Malgré de nombreux obstacles, la démocratie en Tunisie ne peut pas être arrêtée

Article in English HERE.

Où que vous soyez à Tunis aujourd'hui, vous entendez des débats houleux: qui gouvernera le pays après les élections libres pour l’Assemblée Constitutionnelle le 23 octobre 2011? Le parti islamiste Ennahda va t’il transformer la Tunisie en un état de style iranien? Pourquoi les partis laïques ne sont-ils pas si bien organisés? Pour qui voter parmi les 100 nouveaux partis? 

Détendez-vous dans un café dans l'ancienne Médina de Tunis, dans le quartier des classes moyennes de Nasr ou dans la banlieue chic de Marsa – presque tout le monde discute avec passion la situation actuelle et à quoi une future démocratie tunisienne devrait prendre forme. 

Cette explosion de nouvelles libertés, depuis que le président Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali a fuit vers l'Arabie Saoudite le 14 janvier 2011 après un soulèvement de trois semaines, est un acquis que personne ne pourra jamais enlever aux Tunisiens. S'il y a un consensus dans le pays d'aujourd'hui, c'est que la liberté d'expression, qui a été durement gagnée, est intouchable. 

"Comme elle es belle la Tunisie sans Ben Ali Baba et les 40 voleurs"

Tunis, eté 2011

Les sujets controversés sont nombreux: la nature du futur système (le pouvoir entre les mains du président ou du premier ministre?), la relation entre Etat et religion, les droits de la femme, la politique économique, la réforme du système judiciaire et des institutions sécuritaires, la corruption. 

Beaucoup ont cru le 14 janvier que désormais tout irait bien. Mais les Tunisiens ce sont vite rendu compte que le gouvernement du premier ministre Mohammed Ghannouchi, qui a succédé à Ben Ali, a voulu perpétuer le régime détesté. Il a été renversé après des vagues de protestations et remplacé le 27 février par Beji Caid El-Sebsi, un ancien ministre sous l’ancien Président Habib Bourguiba, autoritaire mais vénéré. Le gouvernement de transition de Mr El-Sebsi dirige maintenant le pays à travers des eaux troubles jusqu'aux élections prévues. 

En parallèle, le « Conseil Supérieur pour la Réalisation des Objectifs de la Révolution, de la Réforme Politique et de la Transition Démocratique », une sorte de commission de réforme politique présidée par le professeur de droit Yadh Ben Achour, a été mise en place. Le conseil supérieur comprend des juges, des membres de la société civile et les représentants des principaux partis qui ont survécu à des années d'oppression en Tunisie et en exil. Ce conseil a mis en place une commission électorale, dirigée par l’éminent  défenseur des droits de l’homme,  Kamel Jendoubi, qui va organiser et surveiller les élections prévues. 

En principe tout est sur la bonne voie en Tunisie. On peut décider d'être pessimiste et croire que l'islamisme est à la hausse, ce qui conduirait à une érosion des droits personnels et des droits de la femme. Oui, l'économie est en difficulté depuis décembre 2010; le taux de chômage des jeunes et la pauvreté dans les zones rurales sont une source d'instabilité. Un fait inquiétant est aussi que des membres du parti dissous de Ben Ali, le Rassemblement Constitutionnel Démocratique (RCD), occupent des postes clés dans l'appareil sécuritaire et dans la justice.

Depuis la chute de Ben Ali, la Tunisie a été régulièrement secouée par des grèves et des manifestations, parfois violentes.  Les membres de la société civile voient les RCDistes derrière ces flambées de violence. Dans un incident en juin dernier, sept personnes ont été tuées dans la ville minière de Metlaoui, des magasins pillés et incendiés. Cela faisait suite à  des rumeurs que seulement certaines familles seraient offertes des emplois dans le complexe de phosphate de Gafsa qui se trouve à proximité. 

Au début d'août, des milliers ont protesté à Tunis et autres villes contre ce qu'ils considéraient comme l'échec du gouvernement de rompre avec l'héritage de Ben Ali. Les protestations ont été déclenchées par la libération de prison de l'ancien ministre de la Justice Bechir Tekkari et par les nouvelles que Saida Agrebi, une amie de Leila Trabelsi, l’épouse de Ben Ali, avait pu fuir à Paris.

El-Sebsi a vite réagit et promis que son gouvernement de transition prendrait une ligne plus dure sur les alliés du président déchu. Je doute qu’il puisse le faire car son cabinet n'a pas la légitimité d'introduire des réformes profondes. Condamner tous les hauts fonctionnaires et hommes d'affaires responsables des crimes du passé ne sera pas possible durant cette période de transition. Pour calmer les esprits, un tribunal de Tunis a condamné en juin Ben Ali à 35 ans de prison. L'ancien dictateur a été jugé par contumance, car l'Arabie Saoudite refuse de l'extrader. 

Text en Arabe: "Je suis Musulman, je suis Tunisien, je suis contre Ennahda"

Manifestation a Tunis, mai 2011

Pendant ce temps, la politique nébuleuse d’Ennahda provoque la méfiance des laïques, les manifestations régulières provoquent davantage un sentiment d'instabilité et les loyalistes de Ben Ali tentent régulièrement de perturber le processus démocratique. 

