As this article goes to press Feb. 7,
Al Jazeera reports that a new round of militant protests have erupted across
Tunisia, with one fatality in the southern town of Kebili. Police and security
force stations have been torched.
In another development, on Feb. 6,
Fahrat Rajhi, the new interior minister, suspended all activities of the
country’s former ruling party, the RCD, according to an official statement.
Rajhi intends to seek the party’s dissolution. RCD members are being
blamed for the violence and looting.
On Jan. 14, the Tunisian people’s uprising drove the hated
dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his family from the country. Within 24
hours, the people had also driven out his successor and made it clear to the
regime and the world that simply forcing Ben Ali out was not enough.
The defeat of Ben Ali was a major victory for a people who
had suffered political repression and economic hardship for the 23 years of the
dictatorship. But it is only the first step in what is being demanded by the
Tunisian people.
The revolt that continues today was sparked by the final
desperate act of a young man, Mohamed Bouazizi, in the city of Sidi Bouzid.
Bouazizi, 26, had been the main provider for his family since he was
10-years-old and a constant target of police harassment. Unable to find a job
or join the army to support his family, he sold fruits and vegetables from the
family farm at a local market stand, without a permit.
Bouazizi suffered years of police harassment and heavy fines
for running an unpermitted stand. In December, he was victimized yet again and
lit himself on fire in front of city hall in an act of protest.
His brother posted a video of the Dec. 17 self-immolation
and the family’s ensuing protest on the internet. Protests grew in size and
scope across the region. The dictatorship violently repressed the
demonstrations, initially killing at least 14 people, which only further
angered the people.
Protests that had started among the working class in one of
the poorest regions of the country—removed from the political or economic
centers—now drew from the entire nation’s working class, as well as the middle
class and even some support from the privileged sectors of society.
By the first week of January, when Mohamed Bouazizi died, it
was clear that the Tunisian people were united against the decades-long
dictatorship. The popular movement lost at least 219 people to state repression
before the victory was won.
Class forces involved in revolt
The protests were initially led by and mostly comprised of
the masses of unemployed youth and their families. Unemployment has remained
unbearably high and appears to have been a major cause of mass protests. The
local union organization estimates the unemployment rate in Metlaoui, one of
the first cities to be a protest center, to be 40 percent of the active
population. For youth across the country, unemployment is over 30 percent.
Student organizations and the local units of the national trade
union federation then joined the demonstrations as well, and became an
important organizing force as the protests encountered repression.
The General Union of Tunisian Students had been influential
in the country in the 1970s and 1980s but had been forced to go underground.
The Ben Ali regime’s neoliberal economic reforms turned schools into targets of
privatization. During the 1990s and 2000s, student organizations played an
important role in organizing against privatization but continued to be hampered
by the high level of political repression. In the midst of the protests, Ben
Ali closed all schools in fear of student opposition. Middle school and
university students were put on buses and shipped home.
The UGTT, Tunisian General Union of Labor, counts about a
third of the workforce as members, but its contracts cover an even larger
number. It has a long history of political activism and was strongly associated
with the Tunisian independence struggle against France after it was formed in
1946.
While the UGTT had historically been a major political force
in the country, its political weight had declined during the Ben Ali regime for
two major reasons. One is the reduction in its membership due to the
implementation of neoliberal economic reforms. The other was the politically
reactionary leadership of the federation.
The local units in Sidi Bouzid, where the protests started,
and other cities in the region have a reputation for being more engaged than
the national federation. Union members and organizers participated in the
initial protests, and were demanding that the federation play a more active
role. The national federation leadership held them back, refusing to authorize
action, until they too realized that the popular movement was not going to
dissipate and had picked up powerful momentum.
The regional sections of Sfaz, Kairouan and Tourez were
authorized to strike Jan. 11, and a strike was called for Tunis—the capital
city—for Jan.14. These actions represented a major turning point for the
popular uprising as the masses continued to be drawn into political action. The
union federation has become a major component of the popular movement.
Protest marches grew, as did the state’s repression. What
role did the state’s forces, the police and army, play?
