Alternatives International

The Long March Towards Free Media In Tunisia

Messaoud Romdhani — 2012-11-02T02:59:35Z

Before January 14, 2011 Tunisian media was one of the three fundamental pillars of Ben Ali's dictatorship, along with the police and the judiciary. All types of expression were censored including art, books, and news. A powerful police apparatus, with honed technological skills, monitored the Internet. Disobedient journalists, or those critical of the regime, were harassed and at times beaten and arrested. The regime used both public and private media as instruments of propaganda and those who supervised the media were meticulously chosen to ensure that nothing was left uncensored. However, this rigorous censorship machine couldn't control everything: social networks could often circumvent blocked sites using proxies and of course, everyone watched Al Jazeera to find out what was happening across the country. Some opposition journalists resisted censorship and frequent seizures to varying degrees of success.

Everything changed after Ben Ali's regime. The media landscape was transformed into a much more liberal, pluralist and bold domain. Soon enough, huge numbers of headlines and radio stations sprung up. Everyone began taking advantage of this new free space which gave Tunisia room to move, liberated from the shackles of the regime. The onslaught of media usage quelled demands for freedom of expression and instead provoked demands for regulation of the laws and reforms of the sector. In collaboration with the government, the High Council for the Realization of the Goals of the Revolution, Political Reforms, and Democratic Transition undertook a number of important measures to reform the sector, including developing a legal framework which could assure freedom of expression and access to information and guarantee an ethical underpinning for the profession.

The composition of the government elected on October 23, 2011 demonstrated that the people were hungry to experience real freedom of expression, and all waited to see what this new government would bring. During the first month of this new, majority Islamist, government, the first signs of deception came to light. The legal decrees guaranteeing the protection of journalists and the establishment of an independent media are still yet to be passed.

Further, and against all expectation, the government is engaged in controversial appointments of people known for their close relationship with the old regime.
Is this a return to old methods or just evidence of a wish to rein in a media which “has gone too far”? According to the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT), it is both. The Union organized a rally in collaboration with other civil society organizations on January 9, 2012 to denounce “the new power's political control over public media, practices which are not unlike those of the fallen regime”.

Equally, just like under Ben Ali, criticizing the government can land you in prison. Towards the end of August, the producer of satirical television show “Political Logic” came under pressure from the Prime Minister's adviser to stop the show. Following this, an arrest warrant was put out for the producer as part of an ‘embezzlement' investigation, despite the fact that the principal suspect remains free! This affair is typical of life under Ben Ali.

Another worrying sign: frequent attacks against journalists. Journalists have been the victims of a hundred and thirty assaults since January 1 2012, according to the Tunis office of Reporters Without Borders. The most alarming aspect of these attacks is that “these assaults have not been investigated and punished” insists Olivia Gré, manager of the Tunis office.

The appointment of Kamel Labidi, exiled journalist under Ben Ali, known for his competency, reliability and integrity, to the head of the National Committee of Information and Communication Reform (INRIC) just a few weeks after the Revolution was highly welcomed. However, on 1 July 2012, during a press conference, he decided to resign his position. Three reasons were put forward:

The government's recourse to “censorship and disinformation, just like under Ben Ali”;
The government's refusal to apply Decrees 115 and 116 to protect journalists and establish a regulatory framework for audiovisual media, as well as Decree 41 addressing freedom of information for administrative documents; and
Controversial appointments to top media positions and appointments imposed without consultation with relevant parties.

In fact, it is these same appointments that caused the power struggle between the government and journalists. Journalists from the newspaper Dar Assabah have been holding sit-ins and hunger strikes for weeks. They are protesting the appointment of the new Director General, an old police commissioner, who was arrested and tried for corruption under the Ben Ali regime.

However, the real culmination of this power struggle was on 17 October 2012, when the National Union of Tunisian Journalists organized a coordinated strike for the first time in the history of Tunisia and the Arab world. The success of the strike, with estimated 90% participation, as well as the solidarity movement within and outside of Tunisia are tangible proof of a strong, united belief throughout civil society in Tunisia. This belief is that the country cannot return to the climate of fear which began to subside from 17 December 2010 and which reached its climax on 14 January 2011. No government can call itself democratic while at the same time taking measures to rein in the press. One of the slogans used during the journalists' protest on 17 October 2012 was “No democracy without independent media”.