Je suis néanmoins optimisme, et je crois en la sagesse de la feuille de route que les Tunisiens ont développé pour bâtir un système démocratique. Le conseil supérieur et El-Sebsi sont largement acceptés, tandis que le généraux de l'armée, sans ambitions politiques, garantissent la sécurité et contrôlent d’une façon très subtile la police et les services de renseignement qui sont haies par la population. 

Ennahda, pour sa part, a récemment perdu les voix de beaucoup de femmes quand le parti a suggéré que la meilleure façon de résoudre le problème du chômage des jeunes serait de payer environ 200 euro par mois pour chaque femme qui quitte son emploi et reste à la maison. Ceci n'était pas seulement un désastre en relations publiques, mais aussi économiquement non viable. 

J’ai discuté avec beaucoup de Tunisiennes croyantes. La plupart ne savent pas encore pour qui voter le 23 octobre, mais elles sont claires pour qui elles ne donneraient pas leurs voix: Ennahda. La raison que j’ai entendue maintes fois: « Parce qu'ils ont un double langage et parce qu'ils sont contre les femmes ».

Il est clair que le chef d’Ennahda, Rachid Ghannouchi, va marginaliser le parti s'il ne devient pas un vrai démocrate. Il martèle souvent que son parti veut être moderne et démocratique comme le parti turque de Justice et Développement (AKP). En réalité, Ennahda manque une position cohérente sur la  Déclaration Universelle pour les Droits de l’Homme et sur la question de donner aux femmes tunisiennes des droits égaux dans la question de l’héritage. Ennahda signifie « éveil ». Le temps est venu d’être à la hauteur de ce nom. 

"Liberté" - Medina de Tunis, eté 2011

Les Tunisiens font aussi face a d'autres défis: les partis d'opposition et les membres de la société civile ont développé des compétences de survie en Tunisie et en exile dans l’ère oppressive de Ben Ali;  mais se battre pour des idées dans une société libre est un autre art. Ils sont en train d'apprendre durement comment formuler et communiquer des programmes politiques et des campagnes pour gagner des voix et des membres.

Depuis janvier, les Tunisiens développent à grande vitesse une culture démocratique qui leur permettra de faire face à quatre défis majeurs après les élections du 23 octobre: créer une coalition de plusieurs partis pour former le premier gouvernement tunisien véritablement légitime ; réformer la police et la justice; éliminer les déséquilibres économiques régionaux et créer des emplois pour les jeunes; lancer un processus de justice transitionnelle et entrainer en justice les hauts responsables de violations des droits de l`homme et combattre la corruption. En parallèle, l'assemblée élue formulera une nouvelle constitution. 

La révolution en Tunisie n'a pas pris fin lorsque Ben Ali a fuit, elle continue lentement depuis lors, et prendra un nouvel élan après la date historique du 23 octobre. Le peuple tunisien, qui abhorre la violence et l'extrémisme, restera vigilant contre une éventuelle contre-révolution. Je suis convaincu que les anciens cadres du RCD, les Baasistes idéologiques et les Salafistes fondamentalistes n'ont aucune chance politique. La Tunisie va se développer en une démocratie arabe exemplaire, malgré de nombreux obstacles. 

« Nous avons de nombreuses années difficiles à venir », déclare Sana Ben Achour, une activiste de grande renommée des droits de femmes. « Mais n’ayez aucun doute que la Tunisie va surmonter toutes les difficultés. Et si à un certain point les hommes n'ont pas le courage de combattre, eh bien les femmes tunisiennes continueront la lutte, car elles n'abandonneront jamais ». 

Je la crois. 

Fouad Hamdan, ancien correspondant de l’agence de presse allemande DPA au Caire et dans le Golfe, a établit Greenpeace Liban en 1994-1999. Il était le directeur exécutif du Fonds Arabe pour les Droits Humains en 2008-2010. Depuis janvier 2011 il mène des projets de démocratisation en Tunisie, Libye et Egypte.

Tunisian Progress to Democracy Unstoppable - Despite many obstacles, prospects for reforms still look good.

Article en Français ICI


Wherever you are in Tunis today you experience heated debates: who will rule the country after free elections for a constitutional assembly on October 23? Will the Islamic Ennahda party turn Tunisia into an Iranian-style state? Why the secular parties are not so well organised? Who to vote for among the 100 and more new parties?


Sit in a cafe in the old medina of Tunis, in the middle-class Nasr area or in the posh Marsa suburb - almost everyone is arguing passionately about the current situation and how a Tunisian democracy should look.


The explosion of newly-found freedoms since President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14 , after a three-week uprising, is something no one can ever take away from Tunisians. If there is any consensus among the people today it is that the hard-won freedom of expression is untouchable.

"Tunis is so beautiful without Ben Ali Baba and the 40 thieves!"  Tunis, summer 2011

The country's hot topics are many: the nature of the future system - should power be in hands of the president or prime minister - the relationship between state and religion, women's rights, economic policies, reforming the judiciary and security apparatus and corruption. 

