Origins and foundation
In the early 1930s, Habib and M'hamed Bourguiba, El Materi, Guiga and Sfar, started writing articles in La Voix du Tunisien, a newspaper owned by Chedly Khairallah, a member of the Destour. Soon, they stood out from their elders of the party thanks to their originality and the way they express the problems and issues related to the Tunisian people. Their new reasoning charmed public opinion as they were in favor of the inviolability of national identity and political sovereignty of the Tunisian people. Furthermore, they advocated for a gradual emancipation of the country while supporting a nationalism that fought against a regime and not against a civilization.[2]
They quickly attracted the interest of public opinion but also French preponderants, large landowners and businessmen, who had a great influence on the colonial administration. Thus, they obtained from the French Residence firm measures to end the freedom of expression of the five journalists: On May 12, 1931, many nationalist newspapers were censored, including La Voix du Tunisien while the Bourguibas, Guiga, Salah Farhat and El Materi were prosecuted.[2] Nevertheless, they obtained from their friends in Paris, Marius Moutet and Gaston Bergery, the postponing of their hearings to June 9, 1931. Awaiting trial, the journalists expressed their dissatisfaction in a protest campaign.
However, thanks to popular pressure the day of trial, the hearings were adjourned once again. That did not please, resident-general, François Manceron, who succeeded in starting an argument between the journalists and Khairallah, over the management of the newspaper, which ended up with their resignation from the journal.
Despite that, the group stood in touch and gathered sometimes in Café de la Kasbah or Baghdad restaurant to discuss politics and national news. They were often in the company of French or Tunisian socialists, among whom, the pharmacist, Ali Bouhajeb. Once, while having a talk, they decided to create their own newspaper. A drafting committee was, therefore, created among whom, Habib and M'hamed Bourguiba, Bahri Guiga, Tahar Sfar, Mahmoud El Materi and Ali Bouhajeb, who was also the manager of the publishing company. Béchir Mhedhbi, a senior year high school student, joined the team to be the copyeditor. As for the headquarters, they were settled in the back room of the Bouhageb pharmacy[5]
It was in a context of Great Depression, when the lower classes suffered hard conditions, that L'Action Tunisienne published it first edition on November 1, 1932.[5]