The demands, in reality, are just representative of the requirements for founding a new democracy: the inclusion of freedom of expression and of the press in the constitution; renouncing partisan appointments; and putting in place Decrees 115 and 116 on freedom of press, publishing and printing, as well as on the independence of the audiovisual sector.

Following the protest movement, from journalists' sit-ins to the strike of 17 October 2012, the government has begun to yield. It has announced that it will apply Decrees 115 and 116 guaranteeing freedom of the press. This is a good sign, but there is still long way to go. The media, like all aspects of Tunisian civil society, has only won a few battles in this difficult war for freedom – a war against a power which is making use of all available avenues to put freedom of expression under its thumb, from partisan appointments to top media positions to harassing journalists and enlarging the scope of the ‘Sacred', used like the sword of Damocles against the flourishing of art, creativity, and critique.

Messaoud Romdhani is member of the Tunisian Forum for the Economic and Social Rights (FTDES). He is in the organizing committee of the World Social Forum-2013 to be held in Tunis from 26 to 30 March 2013.

Translated by Holly Woodcroft.

Challenges Facing the Civil Society in Tunisia

Messaoud Romdhani — 2012-11-02T02:59:32Z

One of the major characteristics of every dictatorship is the predominance of the State over the society, killing political opposition and suffocating any burgeoning of civil society being held under tight control of the government. January 14 2011 was a turning point for Tunisia, where independent action undertaken was seen as a provocative challenge to the autocratic regime, and consequently it ought to have been automatically repressed. The consequences of massive repression led to the degradation of the political, social, economic and cultural situation in the country along with gradual erosion of a vibrant and vocal civil society. In fact, the Tunisian government had been adept at co-opting, penetrating and trying to discredit independent civil society organizations. But, “the freedom virus was, at times, weakened but never killed.”

The turning point

January 14 was a turning point not only for political parties, but also for civil society. It has triggered a process that is going to open up new horizons and perspectives On the future of democracy and freedom.

For instance, Tunisia was not only the first country in the Arab region to overthrow a long ruling tyrant peacefully, but it was also the first country to hold elections that have been labeled by international observers as "remarkably free and fair", consistent with the principles and the practices of a regained democracy.

Challenges ahead facing civil society organizations and human rights defenders

Tunisian civil society activists encounter several challenges:

Economic and social challenges: Tunisians activiststs are faced with significant legitimate demands of a marginalized and daunted population, especially in the deprived regions of the western part of the country. Suffering from alienation and exclusion, they still voice their economic, social and political rights. In fact, the frustration is rooted in a history of unbalanced economic growth, unequal development, tricking poverty and high rate of unemployment. Independent civil society organizations had converted this frustration into well organized mass protest.

In Sidi Bouzid, the birthplace of the Revolution, figures are quite alarming: 45 percent of girls who have a university degree are unemployed and 35 percent of children drop out school just after their primary education. Protests there reflect people's discontent. According to the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders, 300 protests have taken place in Sidi Bouzid this year. That's more than one protest per day!

Political, civil and institutional challenges: all over 23 years of repression, the opposition was mainly carried out through protest. As it was rightly said by the correspondent of the Times Magazine about opposition figures in the Arab World: "All they know is what they don't want". Political parties as well as civil society groups are fragmented and show rarely a visible program. In such changing political reality, one could feel a "political and institutional vacuum".
Struggle for freedom of expression: recent controversial appointments to key positions in the public service media, without consultation of any stakeholders; the assault of journalists by the police (130 aggressions against journalists according to the Bureau of Reporters Sans Frontières In Tunisia); the attack on a private TV journalist, Sofiene ben Hmida, by Ennahda activists while covering a sit in in front of the Ministry of Interior; the jail of a director of a private TV channel after being pressurized to stop a satirical program very critical towards the Islamic Government are all signs of a possible backlash on freedom of expression. The media-successful general strike on October 17, 2012 against the stranglehold of the elected government on the press and the protests that followed showed that the climate of fear that loomed in the time of Ben Ali has faded away. But much work has been cut out.
Tunisia, the first Arab country to ban polygamy since 1956 and to emancipate women , is now fighting through its resilient civil society for the drafting of gender equality in the New Constitution as the Islamic majority in the Parliament tries to replace equality with ” the complementarity of men and women”, thus undermining women's rights.
The contradiction in the current draft of the Constitution between freedom of belief and the criminalization of attacks on the ”Sacred”; which leaves large room for interpretations of what the term means and leads to censorship of freedom of journalists, artists or academics.
The wave of attacks by radical Islamists during all these months and the failure of the government to face them. Such failure has led them , according to Human Rights Watch , to more violence against ”artists, intellectuals and political activists”, culminating on the attack of the American Embassy on September 14, 2012, when four people were killed and 39 were injured in a protest against a film mocking Islam.
One of the urgent priorities of civil society is the transitional justice, very necessary to deep root the mechanisms of both justice and equity. Also, to unveil the truth about past violations, tortures and murders, compensate the victims both morally and materially and provide the necessary conditions for national reconciliation which would mean an active contribution to reform the justice and security systems, essential to any stable process of transition towards democracy. One year after the election of the government, nothing much has been done on that issue.