On January 14 many believed that from now on all would be just fine. But Tunisians quickly realised that the government of premier Mohammed Ghannouchi, who took over from Ben Ali, wanted to perpetuate the hated regime. He was toppled after waves of protests and replaced on February 27 by Beji Caid el-Sebsi, a former minister under the authoritarian but revered late president Habib Bourguiba. El-Sebsi's transitional government is currently navigating the country through troubled waters until the planned elections.

In parallel, a "Higher Commission for the Achievement of the Objectives of the Revolution and the Democratic Transition", a sort of political reform commission chaired by law professor Yadh Ben Achour, was set up. It includes judges, civil society members and representatives of the major parties that survived years of oppression both in Tunis and in exile. The high commission set up an electoral committee, headed by veteran human rights activist Kamel Jendoubi, which will organise and monitor the planned elections.

In principle all is on track in Tunisia. One may decide to be pessimistic and claim that Islamism is on the rise, leading to an erosion of personal rights and women's rights, that the economy has been in flux since December 2010 and that youth unemployment and poverty in rural areas are still a source of even more instability. A worrying fact is also that members of Ben Ali's dissolved party, the Constitutional Democratic rally, RCD, are clinging to key positions in the security apparatus and the judiciary.

Since Ben Ali's downfall, the country has been rocked by regular demonstrations. Members of civil society see former RCD members behind outbreaks of violence. In one incident, seven people were killed in June in the mining town of Metlaoui, with shops looted and set on fire after rumours circulated that only certain tribes would be offered jobs at the nearby Gafsa phosphate complex.

In early August, thousands protested in Tunis and provincial cities over what they saw as the government`s failure to break with the legacy of Ben Ali. The protests were sparked by the release of former justice minister Bechir Tekkari from prison and the news that Saida Agrebi, a friend of Ben Ali's wife Leila Trabelsi, had fled to Paris.

El-Sebsi promised that his transitional government would take a tougher line on allies of the ousted president. But it seems doubtful that he can do so as his cabinet does not have the legitimacy to introduce serious reforms. Holding all top officials and businessmen accountable for past crimes will not be possible during this transition period. To calm tempers, in June a Tunis court sentenced Ben Ali to 35 years in jail. The former dictator was tried in absentia because Saudi Arabia refuses to extradite him.

"I am a Moslem, I am Tunisian, I am against Ennahda. We do not accept a 

second RCD (party of toppled president Ben Alil)". Protest in Tunis, May 2011

Meanwhile, Ennahda's nebulous policies fuel mistrust, regular protests provoke further instability and Ben Ali loyalists regularly attempt to disrupt the democratic process. Optimism is nonetheless possible, and there is wisdom in the road map Tunisians have developed to move towards a truly open and democratic system. The higher commission and el-Sebsi are widely accepted, while army generals with no political ambitions are guaranteeing overall security and keeping a close eye on the hated police and intelligence apparatus.

In the meantime, Ennahda lost many women's votes when it recently suggested that the best way to solve the problem of youth unemployment would be to pay about 280 US dollars per month for every woman who left her job to stay at home. This was not only a public relations disaster but also economic nonsense.

Afterwards, many religious women, although undecided about whom they would vote for, were clear for whom they would not be voting. Ennahda, "because they have a double-language and because they are against women", I was told.

Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi will marginalise the party if he does not truly democratise. He often says the party wants to be modern and democratic like Turkey`s ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP, but a clear position is missing on universal human rights and on the issue of giving Tunisian women equal rights in heritage. Ennahda means "awakening". Time has come to live up to this name.

Tunisia is also facing other challenges: opposition parties and civil society groups developed survival skills when opposing Ben Ali`s regime at home and in exile, but fighting for ideas in a free society is another art. They are now learning the hard way how to develop political programs and advocacy campaigns and how to win votes and members.

Graffiti in the medina of Tunis, summer 2011

Tunisians are developing at high-speed a democratic culture that will enable them to face four major challenges after elections on October 23 - to create a coalition of several parties to form Tunisia`s first truly legitimate government, to reform the police and judiciary, tackle regional economic imbalances and create jobs for youth as well as starting a process of transitional justice and prosecuting top human rights abusers and corrupt individuals. In parallel, the elected assembly will formulate a new constitution.

The revolution in Tunisia did not end when Ben Ali fled; it has been continuing slowly since then and will take a boost after October 23. The Tunisian people, who abhor violence and extremism, have been and will remain vigilant against a possible counter-revolution. Former RCD cadres, ideological Baathists and fundamentalist Salafists have no chance to win massive fellowship.

I believe Tunisia will develop into an exemplary Arab democracy, despite a bumpy road ahead. "We have many tough years ahead," said Sana Ben Achour, a leading women rights activist. "But have no doubt that Tunisia will overcome all difficulties. And if at some point men do not have the courage to fight anymore Tunisian women will continue fighting because they never give up".

I believe her.

