Log in
"No phenomenon we know in life matches the revolution in its ability to summon hope, inspire it, and also betray it!"
– Asaf Bayet, prominent sociologist and scholar
The Lesson of Zoshchenko’s Apartment
In 1920, Lenin declared that ” Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification,” promising to bring electricity to every corner of the vast country. The Russian satirical writer Mikhail Zoshchenko experienced a different kind of illumination in his old apartment. When he switched on the electric light, the shadows of his old oil lamp vanished, exposing lumpy beds, torn mattresses, a worn-out couch, scurrying insects, and an old shoe abandoned in a corner. Embarrassed and saddened, he returned to the dim, forgiving glow of the oil lamp. As he reflected, “Electric light is a good thing, but life under it is not.”
Zoshchenko was no propagandist. He had no ideology, belonged to no party, yet through humor and gentle satire, he revealed a truth the authorities could not ignore: revolutions promise hope, but if poorly executed, they can expose misery rather than cure it.
Tunisia’s Revolution in the Light of Freedom
The Tunisian Revolution of 2011 carries a similar lesson. It inspired uprisings across the Arab world, and like Zoshchenko’s apartment under bright light, freedom revealed what had long been hidden. Tunisia’s revolution carried no fixed ideology and lacked strong party leadership, which helped attract popular support. But once the light of freedom shone, it exposed deep flaws: political immaturity, ideological passions, and elites ready to reproduce the very disasters the people had revolted against.
Elites and the Failure of Democratic Transition
Political scientist Azmi Bishara reminds us that political elites largely shape democratic transitions. In Tunisia, our failure was striking attempts to seize state institutions by any means, the return of clientelism, corruption, sham alliances, marginal conflicts, and neglect of public needs. The elites failed to build a sovereign, independent state or a solid democracy with institutions to safeguard it. Yet collective arrogance prevailed, as if democracy had been strengthened and could never be reversed.
For ordinary citizens, however, democracy’s success was tied to real progress: economic opportunities, regional balance, and social justice. Like Zoshchenko’s apartment, the light of freedom revealed both hope and shortcomings, highlighting the work yet to be done.
Kais Saied and the Isolation of Elites
When Kais Saied consolidated power and halted the democratic transition, the old political elites found themselves completely isolated, without public support. How did Tunisia reach this point? Was it due to a lack of political maturity—an understanding of changing circumstances and a vision of the country’s social and economic environment? Or was it the awakening of dormant ideological rivalries that had lain beneath the surface during the revolution?
The Arab Spring and the Limits of Ideology
American sociologist Asif Bayat offers context for the Arab Spring as a whole. These revolutions emerged in a world largely devoid of “revolutionary ideology,” making them very different from twentieth-century revolutions in Cuba, Nicaragua, or Iran. The Arab Spring neither fully rejected the market economy nor opposed capitalism and the West. Its demands were modest: freedom, democracy, human rights, and vague notions of social justice.
“The lack of ideology, weak coordination, and absence of unifying leadership were almost unprecedented. Even more striking was the absence of radicalism that marked earlier revolutions. Deep democratic ideals often appeared diluted or were merely the subject of speeches, rather than the product of strategic vision or concrete programs. The real question is whether the Arab Spring can truly be called revolutions, in the sense understood in the twentieth century.”
The Danger of Obsolete Ideology
However, Ideology itself can be a double-edged sword. In theory, it promises guidance; in practice, it often divides. Like religious texts interpreted into unquestionable doctrines, ideology can close minds, enforce rigid hierarchies, and justify power abuse. Across the twentieth century, ideologies frequently brought disaster: mass oppression, failed economies, and even wars. Arab nationalist regimes, many of which came to power through military coups, offered external defeats and internal tyranny, and the horrors revealed in Syria—mass graves, prisons like slaughterhouses, and systematic torture—serve as stark evidence of ideology’s failures.
Saving Democracy or Seeking Revenge?
In Tunisia, ideological rigidity was visible from 2011 onwards. It became particularly damaging during Kais Saied’s extraordinary measures, when political parties, civil society organizations, and unions were forced to choose between upholding the principles of democracy or seeking revenge against rivals. The result? Not only did most of them lose influence, but they also lost credibility, being left fragmented, weakened, and unable to serve the public effectively.
The Question of True Democracy
But has the current authority, through its individual rule and its own version of democracy, truly won? Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi, in his classic On the Nature of Despotism and the End of Slavery, asked what defines a just government: “Is it the power of a single individual over a group, enjoying their labor and doing whatever pleases him? Or is it an agency established by the will of the nation to manage its shared public affairs?” The answer defines true democracy—and with it, everlasting stability.
Conclusion: Turning Hope into Reality
Zoshchenko’s apartment and Tunisia’s revolution share the same lesson: when the light of freedom shines, it reveals both promise and peril. Hope can inspire—but if institutions, citizens, and leaders are unprepared, it can also expose fragility, divisions, and the limits of power. The challenge, then, is not just to gain freedom, but to use it wisely: to build resilient institutions, nurture political maturity, and create a society where hope becomes reality.
Messaoud Romdhani is a Tunisian Human Rights activist, former president of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, former vice president of the Tunisian Human Rights League.
