Internet et la reconfiguration de l’espace public tunisien : le rôle de la diaspora

Using a sociological approach, we show how Tunisians of the diaspora take advantage of Internet to keep themselves involved and informed and to denounce what they consider as unjust in their native country. We describe the style of critical speech preferred by these activist Internet users and the type of public sphere they claim. We study the activist paths of some of them and analyse their relationships with Internet users living in Tunisia. While they are initially less likely to openly denounce (use of indirect criticism) the authoritarian regime, we illustrate how these Internet users in Tunisia come to play an increasingly important role in this new space of contestation.