In January 2011, a few days after the return of the head of the Islamist Ennahda Movement Rached Ghannouchi to Tunisia from his self-exile in London, hundreds of demonstrators gathered on the Habib Bourguiba Avenue in downtown Tunis. They raised their voices in favour of a secular state and expressed their concern at the return of Islamists from abroad, noting that the people’s budding revolution should be led by younger faces and by those who have lived in the country through its various phases and those who were better positioned to understand the grievances of Tunisians, in general and the youth, in particular.
Most of the demonstrators at that time were young Tunisians, in their twenties and thirties. They had believed then in better days and had high hopes for a modern republic that would pull the country out of its many crises and uphold social rights and freedoms.
Unfortunately, the high hopes were not to be realised.
More than ten years after that small gathering on the Habib Bourguiba Avenue, the country is reeling under its worst political and economic crises since the 1956 independence from France. In the last couple of years, these crises were exacerbated by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and a record surge in infections.
The gradual descent of the republic into the abyss of anarchy and injustice is just so bitter and hard to swallow for Tunisians, who have always looked back with pride at their history and achievements when it comes to development and modernisation. In fact, Tunisia, which was once known as one of the most progressive countries in the Middle East, is now beyond recognition, its brighter face fading into political disputes, endless polemics about constitutional prerogatives and useless debates about the role of religion in politics.
The late leader Habib Bourguiba, who was president of Tunisia from 1957 to 1987 after leading the country to independence from France, wanted this republic to rise as a model for citizenship, progress, scientific development, economic growth, modern education and women’s liberation. He certainly failed to install political freedom and pluralism at a time when very few viewed these issues as a priority and a prerequisite for the creation of a strong nation. Bourguiba did, however, set this republic on the right track for modernisation and anchored a belief in Tunisians’ ability to create “miracles.”
Alas, 21 years after Bourguiba, a nemesis of Islamists, passed away, these hopes were dashed. The Tunisian leader, himself, warned Tunisians on many occasions about the detrimental role of political Islam and the destructive project of Islamists. Some listened to him. Others were either driven by blurry-eyed openness to all forms of political currents including Islamists or blinded by the duplicitous discourse of the Muslim Brotherhood, particularly their Tunisian offshoot, represented by Ghannouchi and his disciples.
Since Tunisia’s 2011 uprising, Ennahda has played the cards of revolution and religion to lure in voters, particularly those from poor and working class neighbourhoods and marginalised regions, promising them a better future in which the dreams of youth can be realised and justice achieved.
But after the party’s rise to power, senior Islamist leaders, particularly Ghannouchi, looked at power as a trophy, dividing the spoils of the conquest among themselves while working to maintain control over state institutions through alliances, coalitions and political manoeuvres against their opponents and friends.
After numerous shocking political events, including the assassinations of leftist leaders Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi in 2013 and the gradual isolation of the late President Beji Caid Essebsi later in 2016, Tunisia began to see Ennahda’s true face, viewing the party as too unstable and fragile to help in any way counter the challenges the country faces.
False promises of employment and modernisation coupled with growing corruption and calls for compensation for all Ennahda members for so-called years of oppression, opened Tunisians’ eyes to the Islamist movement’s real agenda, a raw monopoly of power and reaping of personal benefits.
Now, as Ghannouchi’s castle of sand steadily melts away and the truth behind Ennahda’s opportunist pursuits emerges, the Islamist movement is facing one of the toughest challenges since its creation in the 1980’s.
On Sunday, Tunisian President Kais Saied ousted the Islamist-backed government of Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and suspended the Islamist-controlled parliament with help from the army.
The president’s action followed months of deadlock and disputes pitting him against Mechichi and a dysfunctional parliament, as Tunisia descended into an economic crisis exacerbated by one of Africa’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks.
Of course, the Ennahda Movement and its leader Ghannouchi, now in their weakest moment since their return from exile, are crying foul and warning Saied’s action is endangering the so-called democratic system of 2011 which they introduced and shaped in a way that guarantees their political dominance.
So, what happened in Tunisia?
For sure, what happened was not a coup, as Islamists and their allies are claiming, nor a suspension of the democratic process. It is rather a rectification of the course of the democratic transition so as to pull the country out of the abyss of Ennahda’s malicious and short-sighted control over state institutions.
So far, no one can accurately spell out the intentions of the president in the absence of a clear roadmap that would detail the next steps he will take. However, one thing is certain: Tunisians want Islamists out. They want the Ennahda project to fade out from the political and social landscape. They also want justice as they hope to see the Islamists held accountable for ten years of political mismanagement, de-construction of the state, corruption and wealth accumulation.
Tunisians also want justice to be served against those who were involved in the assassinations of Belaid and Brahmi, especially after a group of lawyers pursuing evidence in the 2013 killings said they have uncovered information that incriminates the Ennahda Movement.
Tunisians want more than all of that. They want the electoral law to be amended in a way that would obstruct Ennahda’s control over the political scene again. They want competent people not political charlatans to be brought aboard. They also hope for the 2014 constitution to be amended and for the political system to be reviewed.
These very demands were raised by the president himself earlier in June, when he called for a dialogue with political parties on creating a new political system and amending the 2014 constitution, which he described as “with locks everywhere”, in an effort to ease the ongoing political crisis.
The president’s comments, however, fell on deaf ears at the time, with Ennahda, increasingly emboldened by its growing control over the government, rejecting any talks about the issue.
Saied, who decided to act on Sunday, probably lost patience with Ennahda’s intransigence. But, unlike Saied, Tunisians have lost patience with everything, including the disastrous role played by Ennahda in the country and the performance of most other political parties, regardless of their ideologies or affiliations.
Soon after Saied’s announcement of Sunday’s decisions, large crowds quickly poured into the streets to express support for his moves, reflecting their anger at Ennahda. In every city, people were spontaneously celebrating perhaps what they considered an end to the Islamist nightmare.
In my city in north-eastern Tunisia, I must confess I celebrated Saied’s decisions too, years after I lost hope about seeing this country free from Islamists’ control. I celebrated without thinking, like all compatriots, without asking about what might happen next and without fearing the possible violence that Ennahda and its allies might provoke to regain control and protect their interests.
We all celebrated but we did not celebrate a return to a one-man rule. We were not hailing the president as a hero as much as we were rejoicing that an era, marked and smothered by political Islam, was over.
Now, a few days after the Saied’s decisions, we feel more cool-headed and we are all waiting to see if the president will listen to the people and if he will guarantee this republic a future that is free of opportunism, dogma, corruption and the use of religion for political purposes. Time, maybe, for the long delayed dreams to be fulfilled.
Iman Zayat is the Managing Editor of The Arab Weekly.
Copyright ©2021 The Arab Weekly — distributed by Agence Global
—————-
Released: 10 August 2021
Word Count: 1,356
—————-