Tonight, the transnational delegation from Knowledge Liberation Front reunited in Tunis to begin the Liberation Without Borders Tour. This delegation is a project of militant research that was initated at Meeting in Paris last February. It aims to reenforce the grassroots political relations among mediterranean social movements.

Right off, we began making connections in the extremely complex situation that the Tunisian movements are currently facing. The barbwire that cuts off a piece of Avenue Bourghiba is the most evident sign of the social and political tension that has mounted over the last week. These tensions were above all fueled by the scandal caused by a video of the Minister of the Interior who denouced what he called the coming of a military coup d’etat. Following the public release of this video, the Minister resigned.

This afternoon we also witnessed the arrest of young activists from the FLPT only a short distance from the Ministry of the Interior. Another result of the rising tension, beyond the indefinite curfew imposed between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., is the new ban on all demonstrations in the city.

In response to this growing repression, demonstrations and strikes have been called for the coming days. As one activist commented, "It was an error to have abandoned the Khasba, [...] but now we will take the streets back to push the revolution forward".

From the countryside and the neighboring cities, hundreds of young Tunisians continue to fill the streets of the capital and the other major cities pushing for radical transformation.These young activists have now become the target of governmental repression due to their fundamental role as the driving force of the revolution while the transitional government appears more and more interested in restoring the status quo rather than a real political transformation.

Overall, the contacts made today that will continue to be developed over the next week tell of an open-ended process of political change driven by the force of the social movements.

KLF in Tunis, 13 May 2011