The collapse of Operation Successor

It is not known how much more the people of Tunisia would have tolerated their national leader, if not for the Internet...

In Soviet times, getting a job in Tunisia in general, and in our embassy in particular, was considered not just luck, but a privilege - almost like, for example, in France. This happened to me in the early 80s - then there, among "their" commonplace ...

In Soviet times, getting a job in Tunisia in general, and in our embassy in particular, was considered not just luck, but a privilege - almost like, for example, in France. This happened to me in the early 80s - then there was a common phrase among “ours” (with a touch of envy, of course!): “So that we live like Tunisians.”

There was something to envy both then and in the following decades: the country was an “island of calm” against the backdrop of various kinds of upheavals in its neighboring Algeria and Libya, an attractive “supermarket” against the backdrop of empty stores from neighbors (Tunisia did not dry out " sausage caravans from Algeria and Libya); an example of religious tolerance - in the center of the capital (and without special protection!) There was a synagogue, and its "paisate" ministers and parishioners in traditional Jewish clothes walked calmly along the capital's streets (and this is in an Arab country!); the European press was sold freely in the kiosks, which arrived there day in and day out; girls with bare tops could be seen on public beaches; the Tunisians themselves freely traveled around the world ... So the "Tunisian dream" of Soviet foreign workers, as we see, has largely become a reality with us. However, with the same load in the form of a vertical of rigid authoritarian power, equipped with an imitation of democratic institutions and political activity.

Among the Arab countries with a republican form of government, Tunisia set a record for the irremovability of leaders: in the entire post-war history of them, that is, presidents, it had only two. The first is a true national hero and “father of the nation”, who led the country bloodlessly to independence in 1956, Habib Bourguiba; the second is his appointed successor (who had recently been in the chair of the prime minister, and even earlier headed the national security service), General Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. The Tunisians almost idolized the first, and rather tolerated the second: the difference between the ascetic Bourguiba (“father of the nation”) and the successor prone to luxury with a large family, each member of which, upon reaching a decent age, suddenly became “prominent and influential businessman” turned out to be too catchy.

And here it is appropriate to simply move on to quoting the assessments published by WikiLeaks by American diplomats of the situation in the Tunisian top. So, in one of the telegrams dated July 2009, the following was said: “Tunisia has been ruled by the same president for 22 years. He has no successor. While President Ben Ali deserves credit for continuing many of the progressive policies of President Bourguiba, he and his regime have lost touch with the Tunisian people. The regime does not tolerate advice and criticism, either from its own side or from outsiders. It relies more and more on gaining control and concentrates on holding on to power.” Let us add that shortly after coming to power on November 7, 1987, President Ben Ali completed the reform of the political system that had begun under Bourguiba, legalizing some opposition parties, which, however, were doomed to exist under the almost unlimited dominance of the main party, the Democratic Constitutional Association ( DKO). And this system of "controlled" or imitation democracy persisted until the last days. With a considerable number of non-systemic oppositionists behind bars and mostly "positive" reports about what is happening in Tunisia itself on central television channels.

Let's go back to the 2009 WikiLeaks dispatches. The American ambassador to Tunisia emphasizes the role of the President's wife, Leila Trabelsi, and her family, emphasizing the hatred towards her by many fellow citizens, including those close to government circles. A whole series of telegrams speaks of the blatant immoderation of the behavior of the president's brother-in-law, businessman Saher al-Matri. “Al-Matry, who so wants to open the road to Tunisia for McDonald's ... served ice cream and yogurt for lunch, delivered by his private jet from St. Tropez, where he and his wife Nesrin (Ben Ali's daughter) had just spent two weeks. A live tiger named Pasha lives in a cage on their estate and consumes four chicken carcasses a day.”

Now let's superimpose this information on the country's economic situation, which was significantly shaken by the crisis that began in 2008, which sharply increased unemployment against the backdrop of the still luxurious life of the "family". The conclusion of American diplomats, as shown by WikiLeaks, is: “Tunisian dissatisfaction with high unemployment and regional inequality is steadily growing, which implies that the long-term stability of the Tunisian regime is under threat ... Tunisia is a police state with minimal levels of freedom of speech and assembly and serious problems in the field human rights".

With the appearance of the spill from WikiLeaks, Tunisians began to have serious problems with access to the Internet. It is curious that against this background, back in November 2010, Ben Ali's entourage campaigned to justify the need for the president to run for the highest office in the country again - for the sixth time in a row. And everything, presumably, would be in order if it were not for ... the incident that occurred on December 17 in the town of Sidi Bouzid (265 km south of the capital). On that day, Mohammed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old street vendor, came to the local government to complain that, for lacking a formal license, security officials confiscated his cart, on which he transported his goods - vegetables and dried fruits. The council not only reacted coldly to the complaints of the young man, but also used force. Bouazizi, a university graduate who was unable to find a job in his specialty and completely deprived of his livelihood, despaired and attempted to set himself on fire. The young man was taken to the hospital with third-degree burns. It was this fact that first stirred up the inhabitants of Sidi Bouzid, and then information about him quickly spread throughout the country via the Internet. We emphasize that people took to the streets to express indignation at the behavior of the authorities, and not even at the increase in food prices. When the demonstrations moved to the capital in early January, President Ben Ali acted within the usual logic for the former head of the security service, declaring the protesters "extremists." And this has already become a command to use force.

The intermediate result of what is happening is known: Ben Ali barely found refuge for himself and his family - in Saudi Arabia, because neither France, which he loved, where he studied at the military academy, nor other European countries decided to accept him on their territory (they say it became more one strong blow for Ben Ali). The Saudis did this out of Islamic mercy, and also, presumably, out of political calculation - who knows, maybe today the fugitive president will become tomorrow an important political trump card in the Tunisian solitaire. The demonstrators who continue to protest on the streets of Tunisia are increasing their demands: today they insist on the dissolution of the "ruling party" unloved by everyone - the same one that until recently "won" the elections with almost a 90% result.

It is not easy to predict how soon the situation in the once “blessed” Tunisia will return to normal. Everything unfolded instantly and radically: yesterday's banned parties today are already participating in consultations on the creation of a government of national unity. These are mainly Western-style civil society parties. Islamists, apparently, will not get a chance to turn the country towards the Middle Ages. There are many reasons for this: this is the tragic recent example of a civil war in Algeria as a result of a surge of Islamism, these are the features of the Tunisian society that does not accept radicalism, cultivates tolerance and multiculturalism. Such a close proximity to Europe was not in vain for Tunisia.