Analysis 2000

An updated analysis of the human rights situation developing in Tunisia as of May 2, 2000.

As you know, images can relate powerful messages. The particular image to which I am referring is a small picture of Sihem Ben Sedrine, publisher of 'Aloes', a publishing company closed by the Tunisian government on April 10. You need not worry of seeing Ms. Sedrine's battered face gracing the front pages of North American newspapers. To date, the US media - print and tv - have hardly taken notice of the rapid flow of events in Tunisia and of the mounting challenge to the government of President Zine Ben Ali. It is as if these events don't exist.

Ms Sedrine, whose efforts in support of Tunisian human rights are detailed on my web site Attack on Madame Sihem Ben Sedrine , appears - at least before the French speaking world - in a small insert in today's issue of `Liberation' (if you want to see for yourself just how much your french has deteriorated over the years go to (http://www.liberation.fr/quotidien/semaine/20000502marf.html) There is a somewhat dazed Ms. Sedrine with a black eye. Damned bullies. Reading through the article, you would learn that in prison at the hands of Tunisia's security forces she also suffered a dislocated shoulder and multiple bruises to her body at the hands of upholders of the law, or to put it a bit more prosaicly: they beat the s**t out of her. In order to protect Tunisian society from democracy, the security forces arrested Ms. Sedrine who on April 10 was supporting the hunger strike of Tunisian journalist Tawfik Ben Brik, then in its first week. Ben Brik had chosen - Aloes Publishers - as the sight of his hunger strike to protest the confiscation of his passport, continued harassment of himself and family and his arrest and indictment for `disturbing the public order' as a result of the publication of some articles on the Tunisian human rights situation in two Swiss newspapers.

By the timeyou receive this letter, the situation in Tunisia will almost undoubtedly have changed yet again, lurching ahead with some new developments. So it is with deepening social crises. The pace of events remains intense and the crisis there becoming more generalized - or so it appears from my vantage point in - the Irkutsk of the USA - Denver. At the time of this writing - May 2, 2000 - this little electronic newsletter on the human rights situation in Tunisia is barely six months old and yet so much has transpired in Tunisia since its outset. I admit to still being rather low on the learning curve. It seems that fortuituously, I simply caught the crest of a wave of social protest that has been intensifying since last fall and perhaps a bit earlier.

A quick review of events might be useful. Even this cursory view of them suggests a breathtaking series of developments. In late October of 1999, Zine Ben Ali had just won the Tunisian presidency in a more or less sham election in which he garnered a cynically high 99.44% of the vote. Never trust anyone who wins elections by that margin. Shortly thereafter to sooth a growing wave of criticism of Tunisia's human rights policy in Europe, Ben Ali released from 600 to 1000 (the numbers varied in the press) political prisoners from Tunisia's jails, many of them members or supporters of the country's `Nahdha' movement. Rather than ease social tensions, the gesture proved to be more akin to start of a race. At about the same time, a book, "Notre Ami Ben Ali" by Nicolas Beau and Jean-Pierere Turqot appeared, seriously denting Ben Ali's image, especially in France. With some luck it might get translated into English so as to reach a broader audience. By the turn of the milleneum the situation only deteriorated. In a country where the media is one of the more controlled in the world separating fact from fiction becomes more difficult and rumors have a material existence of their own. In February 2000, the mere rumor of price hikes for bread and gasoline triggered rioting in Tunisia's south, especially around Gabes, in which 14-16 year old students and unemployed youth were prominent participants. Previous Ben Ali supporters, the country's taxi and louage drivers struck earlier that month over proposed regulation changes in driving rules. Then on April 6, Habib Bourguiba, generally recognized as the country's anti-colonial leader and founding father, died. The way the Ben Ali government handled the mourning and funeral - to downplay Bourguiba's role and enhance his own - was viewed as undignified by many Tunisians whom, while critical of many aspects of Bourguiba's days in power, still acknowledged his contribution to independence and the subsequent relative national economic prosperity. The crowds of mourners was especially irreverant in Monastir, Bourguiba's birth place and the site of his burial. The same month, more student demonstrations took place in Tunis, now over changes in the spring exam schedule, with students walking out the country's more prestiguous high schools (Lycee Alaoui, College Sadeki) as well as other schools through the capitol region.

