man of the Match: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton)
SPECS
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