Taher Hmila

Taher Hmila

Taher Hmila, born on July 25th, 1938, is originally from Msekin but lives now in Sousse (located on the coast of Tunisia). He was a teacher and then the administrator of a high school, but was forced into retirement on October 1st, 1987, for political and administrative reasons. He graduated from the École Normale Supérieure in Sousse.

During high school, he was a boy scout and a member of the youth school. Hmila joined the Constitutional Youth Movement in 1951.

He was also an activist, who participated in marches, demonstrations, and sit-ins during the Liberation Movement in Sousse. However, he withdrew from the Constitutional Liberal Party in 1957 and decided to finish his studies. Taher Hmila started teaching in 1960 and engaged in the actions of trade unions.

Hmila was in contact with Nasserite and Baathist pan-arab parties as well as left-wing movements, but as an independent. He was also involved with the Democratic Socialists Movement of 1976, and was a member of the editorial board of the independent newspaper Al-Rai.

He participated in the elections of 1981 as part of the Movement of Social Democrats as head of the list of the district of Sousse. He left the party in 1983 for intellectual reasons. He then shifted his focus on independent cultural and political activities.

On October 18th, 2005, he joined the movement of the Congress for the Republic (CPR), which is now the second major force in the Constituent Assembly.

Taher Hmila was the spokesperson at the first session of the Constituent Assembly.