Failure to Confront Extremists Keeps Tunisian Unity Elusive
The Tunisian government's lackluster reaction to the murder of opposition leader Chokri Belaid is setting a very dangerous precedent, writes Nassif Hitti.
The assassination in Tunisia of Chokri Beleid, the symbolic figure of opposition to the former regime and a leading modernist and democratic figure in the country's agitated transitional period, came to reveal a serious and dangerous challenge to Tunisia's still fragile transition to democracy.
The murder itself is a byproduct of the increasing physical and verbal violence and intimidation that is becoming the norm as Tunisia changes. One of the main political actors that uses these unsavory tactics is the National League for the Protection of the Revolution — a force very close, if not attached, to the Ennahda Party. The key danger, however, comes from the proliferation of a radical and recurrent Salafist jihadist discourse. This is taking place in mosque sermons by pro-jihadist sheikhs and in the political sphere by the leading figures of these Islamist movements. They preach against what they call infidels, atheists and anti-Muslims (and therefore anti-Islam) and those belonging to the old regime — meaning all modernists, if not all non-Islamists — as well as against those who believe in a civil state. A good example of such an exclusive aggressive discourse is the arson attacks on Sufi mausoleums around Tunisia.
The absence of a reaction by the Ennahda-controlled government — and the muted reaction of the party itself, which called for “dialogue” — sets a very dangerous precedent. Responding to the hateful speech of the Salafists by calling for dialogue and the failure to pursue legal avenues against this virulent form of extremism is creating a dangerous political and security situation in Tunisia. Its winning of an election by a very thin margin, with a low turnout, and the fact that the party has been persecuted in the past does not allow it to think that it has a free hand to impose ideological views on the new administration.
This is not being done entirely through the rebuilding of state institutions, because the party needs allies to maintain its thin majority. Instead, this is being done through the reshaping of the socio-cultural values of society, and through deciding — through intimidation when neccessary— what constitutes morally and socially acceptable behavior in post-revolution Tunisia. The ball is in Ennahda’s court.