These events suggest that a varied opposition appears to be taking shape, as local grievances merge with a more generalized call for democratic change and an end to the Ben Ali regime. That it will all crystalize into some kind of open challenge to the powers that be is far from clear, but there is no doubt that Ben Ali has repeated suffered damage to his political credibility in these last six months. A unifying vision - what kind of new Tunisia - (beyond more democracy) seems lacking, as well, quite frankly as a strategy for reforming the government or seizing power for that matter. Nor is it obvious how the regime will respond to this new challenge. One can only fear that rather than giving ground to the democratic aspirations implicit in this wave of protest, that some kind of pervasive crack down could result and that `state beatings' will look mild in comparison. Certainly Ben Ali's history suggests moving in the direction of `the hard line'. Yet who knows, it seems that to date the government has not as yet decided on what direction to take and it fluctuates between democratic gestures (freeing the prisoners in November, restoring Tawfik Ben Brik's passport) to cracking the whip (intensification of harassment and persecution of human rights activists and other regime opponents). Just remember with what startling speed societies in Eastern Europe changed in 1989. Of course there the people seemed to know exactly what they were rebelling against, but had a much foggier notion of what they were rebelling for. It is not impossible that events in Tunisia could evolve with such lightening speed as well.

Again, like in Eastern Europe in the 1980s, at the very center of the storm sit the country's human rights organizations and activists who have throughout the past six months (since I have been trying to follow these events more closely), shown great courage and tenacity in face of a kind of repression that would probably make many US human rights organizations simply collapse. This has intensified in the past months with the upsurge in opposition to Ben Ali. But today, it seems that the human rights movement there, for all the blows it has taken, has broken through the isolation it has so long experienced, broadened and found allies within other sectors of Tunisian society.

And now a new development, quite unprecedented in these past years: the government's return of Tunisian journalist Tawfik Ben Brik's passport, after a year's suspension. This concession comes after Ben Brik endured 28 days of a hunger strike (begun April 3, suspended for a few days at the end of the month and resumed in the past few days) during which he has lost over 20 kilos (more than 44 pounds) and his health has seriously deteriorated. There is some suggestion that Ben Ali made this concession after a weekend phone call from France's President Jacques Chirac. The movement for Tunisian human rights is especially strong in France. It is a sign of the time that the government simply did not let Ben Brik die of his efforts and that the gesture itself galvanized support both within and outside of Tunisia. The convergence of Ben Brik's hunger strike with the protests surrounding Bourguiba's death gave a kind of synergy - new umpph - to those supporting democracy in Tunisia. The human rights organization have become bolder, more combative (within what appears to be classic Gandhian type approach to civil disobedience). Examples:1. in the midst of these April events, the Tunisian chapter of Amnesty International, long rather dormant, attempted to hold a public meeting exploring the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia. It was broken up by the security forces , its participants and leaders physically beaten and verbally abused. 2. A group of students took to the streets of Tunis to protest the UN sanctions against Iraq and their inhumane consequences. Many were arrested and - according to Tunisian human rights sources - tortured in prison. 3. `solidarity' hunger strikes in support of Ben Brik have popped up both inside the country and beyond. Most of Ben Brik's family has joined him as have a number of Tunisian journalists and lawyers. In London on May 1, exiled leaders of Tunisia's fundamentalist movement announced they would join Ben Brik in his hunger strike, among them Rachid Gannouchi, the movement's spiritual leader.

In response the represssion has intensified. Human rights leader, Omar Mestiri, in his 70s, was beaten up in front of his Tunis apartment in broad daylight by security forces. Foreign journalists showing sympathy to Ben Brik were beaten up, their cameras and video equipment destroyed. But this repression has created new problems for Ben Ali. Even members of his security force are resisting his authority. Sources in Paris say that more than 12 rather high ranking members of Tunisia's security force opposed the intensification of the government crackdown against Tawfik Ben Brik and his supporters. They are soon to be indicted before a military tribunal. In revenge for being criticized by the crowds in Monastir at Bourguiba's funeral, Ben Ali has fired that city's police chief for `failing to control' the populace.

While here in the USA news of Tunisia rarely appears in the news, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have continued with their efforts to keep attention on the situation in Tunisia. Two joint press conferences in support of Ben Brik and calling for an end to Tunisia's undemocratic practices have taken place in recent weeks in Washington DC. If not for their efforts, the silence on the Tunisian realities in the USA would be almost overwhelming.