'The Arab spring was triggered in Tunisia when Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire after claiming he was slapped by policewoman Fedia Hamdi. But as Elizabeth Day discovers, revolutions create their own myths'

from the guardian........


"It is a phrase I will hear again and again, in varying forms across Tunisia. Some will call Mohamed Bouazizi "the drop that tipped over the vase"; others will insist that his death "lit the touchpaper" for the Arab spring revolts. But listen closely and there is also a growing murmur of dissent among those who believe that Mohamed was not a political hero but a media creation, manufactured by a myth-making machine that swung into action in the immediate aftermath of his death.


I had gone to Tunisia with Observer photographer Andy Hall expecting to tell the story of a nation unified behind an ordinary man who provoked an extraordinary set of events across North Africa and the Middle East. Instead, to our astonishment, we discovered a tale of bitter feuding and division in his hometown of Sidi Bouzid, where the truth of what happened is disputed by rival factions and where the once-glorious memory of Mohamed Bouazizi is picked over like carrion in the streets.


"His mother is the only winner of this revolution," says Hania Bouazizi, a cousin of the family and Manoubia's former neighbour. "Life is still hard for the majority of Tunisians, but she has banked thousands of dinars. She became so greedy, so haughty – she'd go into supermarkets and say, 'Don't you know who I am? I'm the mother of the martyr Mohamed.' She became narcissistic and wanted to take everything for herself… That's the real story."..............LINK