Encouraging opportunities for rights defenders yet to be strengthened

"There is no country in which associations are needed more to prevent the despotism of parties or the arbitrary power of a prince, than those in which the social order is democratic," said Alexis de Tocqueville. To add later, that "in countries where such associations do not exist, there will be no protection against any kind of tyranny.”

The very civil society, which suffered severe, stifling repression during the Ben Ali era is now flourishing as large networks of associations have emerged, mushrooming and trying to cover every aspect of life and needs. They aim at compensating the long years of marginalization, rejection and alienation by answering the urgent needs of a society for democracy, freedom and social justice.

If the emergence of a multitude of associations might be seen as a healthy symptom of a modern society which has long suffered from suffocation and likes to organize itself to ensure a democratic transition, its abundance and fragmentation has given birth to quite troubling phenomena.

Most of the newly-formed NGOs lack the necessary experience and the adequate human and material resources to face the major challenges ahead. At the same time, the few “old” independent human rights groups are faced with the challenges of reviving their structure while answering increasing demands and solicitations.

In fact, during the long years of dictatorship, very few independent organizations have led resistance and their accomplishments are not trivial. Some organizations had gained respect over the years. Among them, the Trade Union Movement (UGTT), especially at the local level, led protests to reduce the social costs of globalization, privatization and economic reform. The Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) fought bravely to protect its independence and to denounce human rights abuses. The Association of Democratic Women (ATFD) played an important role not only to preserve a modernist status for women but also to empower the latter. The composition and role of these actors is today changing while they have been weakened over the years.

These actors and the new ones need to have the means to adapt their own strategy and methods to the new challenges and political realities.

Most importantly, the success of the Tunisian civil society will be measured by its capacity to answer the urgent social challenges on an effective and sustainable basis. We should always remember that the revolution was a reaction against poverty, high unemployment and regional inequality.

For example, it might seem a paradox that the very youth that helped to trigger a quite unprecedented revolution in the Arab World is now seeking by any means to flee the country. Like the waves of the first settlers in America, they dream of a better life in Europe. Between 35,000 and 40,000 illegal migrants are scattered in South Europe, often mistreated. In the same vein, hundreds of thousands of refugees coming from Libya arrived in Tunisia when Europe declined -as it still does- to guest tens of thousands of Tunisian migrants in a dignified way.

Today, newly established organizations such as the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, together with “old” human rights groups like the Tunisian League, have amply documented the alarming conditions of those migrants and are trying to lobby the National Constituency Assembly to establish a legal status for refugees in conformity with International Conventions (the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and their families, ratified on 18 December 1990), to stop criminalizing migrants and to renegotiate past agreements made with the EU Member States on this subject. This is a big step towards implication of international human rights treaties over domestic law upon their ratification by the Parliament. Tunisia's International Obligations “are respected as long as they don't contradict the Constitution,” stipulates the draft. That is a dangerous contradiction. The opposite is true in a democracy: domestic legislations should comply with international standards.

With the implication of new social groups, mainly of those who had been active in the social media, the commitment of a vibrant youth longing for new perspectives and the glorious past of a resistant civil society that has long espoused universal values and human rights; all this has opened up new dimension for new momentum to a flourishing social and political life in Tunisia.

But that would not be enough if it does not go hand in hand with the requirements of a true democracy (guaranteeing women's rights and ratifying all the international conventions on that respect, ensuring civil and political freedoms, providing absolute freedom of conscience a constitutional value and scrupulously respecting freedom of association and freedom of speech, especially the independence of the media, integrating the principles of human rights in all schooling levels: primary, secondary and higher education, etc.).

Conclusion:

From the pioneering experience in Tunisia and other experiences in the Arab world, it seems that democratic breakthroughs take only weeks. But, the development of a true democratic culture is going to take much longer. Supporting and strengthening the role of human rights defenders, as major agents of sustainable change, is essential in this context. It would prevent any still possible backlashes and thus protect rights defenders' actions over the long term.

