Residents of Sidi Bouzid rush about without paying much attention to the statue or the giant poster hanging on the post office building commemorating Mohamed Al Bouazizi, who set himself on fire on December 17, 2011, triggering a revolution that would overthrow dictator Ben Ali.

Today, dozens of peddlers, like Bouazizi, gather adjacent to Revolution Square to sell fast food or clothes smuggled from Algeria to earn a meager living.

Residents of Sidi Bouzid rush about without paying much attention to the statue or the giant poster hanging on the post office building commemorating Mohamed Al Bouazizi, who set himself on fire on December 17, 2011, triggering a revolution that would overthrow dictator Ben Ali.

Today, dozens of peddlers, like Bouazizi, gather adjacent to Revolution Square to sell fast food or clothes smuggled from Algeria to earn a meager living.

Among them is 37-year-old Al Amin Al Shaibi who laments that he is unable to sell anything and that his life is no easier than Bouazizi’s was: “My low-income customers will not buy any new clothes before being sure that the old ones are rags,” Al Amin says ironically about people in this poor city.

Despite holding a degree in construction electricity, Al Shaibi could not find a job either in the public or in the private sectors.

“Employment opportunities are limited in Sidi Bouzid. Investment and development are blocked and people are tired of unfulfilled promises,” he says, criticizing the government’s slowness in creating new industrial projects.

Mounzer Al Shouaibi, a civil society activist, agrees with Al Shaibi and says few in Sidi Bouzid have faith that the government will be able to fix the city’s financial woes.

Unemployment, poverty and marginalization have boosted the allure of jihadi groups to attract more young men, both uneducated and degree-holders alike.

One 28-year-old young man who prefers to remain anonymous, adopted salafism via the internet. He told Correspondents he had hoped to travel to Libya to join Ansar Alsharia, however, he is prohibited from travelling as he is under 35 and his name is on a list of suspects after being involved in an attack on a hotel to force them to stop selling alcohol.

“We have no hope of finding a job with a decent salary,” says Bilal Al-Omari, a vegetable peddler who dropped out of school 15 years ago. “Our dreams have dissipated among the politicians’ disputes.”

Selling vegetables in the same place for years will never provide Al Omari a salary large enough for him to finance a wedding or own a shop.

Still, he does not deny that the revolution granted them some rights like selling without police intimidation.

“Peddlers will have a local market within 45 days where commercial shops will have electricity and water provided symbolic fees,” says Rashid Al-Fatini, head of the steering board of the business center in Sidi Bouzid.

This TND 1.2-million (US $600 million) project aims to stop informal peddling in the streets and gather peddlers in one place to promote their merchandise.

However, Atef Suliman, a peddler questioned the success of the project saying that his colleagues would not buy shops and leave the pavement to avoid paying high taxes out of their already low income.