(Source: tarikraiss, via algerianculture)
Jadaliyya | Post-Ben Ali Partisan Developments in Tunisia: The Guarantor of Pluralism in a Nascent Democracy →
It was early afternoon at the Congress for the Republic (CPR) headquarters in downtown Tunis, known amongst its members as Hezb el Koujina — literally, the Kitchen Party. Mr. Mohammed Abbou, standing in the CPR headquarter’s actual koujina (kitchen) was hurriedly eating a sandwich before scuffling off to a meeting with the rest of the party’s political bureau. Abbou, currently Tunisia’s Minister of Administrative Reform, was trying his best to swallow bites of his sandwich, while leaving sufficient amounts of time to breathe and answer the questions of those surrounding him: young party members who were asking him about his ministry’s structure and about the course of internal politicking he does with his peers. Enter his wife, Mrs. Samia Abbou, who is also a member of Tunisia’s Constituent Assembly. Next, a hot house of five heated conversations all occur at the same time. Using her remarkably animated, fiery mannerisms Mrs. Abbou jokes with two younger CPR members, interrupted only by a phone call that she answers outside the kitchen. This is the political scene at CPR headquarters, similar to many other party settings in post-Ben Ali Tunisia: approachable and raw.
The former president’s ouster on 14 January 2011 led to an opening of Tunisia’s path to a functional democracy. The ouster has also activated the partisan dreams of many activists-turned-politicians. For decades, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s Constitutional Democratic Rally (Rassemblement Constitutionnel Démocratique, RCD), which emerged in 1988, dominated the political scene. The party penetrated all national administrative levels and every aspect of the Tunisian’s daily life. From public institutions such as municipalities and post offices to private corporations and family-owned shops, you could be certain to catch a glimpse of Ben Ali’s omnipresent stare. Posters and framed pictures of him hung at every doorstep, difficult to miss. “Elections” always heralded seemingly miraculous results; the percentage voting for Ben Ali never dipped below 80 percent. Most political activity was violently crushed during Ben Ali’s era. From 1988 to 1999, the Progressive Democratic Party (Parti Démocrate Progressiste, PDP), then one of the only parties operating legally, was allowed to run in the elections. Yet PDP, which is still active today as an opposition party, was largely seen as background décor, both by ruling RCD party members and countless activists operating sub rosa.
Tunisia: Police Uses Tear Gas to Break Up Unemployed Protesters via Tunisia Live
Read this: Violent Crackdown Causes Outrage in Tunisian Civil and Political Society
Several political and civil society figures expressed their indignation at the violent handling of yesterday’s protest on Habib Bourguiba Avenue.
Yesterday, hundreds of Tunisians took to the streets to celebrate Martyrs’ Day on Habib Bourguiba Avenue, despite the ban on protesting on that street, announced at the end of last month by the Ministry of the Interior.
The ministry released a statement yesterday describing the protests as a deliberate violation of the demonstration ban. The statement also affirmed that a group of protesters insisted on demonstrating there, refusing to listen to policemen’s attempts to get them to demonstrate elsewhere.
The Tunisian Human Rights League (LDTH) held a press conference yesterday condemning the crackdown against the protesters, members of the LDTH and civil society members who were presenton Avenue Habib Bourguiba yesterday.
The Tunisian Revolution still hasn’t ended.