Shughl, Hurriyya, Karama Wataniyya. The Mobilization of Unemployed Graduates in Post-Ben Ali Tunisia

Protests for employment played an important role for preparing the uprising in Tunisia in 2010/11 and have led to waves of mobilization ever since. This study of the only national organization in this field, the Union of Unemployed Graduates (UDC), makes use of four key factors derived from social movement theory and studies of unemployed movements in Europe to analyze the emergence and dynamics of the UDC: grievances, organizational resources and mobilization structures, collective action frames and public resonance as well as political opportunity structures. Building on fieldwork and data compiled from social media, the study finds that UDC activism increased after 2010 when unemployed rates among graduates rose up to 30%. Its local networks especially in the marginalized Tunisian hinterland and the new won political freedom after 2011 helped the UDC to expand its activities. Yet, greater mobilization is also motivated by a feeling of weakness. The leftist alliance with the trade union federation and the student union is less cohesive than under dictatorship. The UDC also suffers from a lack of strong political allies and a general public opinion and political discourse that increasingly rejects street politics and puts security issues first. The collective action frame of the UDC however, that connected the issue of unemployment with the call for dignity and freedom, remains alive and could be re-activated also for larger protests on the national level.