In her latest column, Exeposé Online’s international news commentator Alethea Osborne turns her analytical eye onto Tunisia’s current situation of unrest.
The recent crisis in Tunisia has heavily shaken the illusion of Tunisia as a poster child of the Arab Spring. While Syria has become known for civil war and bloodshed, Egypt for ongoing protests and violence, Tunisia has been considered as the best success story. Tunisia has slowly moved from dictatorship to democracy and for the first time in decades freedom of speech is the norm. However, the murder of opposition leader, Chokri Belaid, has brought the underlying tensions between secularists and islamists to the surface and clearly displayed the growing divides between Tunisia’s political parties. Politicians have been struggling to find common ground across the wide political gap which has made forming a new government so difficult. Tunisians have said that they dislike being considered as the success story of the Arab Spring as it has lessened the amount of international attention and support they have received. The recent developments will inevitably change this as the, undoubtably politically motivated, murder will have its desired affect of creating further chaos and factionalism.
Chokri Belaid, a human rights lawyer and activist, was at the forefront of the protests in December 2010, which grew to become the uprising that toppled the Tunisian government in January 2011. He was shot at point blank range outside his home on Wednesday, February 6th, and later died in hospital. Belaid had previously been very critical of Tunisia’s leadership, particularly the dominant Ennahda leadership. As the leader of the opposition secularist alliance, The Popular Front, his assassination has sparked a fresh round of protests in the major cities of Tunisia including protestors calling for a ‘fresh revolution’. The killing has heightened the tensions within a slow burning political crisis in Tunisia; the battle for power amongst secularists and islamists.
No one has yet taken responsibility for Belaid’s murder though many, including his wife, are blaming the Ennahda leadership and the interior ministry. While it is unlikely that they are directly responsible, a more developed argument might suggest that they took little notice of the various death threats against him and offer little security to secular opposition groups from armed Islamists. However, the charismatic co-founder of Ennahda and the movement’s ‘intellectual leader’, Rashid al-Ghannushi, has said that Ennahda, “strongly condemn this act and consider the perpetrators as enemies of the country, of democracy and of Islam”. Yet, amongst members of the opposition many blame Ghannushi and his moderately Islamic Ennahda party for the assassination, believing that they encourage violence and terrorism.
In protest to the killing four opposition groups, including the Popular Front, have declared that they are now pulling out of the constitutionalist assembly, which has been attempting to write the new constitution. They have said it is a temporary situation but if the government does not step down then the MPs will leave the government.
More dramatically, the largest trade union announced a national strike for Friday, February 8th, which was the first such strike declared since 1978. The strike was organised for the same day as Belaid’s funeral and as many as a million Tunisians took to the streets in protests over his death and the current political situation. There were acts of violence reported within the capitol, Tunis, and rising tension on the streets, but considering the numbers present it was a predominantly peaceful demonstration. There are worries though that counter demonstrations by pro-government groups may lead to further violence.
The Prime Minister, Hamadi Jebali, has tried to diffuse the crisis by saying that he intends to form a technocratic government of national unity to run the government until fresh elections. Controversy ensued when senior members of the Ennahda party rejected the plan and Abdelhamid Jelassi, Ennahda’s vice-president, said that “the prime minister did not ask the opinion of his party, we in Ennahda believe Tunisia needs a political government now. We will continue discussions with other parties about forming a coalition government.” This further dissent amongst the political leadership has led many to speculate that Jebali may leave Ennahda and found his own party.
Chokri Belaid’s death has shone a spotlight on the incredibly precarious political situation in Tunisia and made many aware of the potentially dangerous and stagnant progress of the Arab Spring’s golden child. A damaged economy, rising unemployment, lack of tourists and breakdown in law have all contributed to frustration with the new leadership, which is struggling to unite differing revolutionary ideologies. The latest assassination is likely to simply add to the difficulties.
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