Young Tunisians

Young Tunisians, political party formed in 1907 by young French-educated Tunisian intellectuals in opposition to the French protectorate established in 1881.

The party, headed by Ali Bash Hamba and Bashir Sfar, demanded complete Tunisian control of the government and administration of the country and full citizenship rights for both Tunisians and Frenchmen. The party attracted a following among the young, educated, professional Muslims, but the liberal attitudes and European ways of its members alienated the common people.

In 1911 the Young Tunisians protested against Italy’s invasion of neighbouring Muslim Tripolitania. In Tunisia itself, massive protests against French registration of a Muslim cemetery as public property ended in violent riots and killings; boycotts and labour strikes were called against Italian-owned companies in Tunis. The French responded by exiling the leaders of the party, including Ali Bash Hamba and ʿAbd al-ʿAziz al-Thaʿālibī (1912), and driving the Young Tunisians underground. At the end of World War I they emerged again as activists in the Tunisian nationalist movement and, led by al-Thaʿālibī, reorganized themselves (1920) into the Destour Party, which remained active until 1957.