Violence in Tunisia Increases As Ennahda Stands By
Islamist extremists in Tunisia are increasingly resorting to violence to implement their ideology, while the Ennahda government is accused of fence-sitting, writes Kaci Racelma.
A new chapter is opening in Tunisia’s modern history, but not without its share of friction and tension.
These periods of change are inevitably accompanied by pain and upheaval. After the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali following massive popular demonstrations, a new vision characterized by religiosity darkened the skies above this North African nation and imposed itself on a people still trying to find its bearings. That new vision is Salafism, and it is ever more apparent that post-revolutionary Tunisia is sinking into Islamism, despite the best efforts of political forces to stop it.
Shaping public opinion through discourse and rigorous communication is central to the ideological arsenal with which preachers garner support in their quest for new followers. Clerics who espouse this approach abound in socially disadvantaged parts of the country.
Poverty creates “a favorable climate for the emergence of organized crime as well as extremist Islamist movements that threaten the stability of the region.” This declaration by Minister of Defense Abdelkerim Zbidi, at the opening of the 30th session of the National Defense Institute (IDN) in November, speaks volumes about the tightening socioeconomic pressures placing the Tunisian people at the mercy of the Islamists' siren songs. In Tunisia, Salafists generally come from disadvantaged social backgrounds and poor neighborhoods. This might explain the vivacity with which they pursue this cause, which, if they had the slightest glimmer of hope of improving their lives, would be of little interest to them.