Fouad Hamdan, a former DPA correspondent in Cairo and the Gulf, was the founding executive director of the Arab Human Rights Fund in Beirut in 2008-2010. He set up Greenpeace in Lebanon from 1994-1999. Since January 2011 he has been carrying out democracy-building projects in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. The article was also published in the IWPR site on the Arab Spring.

Women (+men) from the Arab region at the Venice Biennale 2011 – a view from a political angle

Venice Biennale, 3 June 2011 (my first Biennale) - I entered the dark space of the Saudi Arabian Pavilion and there it is - the “Black Arch” of Raja and Shadia Alem hits you at once. The sisters, who grew up in Mecca in the 1970s and now live in Paris, stun visitors with a huge mirror in the shape of Earth; the back of the mirror is off course black. In front of it is a carpet of more than 1,400 steel balls from which emerges a modern Ka’aba-like cube. 


I take a step back, take a deep breath, watch and hear... To the right of the installation a projection shows a church and Venetian images, and you hear prayers and voices in Italian. Back to near darkness which is followed by another projection of waves at the centre. Again near darkness, then a projection to the left in which you see a mosque and hear prayers and voices in Arabic. Wow!

“Black Arch”, by Raja and Shadia Alem, Saudi Arabia pavilion

Power women Raja and Shadia explain, “Black Arch is about two visions of the world and of two cities, Mecca and Venice, of two cultures that meet”. They tell me in an interview: “Our work is about East and West, man and woman. There are barriers. But we carry all cultures in us. This breaks barriers. Our work makes you feel that you are part of one universe.” So much black in your work, why? Raja answers: “I grew up aware of the physical presence of black all around, of the black silhouettes of Saudi women, the black cloth of the al-Ka’aba and the black stone”.

I ask them if they plan to exhibit their work in Saudi Arabia after the premiere in Venice. “Inshallah”, is the answer with a charming smile. I doubt this would be possible as long as the country is under control of the fundamentalist Wahabi brand of Islam. The Saudi religious police (real name: “The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices”) would not tolerate any projection of a church with the sound of Christian prayers. I also doubt they would appreciate the aesthetics of a modern Ka’aba.

Ironically, and this shows the political schizophrenia in Saudi Arabia, the exhibition was financed by four Saudi institutions and firms, among them: The almighty state-controlled oil firm Aramco and – now hold your breath again – the Ministry of Culture and Information. Meanwhile, Saudis will have to travel to Venice if they want to see and feel this amazing work of art.

I cannot but hope that one day Saudi Arabia will have on its soil a museum of modern art. A centre piece of its permanent exhibition should be the “Black Arch”. Saudis can be proud of it. By the anachronistic religious police would be a footnote of the very dark past.


In the nearby pavilion of the United Arab Emirates I am welcomed by a smiling Lateefa Ben Maktoum. Dressed and veiled in black she explains her photo exhibition. Two pictures strike me as sad and critical of the dramatic sociological changes that occurred in Dubai during the past decades. In one picture a faceless and veiled woman looks down against the background of Dubai’s tower buildings. All in a fake green. The other picture shows a picture of a veiled woman with a rather disturbing look in her face. She is standing on wetland facing the Gulf Sea, holding a suitcase and looking towards the horizon. She just wants to flee, as far away and as fast away as possible.

“The last Look”, by Lateefa Ben Maktoum, UAE pavilion

Left: Lateefa watching... (she allows photos only without her face)

“Reflecting”, by Lateefa Ben Maktoum, UAE pavilion

Left: Lateefa watching... (she allows photos only without her face)

It does feel quite lonely to live among towers of glass and steel in the middle of the desert. Does not fit. Will never fit. I would want to flee – into a surreal green world that exists only in fantasies or far away on a boat. But Lateefa strikes back: “I do not see the figures in my images as being lonely. I see them as being captured in a solitary moment of thought. They reflect on their surroundings and the changes that they witness happening around them.” She is a bit uncomfortable with my critical view; I accept her softer approach.

Noteworthy is that Lateefa contributed to the UAE’s art scene by founding Tashkeel, a public studio providing specialist facilities for artists and designers to work together. “An artist needs feedback to grow,” she argues. Check the website of the UAE pavilion and an interview with Lateefa.

In the same pavilion Reem al-Ghaith exhibits her installation about construction in Dubai. A bit chaotic, reflecting the wild construction boom leading the Dubai’s financial crisis in 2008. It is similar to the installation “What’s left of her Land” shown at the Sharjah Biennale in 2009. The official brochure says, “The history, traditions and changing landscape of Dubai and the UAE serve as continuous inspiration to her work... Her pieces ... serve as a form of documentary or visual archive for future generations to bear witness to the changes this country has undergone”.

Reem al-Ghaith, “What’s left of her Land”, UAE pavilion 

The third UAE artist is Abdullah al-Saadi, who observes and contemplates and picks on details. His work centers on “Naked Sweet Potatoes”, which is also the title of his art. Abdullah walked on foot across the desert of the UAE and Oman accompanied by a dog and a donkey. He documented his journey with water colours, a diary, photographs, short films and engravings of sweet potatoes on stones. The latter he describes as “studies of the male and female forms of sweet potatoes”.