Role of state forces: police and army
Under Ben Ali, the security apparatus had grown until it was
larger even than that of France—despite the fact that the population of France
is six times larger than Tunisia’s. Police forces across the country are also
notoriously corrupt. The repressive and corrupt police in Sidi Bouzid
promulgated the initial spark of the popular movement.
As the movement spread, the police continued to play a
highly repressive role, routinely attacking demonstrations with live ammunition
in addition to tear gas. The police force in Sousse—a large central coastal
city and tourist area—blocked vehicles carrying wounded protesters from
reaching the hospitals. Scenes like this were not uncommon in other cities.
The army played a very different role than the police. The
small army of 30,000 has historically not interfered in domestic affairs. In
past demonstrations, the army has remained a more or less neutral force, not
turning on protesters in the 1972 student rebellion, the 1984 mass protests or
the more recent miners’ strike in 2008.
On Jan.12, in the midst of the rebellion against Ben Ali,
General Rachid Ammar was dismissed for refusing to fire on the people. The
army, for the most part, did maintain a neutral position. After Ben Ali was
forced out, the army was widely viewed among communities of different social
classes as a keeper of the peace rather than a tool of repression.
However, the main force defending the protests and the
working-class neighborhoods being targeted by the police were the people
themselves. Neighborhood groups organized to defend and assist each other as
the police and militias attacked. The militias were said to have been organized
by the Ben Ali regime even after its ouster. The neighborhood patrol groups
also organized food distribution and other community assistance.
This popular organization and the power of the
masses—unemployed, students, unions and others—were the key factors in the
victory of driving out Ben Ali and his family. The uprising was not only a
revolt against the political repression of the Ben Ali dictatorship, but also
against the economic hardship faced by millions.
U.S. imperialism’s
role in events
Another factor played a role in Ben Ali’s final decision to
flee—the decision of his U.S. backers. Ben Ali had been a close ally and client
of the U.S. government since before his takeover of power in 1987. But the
scale and depth of the mass uprising made it too dangerous for the United
States to continue supporting him, and risk the further radicalization of the
movement and a complete loss of influence.
Thus Ben Ali’s U.S. supporters indicated that he should go.
Their interest in doing so lies in their hope of managing a favorable
partnership with Tunisia’s capitalist class and preserving a client state that
continues to operate in the interests of imperialism. The face of that
partnership is less important to U.S. imperialism than the function that it
serves.
The U.S. government hypocritically tried to paint itself as
an ally of the Tunisian people in their revolt against the dictatorship. The
truth is quite the opposite. The U.S. imperialist ruling class fully supported
the dictatorship as long as it served to protect their interests in the region.
When the Tunisian people ensured that the regime’s demise
was imminent, the U.S government and corporate media changed their tune.
Obama’s statements in support of the protesters were merely a ploy in a game of
control—the U.S. ruling class seeks to manage the effects of Tunisia’s popular
uprising to benefit itself.
In a Jan. 30 Washington Post editorial entitled “Helping the
Tunisian revolution end well,” Robert Standoff says as much. He calls for the
United States to be a “full partner” in making sure the Tunisian people reject
what he calls extreme ideologies. “Extreme ideologies” is U.S. ruling-class
code for anything counter to its interests.
Standoff calls for funding to run Tunisia’s pending
elections, an economic agreement that could help the U.S. partially supplant
Europe as a dominant force in Tunisia’s economy and funding for U.S. cultural
outreach. The editorial is an imperialist and opportunistic appeal to manage
the Tunisian people’s future for the benefit of the U.S. ruling class.
The United States and European imperialist powers had touted
the great example of Ben Ali’s Tunisia
for its economic growth and dedication to imperialist wishes. In a 2006
visit, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld spoke of a “long relationship
with Tunisia” and “very constructive military and diplomatic cooperation.”
The economic growth praised by imperialist powers was based
on consistent GDP growth rates of 4 to 5 percent yearly. The small group of
wealthy owners in Tunis, and a larger group of foreign investors and corporations,
were reaping profits.
But this indicator says little about the actual living
conditions of the masses of people, characterized by high unemployment and
inflation. Unemployment among 15- to-29-year-olds was 31.2 percent in 2008. The
national average of unemployment is 14 percent.