Translated from English by Holly Woodcroft

Origins of the Tunisian Revolution

Messaoud Romdhani — 2012-10-31T16:31:41Z

“It wasn't meant to happen in Tunisia,” said Robert Fisk, the famous English Journalist ironically about the revolt of January 2011 that galvanized people –mainly youth – throughout the Arab World, inspiring them to challenge the iron-fisted rules of dictators who had seemed not long ago, strongly protected by their strong police apparatus.

Nobody expected a peaceful revolution to happen in the country despite high unemployment, heavy corruption, striking regional inequities and a sclerotic regime that had always disdained calls for democracy and human rights.

But the small country (163 square kilometers) with a relatively small population (a bit more than ten million), feted for its welcoming Mediterranean beaches and European life style, has got some assets. Among them, a substantial and well-educated middle class, a resilient civil society that has been able to stand decades of repression and a long tradition of modernity; it was the first Arab country to have a constitution (1861), to ban polygamy (1956) and to legalize abortion (1973).

Also, the Labor Unions, known as the leading force during the revolt as they converted the protests, started locally, into a coordinated social movement have a long tradition of protest. In the absence of strong political parties – due mainly to repression and tyranny – the unions have played an important role in opposing the successive governments' unpopular social, economic and political policies.

The Origins

The revolt that started in Sidi Bouzid on December 17th, 2010, was the first important protest in the 55 years of Tunisia's independence only because of its outcome. Several minor-but nonetheless important- uprisings had preceded. Always with a common denominator: social and economic backgrounds related to the liberalization of the economy with all its negative legacies and an unbalanced economy.

In 1978, a few years after the new liberal economy was set up, prices increased, inflation mounted and public services worsened for the first time in Tunisia. The UGTT (General Union of Workers) called for a general strike. All over the country, workers and pauperized middle and lower classes demonstrated throughout the country. Finally, the army intervened and more than a hundred people were killed in the streets. Trade Union leaders were arrested, tortured and put in jail for years.

In 1984, there was the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Plan (SAP) dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with the usual “advice” to restructure the economy: austerity with the elimination of food subsidies and the gradual privatization of public sectors. The result was prompt with revolts sweeping all over the country in what was referred to as the “Bread Revolt”, where scores of young people denouncing a crippled economy and an opaque political system died.

But the most important revolt took place in the Southern Mining region of Gafsa in 2008 where the important extraction of phosphates brought nothing to the local population but unemployment (especially with the mechanization), poverty and serious environmental disasters. There, the revolt against joblessness, nepotism and unfair recruitment had lasted for six months with demonstrations, strikes and sit-ins almost daily despite repression from both the army and the police.

This time the revolt had gained some momentum. It has shown that the “Tunisian Economic Miracle”, used as an excuse for repression was but a chimera: unemployment, officially about 14 percent, could reach more than 25 percent in the south and western parts of the country.

Suffering from high unemployment, endemic poverty and poor infrastructure, the southern and western regions began to express their discontent through a series of peaceful protests. Unable to understand the legitimate demands of a daunted population, Ben Aly's regime reacted with the usual reflexes: three young people died, more than 26 injured and scores of trade union and civil society leaders were imprisoned with heavy sentences. Another page of repression in the history of the country was turned. But this time, not without legacies.

Solidarity

The Tunisian Civil Society reacted in solidarity of the movement. A committee for the Support of the Mining Region was set up. It was led by lawyers, human rights activists and trade union militants. I was honored to be its spokesperson. We fixed three objectives for the supporting committee: defend the movement leaders in court, break the wall of silence that the regime tried to build around the movement and assist the prisoners' family (mainly financially).

That's just to say that the Tunisian Revolt of January 14th did not come out of the blue. A string of social and economic revolts had preceded. All of them led by activists; but lack ideological and political leadership.

But, who were the heroes of the 14th January 2011 revolt?

They were the internet surfing bloggers, the trade union leaders, the human rights activists, and those some 120,000 youths who had a university degree but couldn't find access to jobs.

In fact, western governments that often tolerated Ben Ali's repressive régime for his social and economic “achievements” often forget three major factors:

1. His tyranny went hand in hand with mass corruption, nepotism, favoritism and regionalism ;

2. Being the obedient pupil of the IMF and the World Bank, the old regime always faced popular protests when it carried adjustment plans; including elimination of price controls over essential consumer goods, opening up doors to sweeping privatization;

3. Protests, in the case of Tunisia, have always striped the different governments of political arguments, decreased their raison d'être and added momentum to those who urge their collapse.