Abdullah al-Saadi, “Naked Sweet Potatoes”, UAE pavilion 

Very creative and amusing observations, indeed. Abdullah is no fan of the UAE’s steel and glass towers. He lives in the mountainous region of Khorfakan on the Gulf of Oman. He just loves nature. And I love his work.

To the Iraqi pavilion where six very talented artists interpret the theme of water. Title: “Wounded Water”. And wounded is Iraq and its people, indeed. Remember the ecological disaster former dictator Saddam Hussein created in the southern marshlands by draining them. At the entrance of the pavilion, Walid Siti exhibits on the wall in red: A river-like wound goes from one end to the other in a bloodied landscape in Iraq. The interview he gave me about his art and Iraq is touching.

Walid Sati’s river in bloodied landscape in Iraq

Azad Nanakeli, another Iraqi Kurdish artist, shows a video with a man pouring water over his head. His opposite is himself being polluted by red and yellow toxins. 

Azad Nanakeli’s “destneuj (purification)", Iraqi pavilion

The Egyptian pavilion focuses on Ahmed Basiony, an artist and hero of the Egyptian revolution that toppled dictator Hosny Mubarak early 2011. Ahmed was among the first who marched in Cairo's Tahrir Square. He had his camera with him. The video exhibition shows simultaneously footage he took and news reports. This is a homage to Ahmed who was killed at the age of 33 by a sniper in Cairo on January 28, 2011. He unfortunately did not live to experience real freedom in Egypt. But he and all who gave their lives for Egypt will never be forgotten.

From the brochure about Ahmed Basiony, Egypt pavilion

“The Future of a Promise” is the Biennale’s largest pan-Arab exhibition of contemporary art. Arabs from many states exhibit about 25 works – installations, performances, photography, videos and sculpture art. My favorite is Ziad Abillama’s “Untitled (Arabes)”, a post with signs in all directions showing where Arabs may sail from? The Lebanese artists provokes in Italy where the government is claiming the country is being invaded by Arabs via the island of Lampedusa.

Ziad Abillama’s “Untitled (Arabes)”

Unfortunately I was not able to visit the Syrian pavilion in which Syrian and Italian artists exhibited under the motto "Evolution"- to identify contradiction between subjectivity (desires) and objectivity (daily life). Watch this video. Note that there is a controversy over the fact that most artists and all curators are non-Syrians.

Now don’t be shocked, but when I mean in the title of this blog “Arab region” I include Israel. Its pavilion is amazing – only works of Sigalit Landau on water and peace in a trouble region. My favorite is the “Salt Crystal Fishing Net”. She bought the net from Jaffa fishermen and dipped it  in Dead Sea water. The result is bundle of white mass with crystal reflection. She writes in her brochure, “These fishing nets catch magnificent crystals, beautiful but sterile. A fishing net evokes fertility and life, but there it is caked in deadly amount of salt”.

Sigalit Landau, “Salt Crystal Fishing Net”, Israeli pavilion

Another favorite is her video installation “Laces” in which a girl under a negotiating table binds negotiators together with the laces of their shoes. Sigalit Landau writes, “The negotiating table is not theater or fiction, but rather an engagement, a dream, a lament for the future. This future is the life of the child who appears on the laptop-computer screens”. The slogan of the Israeli Pavilion is “One man’s floor in another man’s feelings”.

Sigalit Landau, video installation “Laces”, Israeli pavilion

Lebanon and Bahrain cancelled last minute. A shame for the governments of these two countries. The Lebanese pavilion was to be titled "Lebanon As a State of Mind". Its curator, George Rabbah, told Art Info in an interview that the cancellation had nothing to do with the fact that Lebanon was without a functioning government for months till mid June 2011. He claims: "(The opposition came) from a lot of the actors of the Lebanese art scene. I found out at some point that the Lebanese scene is partly something that has to do with power positions. There are power centers that control access to funds, etc., and also access to patrons of art because they know them, in a way. I don't want to sound too paranoid, but I'm not the only one that's shocked".

In Bahrain authorities in 2011 have been trying to crush a pro-democracy movement - so no time to think about art. Reminder: In 2010, Bahrain won the Golden Lion for best national participation at that year's Architecture Biennale with a wonderful exhibition of original fishermen huts.

A few lines about the Venice Biennale which was launched in 1895: Since then countries offer their artists a showcase in pavilions funded by government institutions, firms and/or private donors. 89 national pavilions opened their doors in Venice in 2011, the highest number ever. Germany won in 2011 the Biennale’s highest honor, the Golden Lion for best national contribution. The work is by Christoph Schlingensief, the German artist who died in August 2010. His "Church of Fear" installation is a massive critique against society and the Church. 


It was my first Biennale, and it was fascinating because it saw how art is very political - and not only in the Arab region. Artists have been playing a crucial role in countries under dictatorships (softly destabilizing them), and they helped topple dictators (remember Ahmed Basiony). Arabs can be proud of most of the work exhibited in Venice in 2011, the year of Arab democracy on the rise. My dream is that one day Palestinians and Israelis exhibit together in Venice, and that Arab artists can exhibit anything they wish in every Arab state. No more fear, no censorship and no taboos.

