Tunisia: More Uncertainty Ahead (Egypt Today, September 2012)

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www.EgyptToday .com64 Egypt Today September 2012

In early August, there were reports o angry protests

being met with tear gas and rubber bullets in Sidi Bou-

zid, the birthplace o the revolution, where demonstra-

tors angry with their living conditions demanded the

resignation o the government.

Reecting on the transition, 28-year-old blog-

ger Sarah Ben Hamadi rom Tunis says the po-

litical situation is still unstable, with an unclear

vision or the transitional government that mul-

tiplies the blunders and ails to appease an angry

public.

“The political landscape is a little clearer than

beore the elections, but it still remains vague,” Ben

Hamadi says. “There are many disappointed, even

among the ranks o those who voted or parties that

orm the three-party coalition in power.”

Another blogger rom Tunis, Selim Kharrat, 30, is

the coounder o a pro-democracy organization called

Cahiers de la Liberite. He views the government’s per-

ormance as a ailure.

“Decision-makers are accused o incompetence

in running the country. The economic crisis is hard,

ination is rampant and unemployment is still very

strong,” Kharrat says, adding that the same economic

and social difculties that led to the revolution con-

tinue, and many regions in Tunisia ace social unrest,

Sidi Bouzid among them.

Waa Ben Hassine, a human rights activist and

JD candidate at the University o Denver Sturm

College o Law, adds that since January 2011, or-

eign investment has gone down 25% and that the

economy is expected to grow less than 1% over the

year. Unemployment currently stands at 18%.

“Yet numbers only work in describing things

theoretically,” she says. “On the ground, many Tu-

rom the sel-immolation o street vendor

Mohamed Bouazizi in December 2010 to the

ouster o President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on

January 14, the Tunisian revolution has paved

the way or a great wave o change in the entire

region. The country is oten commended or

its ast political transition and is oten called a

progressive state. Yet Tunisian citizens remain

dissatisfed and still think the country has

a long way to go beore the demands o their

revolution are met.

Tunisia, the pioneer of the ArabSpring movement, continues tosail through unchartered political

waters. But not everyone is happy with the path the country is taking, with some who see the current government failing to deliver on therevolution’s demands.

By Randa El Tahawy

moreuncertainty ahead

fA s s o c i a t e d P r e s s

Some activists believe the governing

Ennahda party has no economic plan to

improve the lot of the Tunisians.



nisians are fnding it difcult to make ends meet

— and many young, competent youth remain un-

employed.”

Habib M. Sayah, the 24-year-old director o In-

stitut Kheireddine, a Tunisian think-tank promot-

ing individual liberty and economic ethics, believes

his country has a great potential to solve its eco-

nomic issues.

“With a highly educated workorce, a strategic geo-

graphical location, a deeply rooted spirit o entrepre-

neurship and creativity, Tunisia has an extraordinary

potential or achieving prosperity,” says Sayah, who

is also completing a Master’s degree at the Sorbonne

Law School.

Sayah sees the solution or the country’s economic

problems in fnding ways to empower small entrepre-

neurs like the late Bouazizi, who was a ruit seller. He

says that administrative restrictions and high cost o

licensing small businesses are what

lead to unemployment.

“They tend to orget that the

baker, the grocer, the taxi driver,

the mobile-phone repairman and

the old woman who sells seeds on

the streets are entrepreneurs,” he

explains. “And when the average Tu-

nisian aces administrative restric-

tions he cannot aord, he is orced

into job search.”

Unemployment in

Tunisia currently

stands at 18%.

A Government in ProgressIn October 2011, moderate Islamist Ennahda party

won the majority o seats in the country’s frst demo-

cratic parliamentary elections ater its uprising. Later

in December, members o the constitutional assembly,

the body elected to draw up a new constitution and

appoint a transitional government, elected Monce

Marzouki as president. Marzouki was a ormer dissi-

dent who was imprisoned and then exiled or oppos-

ing Ben Ali.

Despite a government being in place, the Tunisian

activists tend to think that it is still in progress and

lacks experience.

“The majority o those in power now were activists

and spent several years in prison. [This] does not make

them statesmen,” says Ben Hamadi. “And Tunisia to-

day needs a statesman, otherwise the country will not

recover soon.”

September 2012 Egypt Today 65

“Numbers only work in describing things theoretically. On

the ground, many Tunisians are finding it difficult to make

ends meet — and many young, competent youth remain

unemployed.”

A s s o c i a t e d P r e s s



“The majority of those in power now were activists and spent

several years in prison. It does not make them statesmen.”

Despite their

doubts, many

former protesters

have decided to

remain active in

politics and civil

society.

www.EgyptToday .com66 Egypt Today September 2012

gemonic and less and less inclined to have a dialogue

with its allies on sensitive issues, such as the role o

religion, judicial independence and the government

management.

“Ennahda has been getting too comortable in the

positions it has been aorded due to their admittedly commanding results in the elections,” says Ben Has-

sine, adding that the party accomplished nary one o

their campaign promises, and has been engaging in

many actions that could very well be deemed counter-

revolutionary.

As a recent example, the human rights activist

points to the appointment o Central Bank Governor

Chedhli Ayari, who has a long history with the Con-

stitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) and the ormer

regime in general.

Sayah also thinks the governing party lacks an

economic vision desperately needed to respond to thepeople’s concerns. He says that most o Ennahda’s

leaders are intellectuals, academics, scientists and

lawyers with very ew who have an understanding o

or interest in economic issues.

