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Violence Unsettles Tunisia’s Democratic Transition

Tunisia’s transition to democracy is seriously threatened by violence following the assassination of a prominent leftist politician in February, according to a new paper by David Ottaway. The killing of Chokri Belaid triggered a showdown between the moderate and fundamentalist wings of the Islamist Ennahda Party, which rules in coalition with two secular parties.

            Tunisia’s transition to democracy is seriously threatened by violence following the assassination of a prominent leftist politician in February, according to a new paper by David Ottaway. The killing of Chokri Belaid triggered a showdown between the moderate and fundamentalist wings of the Islamist Ennahda Party, which rules in coalition with two secular parties. Belaid’s death has also “deepened hostility” between secular and Islamist components of Tunisian society.

            The following are excerpts from Viewpoints 25, published by the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

            Tunisia’s transition to democracy, widely regarded as the most successful to emerge from the five uprisings thatshook the Arab world in 2011, is being seriously threatened by violence in the wake of a prominent leftist politician’s assassination in early February…

            While Belaid’s assassin has not yet been captured, the government has declared an extremist Salafi cell as the mastermind. This disclosure has brought to a head persistent secularist demands that Ennahda crack down on Salafi-inspired violence. Because Salafis constitute a growing political force, Ennahda has been reluctant to alienate them, particularly since parliamentary elections are scheduled in late fall after a new constitution is approved by early summer.

            Rachid Ghannouchi, Ennahda’s spiritual and political leader, spelled out the dilemma he feels in dealing with Salafis at a Stanford University-sponsored conference on Arab reform and democracy in Tunis in late March. He readily acknowledged that violence now presents “one of the major challenges facing the Tunisian revolution” and blamed the danger on “some religious groups” and the increasingly acrimonious political discourse between secularists and Islamists. The latter, he said, had led to Belaid’s killing, and he fears that a precedent had been set for other political assassinations.

            “We fear the dangers ahead,” he said. “Violence is a threat to us all.”

            …Part of the political debate now revolves around the question of Ghannouchi’s true colors in light of his past middle-of-the-road posturing among Ennahda’s contending moderates and radicals. In a major concession to the secularists, he had convinced his own party to stop pressing mentioning of the shari’a, Islamic law, in the new constitution. He also sided with secular women in their demand that the constitution refer explicitly to “the equality” of sexes, while Ennahda’s own deputies in the National Constituent Assembly had proposed only referring to women’s “complementary” role to men in the family and society.  

            On the other hand, Ghannouchi has stoutly defended the right of Ennahda supporters to form Leagues for the Protection of the Revolution, whose partisan activities have helped fuel the tensions between secularists and Islamists. He also has shown sympathy for the Salafis who form an important constituency inside Ennahda.

            The internal Ennahda crisis provoked by Belaid’s assassination came in the wake of scores of Salafi attacks on bars serving alcohol, modern art shows, and secular and labor union meetings. In addition, the Tunisian public has recently become aware that hundreds of young Tunisians have joined the “jihad” in Syria against President Bashar al-Assad or Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Among the 30 terrorists who seized a gas plant in southern Algeria in January were 11 Tunisians…

            In apparent response, the new Laarayedh government has just announced it is setting up “crisis cells” to monitor Salafi terrorist activities inside the country, particularly on its borders with Libya and Algeria. These cells are also supposed to collect information on networks recruiting Tunisians to fight in Syria. Still, neither Ennahda nor the government has come out in clear opposition to the recruitment.

            The secular-Islamic rift plaguing Tunisia was on full display during the two international conferences held here in late March where “the Tunisian model” of democratic transition was one focus of debate. Ghannouchi found himself repeatedly under attack from his secular critics for “double speak” toward the Salafis as well as his endorsement of the Leagues for the Protection of the Revolution.

            At the two conferences and again in an interview, Ghannouchi’s unequivocally defended the leagues so long as they operated within the law, a decision the courts would have to make. “These leagues are civil associations and must answer to the law of associations and be punished by the law if they violate it,” he said. Otherwise, “how can we disband them?”

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