Coming Soon... Revolution 1: The story of the Tunisian Uprising

Ten years ago, a desperate young man set himself on fire in an obscure town in Tunisia, and set a new course for his country — and the world.  The Arab Spring reshaped the course of the 21st century, but the uprising that inspired them all is often overlooked.  Until now. 

Revolution 1 tells the story of the Tunisian uprising through the voices of those who lived it.   We follow high schoolers-turned spies on a nail-biting mission to ferry video out of a blockaded city; a blogger who became the voice of the revolution in four languages as she steps out from behind her keyboard to document police brutality; and young lovers whose romance was cemented on the barricades, then torn apart by an arrest and weeks of torture.  There's a yacht heist, gangsters, WikiLeaks cables, snipers, underground Facebook groups, and families dealing with the uncertainty we all face: joblessness, access to education, how to keep a business afloat. 

A decade later we are still feeling the effects of the Arab Spring today, from the global migration crisis to the rise in nationalism in Europe and the US. And with popular uprisings from Hong Kong to to Black Lives Matter still gripping the headlines, we thought it would be the perfect time to look back… to Revolution 1.

Join us, on January 14th

Transcript

LESTER HOLT    00:00
A striking development in the North African Nation of Tunisia, tonight after violent protests that have lasted for weeks, the Tunisian government has fallen

LAMINE    00:09
You don’t know if it’s tear gas; it could be bullets

MAJD    00:13
I didn’t expect to see one of my friends shot in the chest in front of me. 

ERIN 00:21
I’m Erin Brown

CYRUS 00:23
And I’m Cyrus Roedel, and this is Revolution 1, from the Agora Podcast Network, where we bring the story of the Tunisian Revolution to life through the voices of those who lived it. 

LINA 00:34
It was the mother of one of the martyrs who was telling me you have to show the world what’s really happening in Tunisia. 

ERIN 00:46 
We wanted to know what it takes to bring down a dictator, so we went to where the Arab Spring began — to Tunisia, where, ten years ago, a desperate young fruit seller set himself on fire — and set a new course for his country and the world. 

CYRUS 01:00 
We’ll tell you the incredible story of how a military officer and a hairdresser managed to create an iron-clad police state that they ruled from yachts and mansions for twenty three years. And, over the course of eight episodes, we’ll hear from the political prisoners, spies, and students who, armed with nothing more than rocks and facebook, brought it all down.

ERIN 01:20
Ten years on, we are still feeling the effects of the Arab Spring today, from the global migration crisis to the rise in nationalism in Europe and the US. And with popular uprisings from Hong Kong to to Black Lives Matter still gripping the headlines, we thought it would be the perfect time to look back… to Revolution One. 

Join us, on January 14th, wherever you get your podcasts.