Economic restructuring meant that jobs disappeared and few
were created. In Metlaoui, 75 percent of employees had permanently lost their
jobs over a 25-year period because of mining restructuring. Since mid-2010,
food prices skyrocketed, jumping more than 30 percent between June and
December.
The success of any Tunisian government will be determined
not only by their skill in uprooting and destroying the remnants of the Ben Ali
dictatorship but what they do for the immediate and future needs of the
Tunisian people.
What future for
Tunisia?
Tunisia’s revolution is in a new phase. While the situation
on the ground is somewhat more stable, there are still many unanswered
questions about the future in this period of newfound openness.
After Ben Ali’s escape, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi
became the architect of the “new” government. Ghannouchi is a member of Ben
Ali’s RCD party and a longtime member of the dictator’s regime. In deference to
the popular movement, Ghannouchi has removed himself from the party, but he
still has no popular standing.
Ghannouchi has repeatedly been forced to make concessions to
popular demands to dismantle the old regime.
In the week after Jan.14, Ghannouchi organized a “unity”
cabinet that consisted almost entirely of ministers from the old regime. This
move prompted huge protests on Jan. 21. The four ministers aligned with the
UGTT pulled out in protest and the UGTT threatened a strike for Jan.22. The
actions called for Ghannouchi’s resignation as well as the resignation of other
ministers from Ben Ali’s government.
Ghannouchi conceded on Jan. 27, replacing 12 cabinet
ministers from the old regime but refusing to resign himself or remove the
president. The next day he ordered riot police to break up the remaining
protests in Tunis calling for his resignation.
In the weeks following, the former president’s staff has
been dismissed, members of the security apparatus arrested and new governors
appointed in all 24 districts. A commission has been set up to take complaints
on past corruption and embezzling.
The political face of the government has changed. But the
character of the government has not changed much. Vestiges of the Ben Ali
dictatorship remain. The Ghannouchi government has not indicated what, if any,
substantive changes will be made other than to promise increased jobs for young
people. Elections are to be held in six months but no date has been set.
Opposition
crystallizing around varying ideological tendencies
The masses are not in motion in the same way as during the
days leading up to Jan.14 or immediately following. However, they remain a
powerful force as Tunisians explore a political openness unheard of during the
Ben Ali regime.
Spontaneous demonstrations have been held in front of the
Interior Ministry or the Health Ministry according to the needs and demands of
sectors of the population. The commission on corruption has been flooded.
Popular organizations among the youth, students, workers and others continue
the struggle on a day-to-day basis. A new trade union federation, the CGTT, was
announced on Feb. 2.
Opposition to the Ghannouchi government is crystallizing in
different organizations and movements that represent different ideological
tendencies. Among them are the Al Nahda organization and the 14th of January
Front.
Rachid Ghannouchi, who bears no relation to PM Mohamed
Ghannouchi, returned from over 20 years of exile to the greeting of more than a
thousand supporters. Rachid Ghannouchi is a co-leader of Al-Nahda, a moderate
Islamic opposition organization that was repressed by Ben Ali.
Rachid Ghannouchi has called for the construction of a real
national unity government that does not exclude any sector of society. He comes
from a progressive bourgeois family known for its opposition to the Ben Ali
regime. He and Al-Nahda have ties to the Justice and Development Party in
Turkey.
The 14th of January Front was founded on Jan. 20 by a
coalition of leftist parties and organizations, including the League of the
Labor Left, Movement of Nasserist Unionists, Movement of Democratic
Nationalists, Democratic Nationalists (Al-Watad), Baasist Current, Independent
Left, Tunisian Communist Workers Party and the Patriotic and Democratic Labor
Party. The founding statement of the Front outlines positive and progressive
next steps for the country and the popular movement in the coming period.
Clearly, the revolution in Tunisia is not yet finished. It
has won a great victory in driving out Ben Ali and continuing the struggle
against vestiges of the dictatorship. The struggle of the Tunisian people
continues.
Tunisia’s revolutionary movement has incited revolutionary
fervor across the Arab world. The Party for Socialism and Liberation stands in
solidarity with the people of Tunisia in their struggle for social and economic
justice as it stands with the people in Egypt, Yemen and elsewhere currently
rising up against U.S.-backed repressive regimes.
