Us South Africans whine a lot about our situation and politics. We love to talk smack about our country and while being self-critical is probably a good thing for progress, it does get us down a bit.
So what do you do when you’re Tunisia and protests and revolution are viewed around the world as your daily life? When the media has tarnished your reputation as the founder of the Arab Spring which was once a tourist Mecca? You show the world how beautiful you still are, how happy you are and you dance – to Pharrell William’s Happy!
While this phenomenon is not unique to Tunisia, take for example this excellent video from Antananarivo, Madagascar, I was particularly inspired by Tunisia’s effort by amateur videographers. They picked up their smartphones and cameras and showed off their cities and their people to the world. It seems only fitting that a country who’s revolution took place via cellphones and social media is overturning its tarnished reputation in the same way.
Enjoy the beautiful people of towns & cities you’ve probably never heard of, dancing away the revolution blues, again and again. But if you only have time for one video it must be this first one – a little more professionally done and an excellent showcase of Tunisian happiness:
Happy Tunis
Tunis is Tunisia’s vibrant capital – located close to the ancient ruined city of Carthage and this video really shows off what a pretty place it is. Click to see location.
Happy Sfax
Tunisia’s number 2 city show’s it’s colourful nature in this video featuring lots of street art, dancers and lots of beautiful people. Click to see location.
Happy Kasserine
A town you’ve probably never heard of, it has it’s roots deep in history as the former Roman town of Colonia Cillilana, Kasserine is located in Tunisia’s western desert highlands. Click to see location.
Happy Bizerta
3000 year old Bizerta is a pretty seaside town and Africa’s northernmost city. Click to see location.
Kairouan
Click to see Kairouan’s location.
If you’re not all happied out, check out the rest of the videos on Youtube.