NB: Impossible to write about art from the Arab region at the mother of Biennales without visiting the US and Iranian pavilions. 

I love the tank on its head in front of the US pavilion. On top a person regularly jogs on a functioning treadmill. When the person runs, the tank engine roars and the chains turn. Watch the video of a ridiculous and helpless monster. Typically big and ... American! John Lennon would have loved it!

Allora & Galzadilla, "Tank and Field", US pavilion

In the state-sponsored Iranian pavilion, a heartbreaking installation of Morteza Darehbaghi with pictures of human losses during the war Iran-Iraq 1980-1988.

.Morteza Darehbaghi, Iranian pavilion

Fouad Hamdan is an independent Arab pro-democracy activist who established and headed Greenpeace Lebanon in 1994-1999 and was the founding executive director of the Arab Human Rights Fund in Beirut in 2008-2010. Since January 2011 he is advising on a voluntary basis Arab NGOs and activists, and he is working as a consultant for Media in Cooperation and Transition and the Global Campaign for Climate Action. From May-September 2011 he is heading a pro-democracy project in Tunisia. He also trains Tunisian and Egyptian NGOs on developing communications strategies.

Tunisia in May 2011 - Revolution Reloaded?

Tunis, 7th May 2011 - I saw in the Tunisian capital how police attacked with teargas and batons protesters demanding the start of a new revolution "Asha3eb yurid thawra min jadid!" (The people want a new revolution). 

Bourguiba Avenue, 6 May 2011

Tension has been rising in Tunisia since a former minister warned of a possible coup by loyalists of the ousted regime of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali if Islamists from the Ennahda party win elections for a Constitutional Council scheduled on July 24.


Scenes of violence took place all over the country and in the city center in and around Habib Bourguiba Avenue where the infamous Interior Ministry is located. Tear gas was fired in all directions, policemen in uniforms or in civilian and hiding their faces behind masks attacked bystanders and journalists, took away their mobiles and cameras and smashed them. I saw one of them attacking a young girl, throwing her mobile phone on the asphalt and verbally abusing her.

No way I could use my camera or mobile as I was between police and not in mid of demonstration. I would have been attacked at once. Policemen in civilian were everywhere. A German journalist from NDR TV, two meters behind me, was taken away by a security guy and interrogated for a while before being allowed to walk away.


The policemen used brutal force against peaceful protesters because they were heading to the interior ministry from streets leading to Habib Bourguiba Avenue. This grey and ugly building from the 1970s is surrounded by barbed wire and protected by army troops. Imagine, the army protecting policemen from the people...


In the nearby Avenue de Paris, glass, waste and burned tires everywhere. Police vans race trough it, jump out, chase peaceful demonstrators to beat them up and curse. They leave the road quickly. I can see that all bystanders in the area just hate them. The policemen know it and feel unsafe. They just behave like an occupying force...

Avenue de Paris, 7 May 2011

   
Demonstrators I spoke to said they mistrust the transitional government and officials in the system. They say a "counter-revolution" is being carried out by the cronies of the former dictator. Ahmed Dermech, a young student, told me, "We will not give away our newly won freedom. We will go to the streets until our revolution is 100% won". More demos are planned tomorrow.



One funny interesting happened. I was speaking with a Tunisian TV team on Habib Bourguiba Avenue on May 7 when a high-ranking police officer approached us and said: "I like to apologize to the media for the attacks committed by policemen yesterday. Please understand that they are not used of being filmed. It was always forbidden to film them, and now they are afraid that their faces and names will be on Facebook. Please put on your jackets in big letters 'Press' and I assure you that nothing will happen to you."


The Tunisian journalists asked if would repeat it all in front of the camera, he said he was not allowed to do so. He was very credible, but it remains to be seen if a change of behavior will really take place.

Anyhow, one thing is crystal clear: Tunisians still have a long and arduous road until they set up a real democracy. 23 years of dictatorship cannot be undone in a blink. Changing the mentality of tens of thousands that profited directly from oppression and corruption will probably take a generation or two.


But I have no doubt that Tunisians will succeed. 63 parties have already been registered since the dictatorship collapsed last January 14; hundreds of NGOs and media outlets  have applied for a permit. In Tunis, I am breathing freedom despite all the trouble. This no one can take away from Tunisians anymore. Everyone I spoke to shouted it!

Bourguiba Avenue, ugly building on left is the interior ministry, 7 May 2011

                                   

Bourguiba Avenue, Africa hotel left. 7 May 2011

Meanwhile, I am blogging from the Carlton Hotel near the interior ministry. I cannot venture outside anymore because of the curfew from 9pm (Saturday 7 May) till 5am (Sunday 8 May). The only bar still open was in the nearby Africa Hotel. I enjoyed there the great local beer, Celtia, and walked trough ghost town Tunis till about 10pm when policemen shouted from far away. OK, OK, I walked in the hotel and started writing these lines and uploading the photos I took.


