Struggles Within Tunisian Society
By Countercurrents.org
29 November 2012
Counercurrents.org
An ideological, cultural and political struggle between progressive and retrogressive forces is going on in
Guardian Weekly on October 16, 2012 carried an article headlined “Although the Arab spring is over, the battle still rages on campus” said: “A dispute between a secular academic and conservative Islamists threatens the peace at a Tunisian university.”
The article incorporating material from the Washington Post (by Karin Brulliard) [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/16/tunisia-university-kazdaghli-arab-spring] described a struggle in the
It said:
“Dean Habib Kazdaghli half-joked about the
“The struggle began several months after this nation's revolution sparked the Arab uprisings last year, when a few ultraconservative students and their backers launched a protest. It became a weeks-long sit-in over demands for a prayer room and for the right of women to wear face-covering Islamic veils called niqabs. Kazdaghli – who heads the arts, letters and humanities faculty – and his administration said no.
“The saga will continue next week, when Kazdaghli faces trial and a potential five-year prison sentence for allegedly striking one of the pro-niqab female students. He denies the accusation, and he and his supporters argue that the case will actually serve as a barometer of the moderate Islamist government's tolerance for creeping religious extremism.
“‘The niqab and the prayer room are pretexts,' said Kazdaghli, 57, a sedate and bespectacled historian. ‘The aim is another vision of society.'
“Clashes like this have become the defining conflict of the new Tunisia […] Ennahda, the Islamist party that now heads the government, has pledged to restore the public role of Islam to a society where piety was long repressed. But what that means is the source of almost daily disputes.
“Critics say the government has gone too far. Human rights groups point to prosecutions of Tunisians accused of disrespecting Islam, including a television executive whose network aired a controversial film and two sculptors whose works, displayed this summer in a fashionable
“The problem, said Amna Guellali, a Tunisia-based researcher for Human Rights Watch, is that hardline Islamists who have attacked the art gallery and other events they deem offensive have not faced trials.
“‘There is now quite an alarming trend of selectively prosecuting people,' said Guellali, who added that the judiciary, like most state institutions, has yet to be reformed and is controlled by the executive branch.
“Kazdaghli's unwavering stance has made him a minor celebrity, and he is at turns lauded by secular activists, scorned by Islamists and criticized by some like-minded elites who think he has gone too far to make a point.
“‘I am adored by some and diabolized by others,' he said with a touch of pride.
“Kazdaghli said his resume – a thesis on communism, research on Tunisia's Jewish minority, membership in a leftist political party – made him especially reviled by the hardline Salafists who launched what he calls an ‘occupation' of his faculty building for several weeks in December and January.
“Dozens slept in the halls, sometimes trapping Kazdaghli in his office, and they scuffled with faculty members and students. Classes were cancelled for weeks. In March, Salafist protesters removed a Tunisian flag and replaced it with an Islamic banner.
“Police helped little, he said, including in March, when, by Kazdaghli's account, two female students in niqabs barged into his office, called him a ‘dictator' and began ransacking the space. Kazdaghli telephoned police, who told him to come to the station to file a report. Police later accused him of striking one of the students.
“Similar disputes have played out at other Tunisian universities, most of which have agreed to allow niqabs. Kazdaghli is unmoved. Professors must be able to identify exam-takers and spot listening devices that might facilitate cheating, he said.
“‘We are firm. They can go through the courtyard, the library, to the restaurants. But in class, they have to reveal their faces,' Kazdaghli said. As for the prayer room, there are two mosques a short walk from campus, he said.
“Salafists who participated in the protest, of course, see it differently. They said revolution had delivered the religious freedom to wear niqabs and pray at public institutions. To identify students, the university need only find women who can do so, they said.
“Mohamed Amine, a student at another
“‘This shows his loyalty to
“The niqab debate at Manouba is calm for now. The handful of female students who wanted to wear the garments either gave up or left the university. The male student who spearheaded the protest was among many Salafists arrested after an attack on the US Embassy last month.
“Both the protesters and Kazdaghli say they want the Tunisian higher education ministry to take a stand, but a ministry spokesman said it is leaving the issue up to university administrators.
