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Tunisia after the revolution

By The World ⋅ February 7, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment
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Tunisia’s anti-government revolution inspired protesters in Egypt. But how is Tunisia doing now? Reporter Sabri Ben-Achour of station WAMU is just back from the North African nation. He tells anchor Lisa Mullins what has changed for the people of Tunisia, and what has not. Download MP3


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Lisa Mullins: The protests that have spread to parts of the Arab world began in Tunisia.  Weeks of unrest in the North African country swept out the autocratic president last month.  Now a caretaker government is running Tunisia.  Presidential elections are set to be held there in the next six to seven months.  But the dust hasn’t settled, not by any means.  This past weekend there were more violent protests in Tunisia.  Tunisian leaders are trying to tamp down the tensions.  Sabri Ben-Achour is a reporter for WAMU in Washington, D.C.  He’s just back from Tunisia. Sabri, I wonder what’s changed in Tunisia since the president fled and if the people in Tunisia got the revolution that they were looking for.

Sabri Ben-Achour:  Well, you know, I’d say they’re getting it.  They’re getting it.  Right now, there’s basically a monumental, national operation to put the country back together.  So, everywhere from press freedom, liberty, internet freedom, investigations into unfathomably vast corruption that happened in the previous regime.  Everyone’s sort of getting in on the project.  Now, today, for example, the parliament voted to give the president decree powers, basically to make elections happen in a timely fashion.  The RCD, that’s the former ruling party, was suspended.  So, this big massive machine that was the arms, eyes and ears of the president before is, ostensibly, not going to be able to function.  Fears of that, of course, still keep people a little bit worried, but, you know, that’s the idea.  So, they’re getting it, I think is the answer.

Mullins:  OK. And the caretaker government that is in operation right now, does it include of his political party, Ben Ali’s political party?

Ben-Achour:  No, the only one who does have an affiliation is the prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi.  Everyone else has been brought in from the outside.  From everywhere.  I mean, some from Europe, from every which place.  It’s sort of like the greatest hits of Tunisian technocrats abroad.

Mullins:  Now I understand there is one particular new member of the government we want to focus on.  This is a blogger who was jailed during the protests last month.  He was released and he now has a new job in the government.  He’s got a very interesting story.  Why don’t you tell us?

Ben-Achour:  Yeah, Slim Amamou.  He’s technically the minister for youth and sports and he runs a computer company.  But he’s very well-known for his free speech and freedom of the internet blogging.  He tried to organize a protest last spring after the government cracked down on a number of websites.  So, he was arrested.  He was imprisoned over his online efforts to sort of promote free speech and freedom of information.  Just at that time, after having been in prison a few days, that he was called to serve in this ministerial position.  He describes his role as giving a view into what’s happening inside of government.  So, he’ll directly tweet what’s going on.  [xx] actually recently asked him to stop tweeting live, because they were reading what he was tweeting, while he was, you know, he was in the meeting with them.

Mullins:  [laughs]  Busted.

Ben-Achour:  So, yeah.

Mullins:  Was it… By the way, was he being critical of the government he had just joined when he was tweeting in these meetings?

Ben-Achour:  I think he’s just being transparent, you know, saying, you know,  this is what happened.  He’s very much a person, you know, when you follow him on Twitter, he’s very much a person that will have throw-in opinions from all over.  Even if they’re critical of him, for example.  So, you know, he has strong differences of opinion on whether or not any particular action is the best one to be taken.  Or, people criticize him for even having joined in the first place.  Some people call him a sell-out, but he will include those opinions.  And he includes everything.

Mullins:  Can you hold him up as an example of one of, of perhaps the new faces of Tunisian government, even in transition?  Because on the other hand it sounds like it would impossible at this point to completely shed any of the practices or influences of the old president, who’s now out, Ben Ali.

Ben-Achour:  When you look at this new government, it’s kind of extraordinary.  You know, these people are technocrats, and extremely educated.  Many have taken paycuts to do this work.  But, like you said, there are remnants in the government of the former regime.  And I think, for example in freedom of the press.  Yes, the press is largely free right now, but, you know, someone, a little while back, ordered the arrest and closure of one of the national TV stations, right?  We still don’t know where that came from.

Mullins:  And how about on the other hand?  Where do you see the freedom that wasn’t there before?

Ben-Achour:  The freedom is everywhere.  I mean if you just walk down the street,  people are talking.  They just non-stop talking politics, anybody.  People are chatting, and this is unheard of.  Before you would have to look over your shoulder if you said the word Ben Ali, you know?  So, that’s hugely different.  The press can report on whatever it wants, which has never really been the case, and they’re doing that.  The internet, you can access websites.  You can go to Youtube or Dailymotion, or pretty much nothing is blocked except for porn and terrorist-related websites.

Mullins:  And you couldn’t do any of that before?

Ben-Achour:  No.  No, I mean, to give you an example, the police would go and look at people’s mobile phones to see if certain banned videos had been downloaded on to them.

