The Foreign Service Journal, May 2012

28 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 1 2 homogenous, secular, well-edu- cated population, Tunisia was often called “a country that works.” Its government boasted that 80 percent of its population was solidly middle class, with a poverty rate of less than 4 per- cent. The population was noto- riously apolitical and many were apathetic about the absence of democracy, arguing that stabil- ity was all that mattered. In addition, few Tunisians at- tended mosques or sported any of the outward expressions of religiosity. The 2011 revolution revealed that this carefully cul- tivated image bore little resemblance to reality. En- nahda’s overwhelming victory in the Constituent Assembly elections last fall was a wake-up call to the country’s secular elite, who had long believed that they were the majority. Although analysts have pointed to superior organization and the multitude of center-left parties dividing up the vote to explain the Islamist vic- tory, it seems clear that many Tunisians voted for En- nahda because they believe in its message and what it represents. After years of religious repression, Tunisians are again veiling themselves or growing beards, and filling formerly empty mosques to capacity. Television stations have traveled into rural areas to demonstrate that the 4-percent poverty rate was nothing but a myth. Cap- turing the very real surprise of the Tunis-based elite, one prominent Tunisian reflects: “We thought we were all the same, but it turns out we are extremely divided: rich and poor, religious and secular, urban and rural.” Secular Panic Ennahda’s electoral dominance and the fractured state of the center-left opposition have only increased the panic felt by secular Tunisians. Statements by sev- eral Ennahda members about references to sharia law in the constitution have riled the center-left, despite moderate and reassuring speeches by Ennahda’s scholar-leader, Rached Ghannouchi, that sharia law is not a goal. Tunisia’s secular elite must not only come to terms with the party’s electoral victory, but recognize that most Tunisians would like society to reflect mod- erate Islamic values. Meanwhile, the unruly and sometimes violent Salafists have prompted many Tunisians to question the direction of the country. While attending the Jan. 23 trial of a TV station owner in Tunis, two veteran journalists were assaulted by an angry Salafist mob. Similar in- stances of intimidation in the town of Sejnane led some resi- dents to complain that the Salafists are trying to estab- lish a caliphate there. Several universities have faced Salafist protests over the niqab (worn by Muslim women to cover the face) that have led, in some cases, to clashes with the police and school closures. During one demonstration in Tunis, police had to use tear gas to disperse a knife- and baton- wielding mob. The Salafists are a small and marginal element un- likely to shift the course of society, but these incidents have fueled the debate on religion in an unhelpful way. Ennahda has roundly condemned the use of violence, but the government and security forces have not yet demonstrated that they can rein in these groups. Will Press Freedoms Endure? Due to strict government control, as well as self-cen- sorship, the press during the Ben Ali era was often lit- tle more than a mouthpiece for the government. The revolution has given Tunisian journalists unprecedented freedom, but there are signs that this newfound free- dom may be captive to the debate over religion and sec- ularism. For instance, Nebil Karoui, owner and director of Tunis-based Nessma Television, is being tried for blasphemy for an October broadcast of the French- Iranian animated film “Persepolis.” (The film, which had already been shown in Tunisian movie theaters, contains a scene that personifies God.) If convicted, Karoui could face five years in jail. Nassridine Ben Saida, publisher of the Attounisia newspaper, was imprisoned for more than a week in February for publishing a photo from the German edi- tion of GQ that showed Tunisian soccer player Sami Khedira covering the breasts of his nude model girl- friend with his hands. On March 8, Ben Saida was fined 1,000 dinars (roughly $665) for “disrespecting public F OCUS After years of religious repression, Tunisians are again veiling themselves or growing beards, and filling formerly empty mosques to capacity.