On the Fourth Anniversary of the Coup: Tunisia Continues to Regress
No Way Out Except Through Struggle

Today marks four years since the coup of July 25, 2021, in which Kais Saied exploited the severe crisis the country had reached after ten years of rule by various reactionary right-wing coalitions. These coalitions turned their backs on the revolution and continued to perpetuate the same previous choices against which the people had revolted, to seized power and excluded their opponents, foremost among them the Ennahda movement, claiming that they came to “correct the course of the revolution,” “fight corruption and injustices,” “fulfill demands” that others had failed to achieve, “restore rights to their owners,” “protect national sovereignty,” and other grand slogans that stirred the emotions of the people, especially the frustrated among them.

Four years have passed, and none of what was promised to our people has been achieved, except for the escalation of misleading populist rhetoric that claims victory for the nation and the people, while in reality, the opposite is being reinforced. The conditions of the nation and various struggling and popular classes and segments have witnessed a horrific deterioration in all fields: a crazy rise in prices, the loss of several basic commodities in the markets, the scarcity of others, the deterioration of public services (water and electricity cuts…), rampant unemployment and poverty, the emigration of competencies (desperate migration), the exacerbation of family disintegration, divorce, school dropout, illiteracy, and cultural desertification, in addition to the worsening of crime in all its forms.

Four years of rampant corruption and bribery at all levels despite claims of fighting it, in addition to the decline in values and ethics, and the escalation of hate speech, accusations of treason, racism, and gloating. Furthermore, lying and hypocrisy have become the most prevalent currency in society for distorting others and attacking people’s dignity and honor, which has deepened the manifestations of division and societal fragmentation. In short, the outcome of four years of the coup on the economic and social level is the deepening of the country’s dependence and the deterioration of the people’s livelihood as an inevitable result of the continued perpetuation of the same unpatriotic and unpopular economic and social choices inherited from decades of rule by client and rentier parasitic classes, both before and after the revolution.

As for the political outcome of four years of the coup regime, it has only solidified an authoritarian, fascist, individualistic ruling system that is hostile to freedoms. It has liquidated, or nearly liquidated, the gains of the democratic revolution and barren public life. It is working to destroy manifestations of political, trade union, and civil popular organization in favor of a populist, treasonous orientation that is hostile to “intermediate bodies” with the aim of depriving the people, especially workers and laborers, of self-defense tools, foremost among them organization. The individualistic rule has fortified itself with a fascist constitution and with dummy institutions that have no power or authority beyond executing the will of the coup leader, such as the government and the two-chamber “puppet” parliament. Meanwhile, the judiciary continues to be tamed, the Constitutional Court remains absent, and the arsenal of fascist laws (Decree 54…) is being strengthened, and prisons are being filled with prisoners of conscience including politicians, journalists, bloggers, trade unionists, and social activists, on charges of conspiracy, terrorism, and other criminal charges. At the same time, the practice of torture is escalating, recently leading to the deaths of citizens in detention centers as well as in prisons.

While the demagogic discourse of “sovereignty” intensifies, manifestations of submission to foreign powers are expanding, such as the refusal to consider a law criminalizing normalization with the Zionist enemy due to external pressures. Work continues on all unbalanced and sovereignty-infringing agreements, whether with the European Union or with the United States of America. Among these agreements are security and military ones that open the door to normalization with the Nazi entity, as is the case with the Strategic Partnership Agreement with NATO (a key non-NATO ally). At a time when the coup authority attacks civil society organizations for receiving funding under Article 2 of the Partnership Agreement with the European Union, it continues to operate under this agreement to obtain funding and facilities for itself. Sovereignty for Kais Saied does not mean Tunisia’s sovereignty at all, but rather the sovereignty of his fascist regime and its protection from any opposition or criticism of its systematic violations of freedoms and rights.

The Workers’ Party, which did not hesitate from the very first moment to describe what happened on the night of July 25, 2021, as a coup from within the reactionary ruling system to save the system of clientelism and exploitation in general by liquidating freedoms and returning the country to dictatorship, and warned the Tunisian people of the dangers of this coup to its present and future:

• Reaffirms that the catastrophic outcome in all fields of four years of Kais Saied’s absolute individual rule clearly demonstrates the soundness of its position on the coup, its goals, and its dimensions.
• Believes that this outcome, while emptying the Republic of its most basic political, social, and cultural content, is pushing our country towards collapse, which necessitates struggle to confront this situation and put our country back on the path of revival.
• Emphasizes that true salvation lies in the Democratic People’s Republic achieved by the people on the ruins of the state of tyranny and clientelism and exploitation.
• Renews its commitment to continue confronting all forms of tyranny and violation of freedoms and rights, and demands the release of all prisoners of conscience and the abolition of all repressive and fascist laws and decrees, foremost among them Decree 54.
• Stands in solidarity with the popular struggles for economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights and participates in them to accumulate forces on the path to getting rid of the system of tyranny, clientelism, and exploitation.
• Affirms its permanent commitment to stand by the Palestinian people and their brave resistance, and to mobilize with other progressive and anti-imperialist forces in Tunisia, the region, and the world to end the brutal genocide war of annihilation in Gaza and the West Bank, and to stop the Zionist-imperialist aggression against Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran.

Down with the coup!
Freedom, all freedom to the people!
For a Democratic People’s Republic!
Workers’ Party
Tunis, July 25, 2025