Interviewer:  Sabri, as you well know, people in Egypt were watching what’s happening in Tunisia.  Are Tunisians now watching what’s happening in Egypt?

Ben-Achour:  They are, they are.  I mean, and to a certain extent they’re extremely proud that they, you know, were able to launch this massive thing we’re seeing around the Middle East.  And they’re also sort of looking with a little humor in that up until recently, it’s been a sort of copy and paste, as they say, operation between Tunisia and Egypt.  Right down to the speech that Mubarak gave was very, very  similar to one that Ben Ali gave.  So, they’re watching and I think they’re very proud that they’ve set an example.

Mullins:  Sabri Ben-Achour, just back from Tunisia, he’s a reporter for WAMU in Washington.  Thank you very much, Sabri.

Ben-Achour:  You’re very welcome.

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One comment for “Tunisia after the revolution”

  • http://www.facebook.com/ntel2 Nacer Talel

    Metlaoui, Gafsa, a small town situated south of Tunisia is best known for its mining industry.Phosphate is a gift that has proved to be a curse – and not just because of the recent violent incidents that occurred between two major tribes in the region. The French discovered the phosphate in 1885. From that date, the natural resources have been transported to the nearby industrial city of Sfax for refining and then for exportation. The local inhabitants got only the toxic gases – causing cancer and other serious health problems. There was no chance for any agricultural activities to succeed. The fathers worked under harsh conditions, I remember my grandfather‘s stories about the long list of his friends lost inside the mines, either from explosives or just simply being caught under the rocks. The new generation came into existence without hope of any future other than working in the localphosphate company, a company that was also stolen by the ex-president and his clan. The situation just worsened over time and there was no media coverage about the real reasons pushing the young to migrate to the coastal regions and the capital of Tunisia. They left home dreaming of a better life just to return again with empty pockets, broken spirits and a growing dissatisfaction and hatred toward the system - and toward everything. That is if they weren’t eaten by fishes trying to make it toLampedusa. Seeing their “black diamonds’ fading away without any improvement in their standard of living nor any compensation for the damages caused by the company, Metlaoui and the neighboring cities revolted in 2008. Ben Ali, the ousted despot cracked them down so unsympathetically,and real bullets were used. But as usual, the situation was soon controlled by the police, highlighting his reluctance to interfere in an urgent situation. At that time no media were allowed to report, and when some of the local inhabitants tried to report what was happening, they found themselves in jail and were released just when the 14th of January revolution broke out. Back in time; tribalism is not new in Tunisia as well as in Arabia, no one can deny theimportant work of the first president of Tunisia Habib Bourguiba in fightingtribalism – even going so far as exterminating and jailing some tribesman. Today after thecollapse of the Ben Ali regime, those feelings of revenge and tribalism are being revived and many reasons are plausible. First, after the revolution excitement has settled down, the protests that used to chant slogans urging the President to quit and improved living conditions has now switched to the demand for more jobs with higher wages even if the job seekers are not qualified. People in these regions, as across the country, felt they were being deprived of their own wealth, the wealth under their feet. Most often and illogically they started to burn and attack any sign that had any relationship to the ex-regime even if it was a simple hospital or a police centre. Facing continuous strikes that stopped its production, the phosphate company ‘CPG’ started a recruitment campaign trying to better the situation. But the opposite happened. Some remaining members of the dissolved party, known to be corrupt, promised a bloodbath if banned from political life. They communicated some false quotas of workers the company intended to hire favoring one tribe on the expense of the other. When job seekers from the two tribes met in front of the company branch in Metlaoui, they started fighting with stones, later on knives, then with hunting guns. Some news talked about using bulldozers to burn and destroys houses. There were more than 10 deaths and more than 100 injuries. The local governor spoke on the radio trying to calm down the tribes and the government had set up a new curfew. The police brigade succeeded in preventing buses full of outraged youth coming from nearby zones to back up their relatives in the warring zone. Second, the elections date is being debated and the interim prime minister declared at the G8 summit that the elections will not be held, but the date will be changed due to logistical requirements. Straight away, some facebook pages started preparing and calling for general strikes but they were soon censored – this time by a decision from the military court. The current events in Metlaoui could be a mere attempt from the interim government to divert attentions and divert the public from the election dilemma. Moreover, the clashes could be backed by the political parties that declared that they will work to report the elections, and the presence of some of their top leaders just some weeks before the violence erupted could reenforce this position. In an attempt to calm the situation, the Islamist party ‘Ennahdha’ urged the government for an effective interference to put an end to the battle. Other parties sent some envoys to the region. Other Imams and elders gathered from the nearby cities in an effort to get the warring parties to the negotiating table. Other youths and activists on facebook created ‘events ‘ to head to Metlaouibringing food and drugs to the citizens fleeing the violence and taking refuge in the nearby mountain I might have a ride and provide more updates.