This article examines the continued resonance of Bourguibist discourses on modernity within Tunisia, how his political legacy continues to serve as a point of reference for diverse political movements, and therefore seeks to question how this conceptualization of modernity remains hegemonic. I posit that the national narrative of “modernity” conveyed by Bourguiba in the post-independence era should be understood as an arena of struggle over power and identity, and accordingly that both serve to shed light on how collective memory is mobilized as a political idiom to legitimise certain ideological agendas and views on what is deemed the “right” Tunisian national identity. With specific reference to Ennahda and Nidaa Tounes, I argue that understanding the prevailing political and social scene of post-revolutionary Tunisia necessitates examination of the social construction of Bourguiba, how he has come to be “mythologised” in order to generate support at a national level, and more importantly how this functions within broader discursive strategies towards power. In seeking to move beyond the current binarism that situates Islamists and so-called “secularists” (supposedly heirs of Bourguibism) in opposition, this study seeks to demonstrate the commonalities within their respective appropriations of the Bourguibist legacy in the post-revolutionary context, and thereby to elucidate how his normative heritage serves as a touchstone for seemingly contradictory ideological currents.

Résumé Comment se mobilise-t-on à distance ? L'étude des oppositions politiques hors des frontières exige d'expliciter les règles régissant cet espace singulier de mobilisation et d'analyser la façon dont les modes d'organisation et les registres de justification se reconfigurent en situation migratoire. En comparant les mobilisations islamistes tunisiennes et égyptiennes en France, cet article interroge les effets de l'identité politico-religieuse des acteurs sur leurs pratiques d'opposition à distance. Les militants anti-Ben Ali dans les années 1990-2000 et anti-Sissi depuis 2013 sont partagés entre l'ambition de rendre audible leur cause à un public français et le besoin de préserver l'identité religieuse du groupe.

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