Zarzis even has its own, budding media outlet, website Zarzis TV. Walid Fellah, 27, is one of its founders.

Fellah says Zarzis TV members participated in the anti-government protests in Zarzis, but they also filmed them - and the police crackdown. They published everything on their Facebook site. Now, they are publishing town news including news of the hundreds of residents who fled Tunisia for Europe.

Fellah says he believes political change in Tunisia will come locally. Zarzis is trying to build its own democratic structures. If other regions do the same, Fellah says, democracy will take root in Tunisia.