What Does “Freedom” Mean to Tunisia’s Young Generation?

Safouane Ben Haj Ali
Oct 5
2 min read

Updated: Oct 9

Young Tunisian man smiling while standing beside a bicycle in a narrow street, wearing a traditional dark tunic and straw hat.

For Tunisia’s young generation, freedom is a condition they grew up inside.

They were children when the revolution began. They heard the chants through television static, saw the flags, and learned that their country had changed.

Now, in their twenties, they are discovering what it means to live with that change; not as an event, but as a responsibility.

Noise to Nuance

The generation before them shouted for freedom.

This one asks: what do we do with it now?

In a world of economic uncertainty and global mobility, Tunisian Gen Z doesn’t see freedom as rebellion, but as the right to build quietly; to stay, to leave, to return, to choose.

They are less performative, more pragmatic.

They value transparency over slogans, structure over chaos, results over rhetoric.

Freedom, for them, means being able to work with dignity and to speak honestly, not necessarily loudly.

The Weight of Normality

Many of them have never known dictatorship directly.

Their challenge is different: to create normality in a place that has been defined by transition for too long.

They want to make things — art, code, ceramics, small businesses — without needing to declare them as acts of resistance.

Their version of freedom is not methodical.

It’s the right to move forward without always having to explain that they are moving forward.

Beyond Borders

Some have left Tunisia to study or work abroad, yet their sense of identity is less about escape and more about extension.

They see the world as a network, not a hierarchy.

And many who stay are finding calm pride in building from within; creating systems, startups, cooperatives, ateliers that function on fairness.

International institutions are starting to notice this quiet shift. The United Nations, for example, recently highlighted Tunisia’s growing ecosystem for youth employment and creative entrepreneurship — you can read the UN report here.

International media have also started to document this new rhythm. BBC Travel described Tunis as “bursting with the creative energy of a generation taking full advantage of its newfound freedom and preserving its heritage in unexpected ways.”