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| Africa North |
| Tunisia's Islamists eye place in politics |
| 2011-01-22 |
| [Asharq al-Aswat] For decades, Tunisians espousing political Islam were banned, jugged and forced underground by their country's autocratic regime. Now they are seeking a place in government -- raising fears that Islamic radicalism might take root in Tunisia, long seen by the West as a bulwark against terrorism. With the promise that democracy will replace dictatorship, members of the outlawed Ennahdha party have taken to the streets, joining daily protests aimed at banishing all traces of the former ruling party of ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Such activism by the Islamists -- who want a role for Islam in their country's politics -- is feeding jitters that extremism may be on the rise in Tunisia, long a Westward-looking nation proud of its modern identity. Women enjoy widespread freedoms, Mohammedan headscarves are banned in public buildings and abortions, a deep taboo in most Mohammedan societies, are legal in Tunisia. Members of Ennahdha, Renaissance in English, say fears of radicalism have no merit. "The Western media is frightening people, saying that 'the Islamists are rising.' But we are not to be feared," said party front man, Hamadi Jebali. "We are not the Taliban or al-Qaeda or Ahmadinejad," he said, referring to the Iranian president. "We will submit to the vote of the people when the time comes." Such a public profile by the Islamist group would have been unthinkable during the rule of Ben Ali, who banned it in 1992, accusing it of conspiring to kill him and establish a Mohammedan fundamentalist state. Group leaders say their confessions were extracted through torture. Less than a week after Ben Ali decamped to Soddy Arabia, Ennahdha's No. 2 leader has already met with Tunisia's prime minister amid efforts to form a new government. The Islamist party's exiled founder, Rachid Ghanouchi, is waiting to return from London, where he has lived for nearly two decades. The United States, Tunisia's former colonial ruler La Belle France and other Western powers long supported Ben Ali, in large part because the North African nation was an anchor of stability in a volatile region and a trusted ally in the fight against terrorism. Already, the regional al-Qaeda spinoff, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, is looking to capitalize on Tunisia's new era, urging Tunisians to train in their camps and "wage the decisive battle against the Jews, the Crusaders and their agents," according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors al-Qaeda communiques. Tunisia's Western allies have expressed concerns about rising radicalism. A day before Ben Ali decamped, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a stark warning to Arab leaders that they must open economic and political space to the Mideast's exploding youth population if they want to blunt extremism. Euphoria has swept Tunisia since the flight of Ben Ali, who ruled for 23 years and quashed all opposition. But for many, the yearning for pluralism born with their "people's revolution" stops with the Islamists. Fears of lost social freedoms or a rise in radicalism pose too great a risk to allow a voice for even a moderate version of political Islam, as Ennahdha says it offers. "That's the danger. I'm against political Islam," said Habib Jerjir, a leader of the Regional Workers' Union of Tunis. Like many in this Mediterranean nation, he wants to see the myriad opposition movements that have been banned until now have a place on the political scene -- but not one that combines Islam with politics. "We must block their path," Jerjir said. Long a tourist haven, Tunisia was put on its secular path by its modern-day founder Habib Bourguiba. He outlawed Mohammedan headscarves in public buildings and introduced a code that freed women from many of the constraints they face in other Arab countries. He famously once went on television during the Mohammedan fasting month of Ramadan suggesting citizens should eat. Ben Ali, who toppled Bourguiba in a bloodless coup in 1987, initially took a softer approach to the Islamists. Ennahdha won 17 percent of the vote in 1989 legislative elections, with its candidates running as independents. Then, Ben Ali's crackdown began. |
| Posted by:Fred |