January 26, 1978: the day Tunisia experienced a “Black Thursday”

In Tunisia, on January 26, 1978, President Habib Bourguiba experienced an unprecedented mobilization against the power in place. The regime then repressed the demonstrations and tried to muzzle the UGTT.

It was 45 years ago to the day. And on a Thursday. On January 26, 1978, in Tunisia, government and unions clashed in what is still considered a historic uprising. “Black Thursday” is also one of the key dates of the first general strike in the country, which sounded the hour of revolt, six years before the “bread riots”. While the economic crisis is increasingly difficult in Tunisia and food prices continue to soar, this date of January 26 finds a particular echo in the small Maghreb country.

At the time, the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT), the main union, still today, in the country, adhered to the program of the Destourian Socialist Party (PSD), in power. But the country is faltering. Tunisia bends, but does not break. At the end of 1976, Tunisia had just gone through a major crisis, only four years after the first oil shock. Growth back, the government of Hédi Nouira, considered very liberal, consolidates the support that the social partners, both the UGTT and the UTICA, the Tunisian employers, grant him by signing a "social pact" on January 19, 1977 .

But if it seems contained, the crisis is still well and truly latent. The compensation fund, which makes it possible to subsidize several basic necessities, cannot hide the macroeconomic reality of Tunisia. The UGTT denounces the evils that plague the state: corruption, privileges or the inertia of the power in place. President Habib Bourguiba is ill. His potential successors dream of taking his place, making the regime in place even more authoritarian. Even if it means cutting back on social rights.

The army attacks the Tunisian people

In 1977, demonstrations were organized by the UGTT. The power in place severely represses them. The party of the PSD, him, decides to claim that the heads fall within the UGTT. On January 20, 1978, a text from the central committee of the PSD formalized this request. Two days later, militias were sent to towns experiencing uprisings and attacked the premises of the central trade union body.

It is undoubtedly the arrest of a Sfaxien executive of the UGTT, Abderrazak Ghorbal, which will directly ignite the powder. Another Habib will take things in hand: Achour, general secretary of the UGTT, calls for a general strike. This will take place on January 26 and 27. Bourguiba, he feels humiliated and sends the police to take position around the headquarters of the UGTT. Habib Achour threatens that Tunisia will revolt if the trade unionists are not released.

Riots begin, especially in Tunis and its suburbs. A curfew is decreed, but not respected by the demonstrators. As in Paris ten years earlier, barricades are installed. Tunisia ignites and the army, led by a certain Ben Ali, will shoot on sight. Result: more than 50 dead and 350 injured, according to the Tunisian authorities. Four times more according to the organizers.

If 500 people were sentenced after this "Black Thursday", including some executives of the central trade union, this date remains symbolic: it will highlight the role of the UGTT, as an effective counter-power. This movement will also be a precursor to what follows: the boss of the army, guilty of real blunders, will take power less than ten years later after a “medical coup”. Six years later, the “bread riots” once again rocked the country. It will finally forge the spirit of the Tunisians who will see, in these demonstrations and riots, a way of expressing their disapproval to their leaders.