“For years they ought or the restoration o moral

order while resisting dictatorial regimes. Economics

was beyond their concerns. And now that they are in

the driving seat they do not have a strong economic

vision they can rely on,” says the think-tank director,

acknowledging that despite their lack o clear vision,

he is confdent in the party’s ability to implement the

rule o law.

A Changing SocietyKnown or its secular society, as Ben Ali was a ferce

combatant o Islamism, the country has seen a new

political movement dominated by an Islamist identity

through Ennahda’s newly acquired leadership.

Speaking on this new change, Kharrat disagrees

with those who blame the party or wanting to Is-

lamize the country. He thinks that the demand to

have more Islamic values in Tunisian society comes

rom the people and not rom Ennahda, a party that

describes itsel as centrist and moderate.

The blogger says that Salafs calling or the imple-

mentation o Shariah, the closing o restaurants

during Ramadan and riots occurring ater a orced

closure o an art gallery accused o displaying blas-

phemous works are all examples that

the Islamization is stemming rom

the people.

“The eeling o anxiety and ear is

widespread in a segment o the Tuni-

sian society that is araid or its ree-

dom and that does not want a particu-

lar liestyle imposed on them,” he says.

The blogger also believes the president does not

have real power, and that Ennahda party and its lead-

er, Rached Ghannouchi, is the real policy maker.

“By accepting this merely honorary position, a pres-

idency without presidential prerogatives granted by

Ennahda, he [Marzouki] seems to have betrayed his

own values or a phony throne. He didn’t take a stand

in avor o human rights when it was needed and his

current deense o his lielong ideas o secularism is

loose,” says Sayah.

While the young citizens see a weakened president,

they also see a political party aggressively trying to

assert its powers. Kharrat sees Ennahda party as he-

A s s o c i a t e d P r e s s



September 2012 Egypt Today 67

“Fear o the state has almost completely disap-

peared. It is the most precious, yet ragile ruit o

the revolution. People can speak reely o politics

in caés, journalists can criticize the government

without earing or their saety,” says Sayah. Thatsaid, he is wary o the erosion o the rule o law,

saying that some groups are using intimidation,

even violence, to silence those who hold unortho-

dox opinions.

Kharrat also sees these newly acquired reedoms be-

ing threatened by the pressure o “upholding moral-

ity” by some groups. He cites the recent proposal o an

anti-blasphemy law as an example.

Long opposed to Ben Ali’s dictatorship, Kharrat

sees the revolution as an opportunity to be involved in

changing his country.

“The revolution has truly changed my lie because

I decided to move back to my country that I had let

or my studies,” he says. “It is an opportunity or me

to be more involved in the civil society thought my or-

ganization.”

Ben Hamadi is also part o Cahiers de la Liberite as

she eels that being involved with civil society will be

more eective than joining political parties. “For the

frst time, I eel can actually achieve something or my

country,” she says.

Ben Hassine has been experiencing the transi-

tion at very close range, as she worked or almost

eight months with the constituent assembly. Her

experience has made her more realistic about the

situation.

“We would be silly, still, to expect things to change

so quickly. Liting the Tunisian government and soci-

ety out o the rubble that Ben Ali let behind can take

years, even decades,” she says.

Still, she adds, “I think that the situation is going

or the better, it will need a lot o work. I have aith

in the people o Tunisia. I have aith that we will not

be satisfed until a democracy is achieved, until each

Tunisian has an equal opportunity to prosper. But it

needs every single one o us to get there.” et

Ben Hassine sees that the biggest

change in society since Ennahda took

ofce is the return o more doctri-

naire thinking, particularly in urban

marginalized areas and neighbor-

hoods. She does, however, note thatSalafs are on the rise.

“While their rise is certainly not

the biggest threat to Tunisia’s success,

Salafs do represent a segment o soci-

ety that contradicts the Tunisian way

o lie in many ways, and the majority

o Tunisians are beginning to take

note,” she claims.

Ben Hamadi also eels a growing Salaf presence.

She adds that not only does she see an increase o

veiled women in the country but also a minor appear-

ance o the niqab that never existed in Tunisia beore.“They [Salafs] are a minority but are violent, and

the problem is Ennahda’s lax attitude toward their ac-

tions,” Ben Hamadi notes. “They are seen as potential

voters or the party.”

Like Kharrat, Sayah ails to see a radical change by

Ennahda in the near uture. He thinks that the party’s

leaders are smart and know that it is not in their best

interest to alienate a large part o the population and

potential supporters. Sayah does believe, though, that

the party wants to reorm Tunisian society and restore

“moral order” by relying on a grassroots approach,

through social pressure.

“Ennahda is torn between the necessity o reect-

ing a positive modern image to its international part-

ners and Tunisian modernists on the one hand, and

the need to give pledges o its commitment to serve

the Islamist dogma, that is to restrict reedom, on the

other hand,” Sayah says.

While the political scene is still taking shape, Tuni-

sians in general eel that more important than politi-

cal ideologies is improving the societal conditions by

solving the security situation and economy.

“For the time being, people are, rom my obser-

vation, more concerned with pressing problems o

personal and fnancial security than advancing the

democratic transition,” says Ben Hassine, adding

that the two are linked. She is doubtul that En-

nahda will be reelected so long as it does not deliver

on such issues.

Free at LastDespite the long road ahead, the activists reect on

the positive changes since the beginning o the revo-

lution. They unanimously agree that reedom o ex-

pression has been the biggest improvement since the

ousting o Ben Ali.

“While their rise is certainly not the biggest threat to

Tunisia’s success, Salafists do represent a segment of society

that contradicts the Tunisian way of life in many ways, and

the majority of Tunisians are beginning to take note.”

Tunisia: More Uncertainty Ahead (Egypt Today, September 2012)

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