The fact that revolts started in the underprivileged regions reflected a striking disparity between the interior (southern and western parts of the country) and the coastal line of Tunisia, a characteristic feature that has been predominant for ages , becoming more conspicuous with Ben Ali's regime.

South of Tunisia: 15 percent of the population on 58 percent of the territory

The coastal line: 60 percent of the population on 17 percent of the land.

Rate of poverty in the coastal line: 1.2 percent

Rate of poverty in Sidi Bouzid:12.8 percent

Unemployment in the coastal line: 5 to 10 percent

Unemployment in the western part of the country: 16 to 25 percent

(Source: study by the General Labor Union –UGTT- 2009)

Public internet access points in coastal provinces:232

Public internet access points in all in land provinces: 27

(Source: Developing an inclusive Tunisia, Zack Brisson, March 2012)

The anger against social injustice, unemployment, tyranny and mass corruption was framed by civil society militants through slogans of dignity, full employment, freedom of expression and regional equity. Slogans that reflect the thirst for democracy and social justice.

But the results of the 23rd October, 2011 elections do not reflect this urge, nor do they reward the leftist groups who were the real triggers of the movement. That's, probably, because there is a difference between the aspiration of the elite that leads an uprising and the more complicated choice of people as to who is going to represent them. It is, also, the result of the incapacity of secular groups to penetrate the deep roots of the Tunisian society. For instance, facing widespread corruption, for the lay Tunisian, needs more preaching morals and the fear of God than establishing the law.

The Outcome of The Elections

Ennahdha, the Islamic party, absent during all the revolt, got a majority of the votes, 41 percent of the National Constituent Assembly. Many reasons, I think, were behind that result. Islam, for most people, is not just a religious belief; it is part of an identity. Neglecting this fact would lead to fatal mistakes. Laicism, when spoken about during the campaign was seen as “western atheism” rather than a separation between religion and politics. “Ennahda's electoral victory is best understood as a reassertion of a long-marginalized Arab-Muslim identity,” says Jeffry Halverson, Islamic Studies Professor, Arizona. Also, the Islamic Party is highly skilled at reaching people and mixing preaching religion and talking politics, using mosques and undertaking a door to door campaign, giving meals at the end of Ramadan fasts, organizing weddings and circumcisions for poor families. Founded in the beginning of 1980's, it grew up with the Iranian Revolution, but its ideology is that of Muslim Brotherhood.

Leftist and liberal groups, entered the elections dispersed, fragmented and with no visible programs. More than 100 political parties with similar societal project. Result: More than 40 percent of the votes were lost among the 1500 secular electoral lists. Worn out by years of repression and the ban of every political activity, they have been always a force of protest but never that of construction.

The Time Magazine said about the protesters during the three weeks movement, “All they know is what they don't want.”

Not An Easy Task!!

But the task of the predominant Islamist government is not easy. It is easier to speak of Islam as a solution to the problems than to apply its principles to solve everyday governing problems, “Islamism often thrives in abstraction, but it quickly shows its weaknesses and inadequacies when it comes to the dirty details of governance,” said Halverson, above cited.

Urgent demands of social justice, regional equity and democracy have increased. Despair is often expressed in strikes, sit-ins and marches. But it is sometimes expressed in violent reactions against the government symbols. Thus, many locals of Ennadha were burned by protesters. Transitional justice is still stumbling in the first steps. Friction inside the governing coalition; but also with the still resilient civil society is becoming more and more evident as the Islamist governing majority fail to balance between their religious sensitivities and the compelling freedom of expression demands.

Violent salafists, who believe that Islam should come back to its origins, are another challenge for both the government and civil society as they have not only gained a conspicuous public presence but they have also used violence against ”blasphemy”, films, intellectuals and art exhibitions. So far, the government has shown laxity towards containing these extremist groups.

Conclusion

Nobody had expected the transitional process to be easy. But I believe that the project of the “islamization” of society through violence and ideology is failing. People, in many occasions, reject the salafists and force them to withdraw. Recently, Rached Ghannouchi,admitted that his Islamist Party, Ennahda, has lost popularity.

On the other hand, everyday protests try to remind the government of the –often forgotten- urgent demands of ordinary Tunisians: jobs, freedom and social justice.