Background from Reuters: Former interior minister Farhat Rajhi said last Thursday that there could be a "coup" by loyalists of former dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali if Islamists from the Ennahda party won the July 24 elections.



Until August 2011 I will head in Tunis a team that will hold interviews and carry out research about each party fighting for seats for the Constitutional Council that is to be elected on July 24. Data about political positions on key issues will be on a website in French and Arabic to help Tunisians chose who to vote for. The project is carried out by the German NGO Media in Cooperation and Transition. It did something similar in Sudan in 2010.


Fouad Hamdan is an independent Arab pro-democracy activist who established and headed Greenpeace Lebanon in 1994-1999 and was the founding executive director of the Arab Human Rights Fund in 2008-2010. Since then he advising on a voluntary basis Arab NGOs and activists, and he is working as a consultant for  Media in Cooperation and Transition and the Global Campaign for Climate Action.

A bus, the civil war and Lebanon`s lost memory

Remember that little bus that carried Palestinians from West Beirut to their refugee camp in Tel al-Zaatar, East Beirut, on the 13^th of April 1975? The Lebanese civil war officially started on that day when Christian Phalange militiamen shot and killed 27 Palestinians in that bus while they drove through the Christian Ain el-Rummaneh neighbourhood. From that moment on Lebanon entered hell. For almost 15 years.

Bus owner Sami Hamdan, in front of the bus in 2007. (c) AP

On that day I was 15. I lived in Moslem Ras el-Nabeh, West Beirut, close to the frontline opposite Christian Sodeco. My school was the Grand Lycee in nearby Christian Ashrafieh, 10 minutes by bicycle. When the shooting started between Ain el-Rummeneh and Moslen Chiah “our” area suddenly filled with guys totting Kalashnikov machine guns. They took control of the streets and spoke about defeating the pro-Western Phalanges and liberating Palestine. In “their” areas guys carried similar arms and vowed to liberate Lebanon from Palestinians and communists. These Cold War years seem like centuries ago.

I remember burned out public buses, stoned militiamen firing for no reason in the air and a sniper from the other side who from his angle could only hit the Western side of Omar Ben Khattab road where my family home was located. We received 61mm mortar shells, then 120mm mortar shells, then Grad and Katyusha missiles; the other side got similar ones, too. The sound of silence after an explosion was terrifying. The screaming of frightened neighbors or the wounded in streets guaranteed sleepless nights.

I narrowly escaped being kidnapped by the Phalange while cycling to school during a ceasefire in June 1975. From far away I saw them close to the school entrance, took a side road back to Ras El-Nabeh and did not see the school till 1990. This is when I realized that the words “Moslem Shia” in my ID could mean death.  

So many pictures are still engraved in my memory, like the unknown gunmen I saw executing five men, probably Christians, in Bshara el-Khoury road in 1976. Just around the corner, the burned out corpses of kidnapped Christians were neatly lined under the bridge near Berbir Hospital. The other side dumped the copses of kidnapped Moslems under other bridges. Since then, I just do not like bridges.

Off course, the war did not start out of the blue with the bus massacre 31 years ago on the 13^th of April. The civil war has its roots in a sectarian system formulated by the French mandate power in the 1920s, in the screaming inequalities between rich and poor, in Palestinians being robbed of their homeland and in the inability of Lebanese to unite, refuse foreign interference and solve their problems with non-violent means.

So insanity lasted almost 15 years and officially ended in October 1990. The result: About  150,000 people killed, many more injured and maimed, one million internally displaced and many more in emigration. Beirut’s city center was destroyed, the infrastructure shattered, forests burnt, the coastline dotted with open waste dumps. But phoenix superficially rose from the ashes and the country was quickly rebuilt. Economically, that is. Beirut became the Arab city to live in. Mega cool, sexy and just fun. That is if you forget the mass poverty in many areas, especially in North Lebanon.

Divisions, divisions and more divisions

21 years after the end of the civil war – one whole generation later – Lebanon is as divided as in 1975. The main fault lines: 

_ Sunni Moslems blame the Shia Hezbollah militia for killing former Sunni Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 with an international UN tribunal to issue indictments soon. Expect a Sunni-Shia confrontation in one way or another. 

_ Christian Maronites are more divided then ever between pro- and anti-Hezbollah. Syria’s and Iran’s dictatorial regimes arm Hezbollah, a state in the state of Lebanon, to pressure Israel and the West. 

_ Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, Hezbollah`s and Syria's  choice, is unable to form a cabinet. 

The country is in a mess and could blow up any minute.

Despite a general atmosphere of gloom and doom Lebanese youth groups launched early 2011 an anti-sectarianism movement, inspired by uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab states. It started well with more and more people participating in sit-ins and demonstrations, but the movement got bogged down because of internal divisions and a lack of strategy. The Shia Amal movement tried to hijack the movement and supported abolishing the sectarian system, reviving a deep-rooted Christian Maronite angst. The Phalange accused Amal of seeking to establish the rule of the demographically largest religious communities (Sunni and Shia) over Christians. Back to square one, 13^th April 1975.

