Zine El Abidine Ben Ali had just started his fifth term as president. For 74 years he had been triumphantly re-elected in October 2009 and no one doubted, until a few weeks ago, would be revived in 2014 as head of state, because it was convinced that he is irreplaceable. for nearly a quarter of a century, the facts had been proved right.Then, suddenly, it exploded the popular uprising. The peaceful, gentle Tunisia, land of tourism and with a long tradition of trade, unattended by the military as the neighboring Algeria, Morocco or aggressive as it was tired of that authoritarian president and businessman. And he cast to great acclaim.
It may be that the successors, gleaned from the army in a hurry to avoid a dangerous power vacuum, are actually the Praetorian Guard, ready to defend as far as possible the interests of the exile. But the fact remains that the Maghreb has lost a dictator and that Westerners (U.S., France, Italy) have an ally "lay" not in the Muslim world.
The news of the hurried flight of Ben Ali in Tunis has not been greeted with some indifference in the presidential palaces of the Maghreb. It came as a listing of possible future disasters. And in Washington, Paris, Rome, despite the cautious statements or awkward silences, we are mourning at this time an ally that did not shine for its democratic fervor, but it sure was considered an enemy of Islamic fundamentalism.
Then a friend. The joy of Tunisians is it cause for concern. For us, beyond the Mediterranean at this time there has been a will of the people who, unable to practice democracy, has led to a release, may be gleaned that the successors in haste only to be even more of his Praetorian Guard to identify.
When twenty-three years ago, November 7, 1987, came to power "without violence and bloodshed," Ben Ali was greeted with sympathy even by the Islamists, who even knew him as a police repression. It was then prime minister and interior minister, after he was police chief but also a diplomat.
Among other things, ambassador to Poland. Born into a modest family in the coastal town of Hammam Sousse, had climbed the stairs of the military hierarchy, also attending military academies in France and the United States. He spoke with a bad French accent Arab-American. Habib Bourguiba, the father of the country was now suffering from a progressive senility and Ben Ali, considering his dolphin, relegated him to a house arrest, without too many compliments.
There was talk of a "coup doctor." The new president was hailed as a savior of his country which was in very bad economic conditions and that was said to be threatened by a fundamentalist Islamic party (Ennahdha) engaged in innumerable and unnamed plots. He, Ben Ali, revive the economy, laying the foundations for a new liberalism in the country and crushed the fundamentalist party.
He also hikes democratic, since abolished the principle of "presidency for life" time Bourguiba and restricted to three the number of mandates, which then increased as they acquired a taste for exercising power. Even a policy that promoted social solidarity by setting up special funds for the poorest, or the creation of a social security system.
Following the example of his predecessor, the Tunisian woman who had one of the freest in the Arab world, he devoted himself for a while also empowering women. While it became the idol of the middle classes, helped by rapid economic development (growth for years has been more than 5 per cent), Ben Ali developed at the same time and with equal zeal, their inclination to police repression.
Not only against the Islamists, but also to any opponent, immediately called on the left. Cosi has created a nightmare. The wiretaps extended to all social classes made the enigmatic conversations, full of innuendo. In the nineties the Tunisian prisons were filled with people who had dared to criticize the regime.
Journalists and trade unionists were the victims prefer. Thanks to men of confidence, often relatives of Leila, his second wife, the president has taken over the mainstream media: newspapers, radio and television. While the family Trabelsi, his wife, and clan allies, stretched out their hands on all other economic activities in the country: banks, airlines, representatives of luxury cars, often German, the shipping lines, cell phones and all the electronic instruments.
Not to mention the finest residences on the coast, or to Gabez to Bizerte. One of the pillars of the regime was Abdelwahab Abdallah, head of an agency responsible for controlling the mass media, national and international. The task of Abdallah Ben Ali was to appear as a shield against radical Islamism.
To this end the crisis were invented more or less serious, presented as threats to secularism. The slogan, which did not leave indifferent the Western governments, was: "Bin Laden's extremist friends want power." And the Western allies to bite, to the point of neglecting the growing crime of the regime, and the phasing out of the social policy that Ben Ali had sketched the beginning of his long power.
What did it matter if the jails were full, as those who had filled a fierce opponent of Islamic extremism? In 2007, the Tunisian economy was ranked the best in Africa, and at the same time defenders of Human Rights judged the Tunisian regime one of the most freedom. The crisis has weakened the economic benefits, putting more emphasis on the repression.
And Tunisia has exploded.
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