Kazdaghli said that neutrality encourages extremists. His Salafist opponents have the same complaint.
“‘My generation dreamed about having freedom,' Kazdaghli said. ‘This is the danger: that the revolution is derailed.'”
A secret video exposed
Roua Khlifi and Adam Le Nevez's report in Tunisia Live headlined “Secret Video Reveals Ghannouchi's Vision for Islam in
A secretly recorded video has emerged in which Ennahdha leader Rached Ghannouchi talks candidly with members of Islamic associations about his long-term strategy to consolidate power in
Speaking in a private conversation with an unknown number of people, Ghannouchi discusses the conflict between Islamists and secularists in
During the seven minute video, the leader of Ennahdha cautions against political opportunism and argues that Islamists need to consolidate their political achievements or risk losing them.
“Do not rush things. I tell the Salafist youth we all went through the same and we suffered. Now you want to have a TV, radio, schools, and invite the preachers. Why are you rushing things?” he asks.
“We should present a reassuring discourse to people, and instruct them to protect our achievements. We should spread our schools, protect the country with associations,” the Ennahdha leader says.
Ghannouchi argues that radical change could backfire on them, as it did for Algerian Islamists in the 1990s.
“Do you think that what we achieved cannot be taken away from us? This is what we thought when we were
Although Ennahdha won 40% of votes in the October 2011 election, Ghannouchi claims in the video that secularists are still in control of large parts of society.
“Now the secular groups, though they did not gain a majority, still control media, the administration and the economy. The administration is in their hands. We are on the head of the administration but all the bases are under their power. Even the governors are under their control.”
“The Army is in their hands. We cannot guarantee the police and the army,” he continues.
The video was likely recorded in February or March 2012, at a time when a public debate was occurring over whether reference to Sharia law should be included in the Tunisian constitution which is currently being drafted. In April 2012 Ennahdha announced that they would not be advocating the inclusion of Sharia law in the constitution.
“Will it benefit Islam if we add Sharia to the constitution? On the surface, Tunisians are Muslims. However, a group of Tunisians, the secular groups who are in charge, are afraid of Sharia. Is there a difference between Islam and Sharia? It is the same thing with a different name. Sharia, in its true sense, is the practices, and the beliefs. Even for those who demand to include Sharia in the constitution, I ask them if they want to apply the Sharia laws but they say they don't want that. They want the text to be included in the constitution in order to limit the state especially that the previous text didn't limit the power of the state. This is a superficial. An Islamist who clings to the text is as superficial as the secular who rejects the Sharia text and accepts Islam,” explained Ghanouchi.
When contacted by Tunisia Live, Ennahdha spokesperson Zoubair Chehodi, said that the video dates back to March.
“We are aware of the existence of the video. It is an old issue. It goes back to the time when the country was debating the inclusion of Sharia in the constitution. During a meeting with a group of preachers and representatives of Islamic associations, Rached Ghannouchi discussed some points regarding the situation,” said Chehodi.
After speaking with Tunisia Live, Ennahdha later released a statement on their website. While it did not deny the authenticity of the video, it claimed that some passages were taken out of context.
“What Ghanouchi said about the police not being guaranteed came in the context of talking about how governmental institutions still contain corrupted and RCD related minorities which are obstructing the efforts to build national security,” the statement said.
The video appears to be edited with cuts at 1m52s and 5m45s. One version of the video, posted on the Youtube channel of Kaddour Ayari is preceded by a discourse from a person who warns viewers about the danger of Islamism.
A second 9-minute video posted on Youtube in April 2012 appears to come from the same meeting. In it Ghannouchi can be heard discussing how Salafists should become engaged in community outreach.
“You have the opportunity to change things gradually. You have the opportunity to open schools. Why are you still insisting on Sharia when you can open a school? We should open Koranic school and reopen the mosque of El-Zaytouna”.
In the video Ghannouchi also discusses differences between different Islamist movements in
“We always say Salafist are our sons and daughters, the children of this country and that we should always communicate with them.”
“We don't disagree on religion, but we disagree on the way to apply it”, he says.
Both videos, in Tunisian dialect, can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WuHi-O-PGhI#!
and here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X47tRge977Q&feature=youtu.be
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