Anti-sectarianism demonstration, Beirut, 10 April 2011

The Taef Accord, superficial peace with no reconciliation

Lebanon did not recover from the civil war because the 1989 Taef accord, which ended the all-out shooting a year later, did not end the mistrust among the communities and political factions. It just made cosmetic changes to a sectarian system that guaranteed warlords from all sides a well-defined piece of the big pie called Lebanon. The Christians then lost some privileges and had to share the pie 50-50 with Moslems, instead of 60-40. In principle not much changed: Institutions were kept weak, corruption grew, Palestinians were still armed in their camps because they trusted no one and almost all Lebanese politicians kept relying on foreign backers in Riyadh and Washington or in Damascus and Tehran.

Add to this the fact that some main points of the Taef accord were never implemented. All militias were disarmed expect Hezbollah which fought Israeli occupation in the South, but kept its arms after the Israeli withdrawal in May 2000 – in line with the regional interests of Syria and Iran. Syrian troops did not withdraw as stipulated in the accord, but were forced out after mass demonstrations in 2005. The Taef accord said, “Abolishing political secterianism is a fundamental national objective. To achieve it, it is required that efforts be made in accordance with a phased plan”. This was never seriously tackled by the political class.

The worst part of the Lebanese history is that parliament, controlled by the warlords, passed in 1991 an amnesty for crimes committed during the war. This "amnesia law" is one major cause for the many wars and internal disturbances Lebanon has been going through since 1990. Lebanon never had a true national reconciliation process. Beside one brave former top-level militiaman, Assaad Chaftari from the Christian Lebanese Forces, no militia leader genuinely apologized for his crimes. No one asked the victims and their families for forgiveness. No one said where missing people are buried.

Allow me to name the warlords who are today still in powerful positions: Nabih Berri (Shia/Amal), Walid Jumblatt (Druze/Progressive Socialist Party), Amine Gemayel (Maronite/Phalange), Samir Geagea (Maronite/Lebanese Forces), Michel Aoun (Maronite/former Army commander). Hesbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who came to power after the civil war, followed their path by igniting a senseless war with Israel in 2006 (some 1,300 dead Lebanese). In May 2008 he sent his gunmen to storm West Beirut and the Chuf mountains (100-200 killed). Today, Hezbollah arms are used to threaten Shia opposing Hezbollah and all other sects.

National reconciliation as a prelude for real peace

How can the Lebanese prevent another April 13 with devastating consequences? How can this divided nation unite for a true peace process? I believe that political steps must be taken to set up a truth finding process leading to a true national reconciliation. 

The group al-Muqawimoun warning with 

a banner, "The bus (war) is waiting around the corner".

The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) believes that effective transitional justice must include several measures complementing one another. “Without any truth-telling or reparation efforts, for example, punishing a small number of perpetrators can be viewed as a form of political revenge. Truth-telling, in isolation from efforts to punish abusers and to make institutional reforms, can be viewed as nothing more than words. Reparations that are not linked to prosecutions or truth-telling may be perceived as ‘blood money’ – an attempt to buy the silence or acquiescence of victims. Similarly, reforming institutions without any attempt to satisfy victims' legitimate expectations of justice, truth and reparation, is not only ineffective from the standpoint of accountability, but unlikely to succeed in its own terms”.

“Transitional justice should be designed to strengthen democracy and peace – the key goals for societies picking up the pieces after periods of mass abuse,” ICTJ notes. “These goals are more likely to be reached with active consultation of, and participation by, victims groups and the public... A holistic approach implies taking into account the full range of factors that may have contributed to abuse”.

But what are the conditions we need in Lebanon to set up a national reconciliation process? How can we get the former warlords to admit, apologize and at least retire from politics once and for all? Do we have to wait until the Syrian regime collapses under the current pressure from a pro-democracy movement all over the country? This would definitely not amuse Hezbollah as it would lose its political and military hinterland – and then feel threatened. 

I think the solution may be in an anti-sectarianism movement that is well organized and which has a clear strategy. This movement should be able to alleviate fears in each sect and mobilize all the Lebanese for a truly democratic society where religion and state are separated. A dream, I know. One great slogan could be “A-sha3eb yourid isqat zu3ama al-taefiyeh”, in English, “The people want to topple the sectarian leaders!”

The bus at "Hangar", April 2011. (c) Soha Menassa

Back to the small bus that brings back so many bad memories. Memory and memorialisation play a crucial role in a national reconciliation process. Umam Research and Development, a Lebanese NGO in Beirut’s southern suburbs, is currently working on a database of people that went missing during the civil war. Its staff recently rescued the bus from disappearance and hauled it into the “Hangar”, Umam’s exhibition hall, where it is now the center piece of an exhibition. Go see it. We should never forget this bus.

Fouad Hamdan is an independent Arab pro-democracy activist who established and headed Greenpeace Lebanon in 1994-1999 and was the founding executive director of the Arab Human Rights Fund in 2008-2010.