Ali Belhouane

Ali Belhouane was a brilliant philosophy professor at Collège Sadiki whose impassioned patriotic lectures mobilized an entire generation of Tunisian youth against French colonial rule. Dismissed by colonial authorities for his activism, he became a core leader of the Neo-Destour party.

On April 8 and 9, 1938, his fiery calls for a Tunisian parliament brought tens of thousands of citizens into the streets. His arrest by French police sparked the general strike and bloody crackdown of April 9, now commemorated as Martyrs' Day in Tunisia. Following independence, he was elected Mayor of Tunis before his premature passing in 1958.