Are Tunisians “already” tired of democracy?
A week ago, Tunisians – and Tunisians – abstained from voting. We thus triumphantly re-elected “Mr. K” as head of the country for a second term.
I happened to be in the country after four years of absence. I wasn’t planning this visit to my native country until I received a text message from the family: sick mother, etc. The price of the plane ticket out of season – cheaper than a trip with the SNCF – encouraged me to take the gazelle by the horns. So I land in Tunis and as usual I am not very comfortable going through customs; I have the privilege of being stuck in my country following an old, misunderstood adventure. So welcomed and questioned by the police. The situation is sensitive: the presidential elections are underway.
“I didn’t know that.”
“Oh well, you don’t watch the news?”
“Above all, I want to maintain my mental health.”
My lack of nationalism exasperates and after four hours, I am free to move around.
But let’s return to Mr. K, the same one whom we elected, most democratically, as the new President of the Republic, five years ago, and who then elegantly dismissed a somewhat shady Tunisian oligarch. Today, seen from here, when he has just won his second five-year term with a Putin-like score, it seems that Mr. K is making it a point of honor to destroy this same democracy. But our little-footed Putin does not poison, he rather imprisons with all his might, armed with a new decree (54) supposed to fight against “fake news” and the excesses of freedom of thought, and so here he is almost alone in the presidential race to the delight of his followers. The very people who drink in the slightest of his words delivered in classical Arabic in a theatrically peremptory tone. Some even see him as the providential man sent by God to restore post-revolutionary Tunisia.
More than ten years later, the time has come for the Restoration. The project is noble : repair Tunisia from the outrages and excesses of the Revolution by establishing a new dictatorship? Not so fast. The Tunisians had wanted it after the fall of Ben Ali. “We need a Ben Ali, but one who steals a little less.” Would their wish have been granted? Certainly, there is a return to an authoritarian regime but it is blessed by the majority of Tunisians, including abstainers. So, instead of criticizing us, derisive friends, and giving us lessons from hard-won experience, bless us, love us as yourself. The future will reward you.
Long before Mr Macron, Mr K with panache dissolved a National Assembly which had become an unmanageable circus and caged the disruptive elements. Our man is a strong head and in such circumstances it is necessary. Don’t we regret, elsewherea certain lack of authority? When times are tough, you have to be tough. The freedoms that are dear to you are a luxury, and only wealthy societies claim luxury. But Tunisians are not rich. We are humble and modest. We do not sell arms or oil, we do not want to become “great again”, we do not seek to expand our territory, nor to reestablish an obsolete empire, we do not want an atomic bomb or radical Islam, we are not asking for excuses and we are protecting Europe from the “black peril”. However, we want to be friends with everyone and everyone – or almost everyone – is welcome at our house. Let European investors and tourists come back and we will re-establish democracy and the right to blasphemy, as long as we restore peace.
According to Mr. K, his royal election is the completion of the objectives of the Revolution. Completion or completion? Between the two there is only one step. Well Mr. K, all that for that? Would you like to tell him. Would Mohamed Bouazizi have lit his lighter if he had known? Maybe yes. The “little people” placed all their hopes on the shoulders of Mr. K and too bad if, during his first five-year term, he was only able to dismiss his adversaries and reassure Madame Meloni. This is a penniless Trump. A Putin without a red button. An Erdogan who does not bring her back. A miniature Xi Jinping. A powerless Netanyahu who is only good at displaying Palestinian flags and inviting two or three Gazans to be treated in the local hospital and pose alongside them on the television news; the Tunisian has always felt solidarity with the Palestinian and cries with him. In short, Mr. K does what he can with the means at hand. And is it his fault if he is the only “integrity” politician in the country? It’s true that we call him Mr. Clean here. Well, in terms of cleaning there is work.
Let’s not talk about the trash that accumulates on the sidewalks, that’s cultural; the country is “invaded” by sub-Saharan migrants. We see them walking in single file on the side of the road, a bottle of water in their hand. They walk from town to town. They don’t dare hitchhike. Who would take them? It is said that they camp in the olive fields, preventing the peasants from cultivating their land… In reality, Tunisia is their purgatory. For some it will be a prison, even a cemetery, and it is you who pay Mr. K to keep them away from your land, you, European friends. Ultimately, we are all in the same boat and solidarity is no longer an option. Speaking of solidarity, I read in a major French daily that an exhibition at the Bardo Museum on the Carthage of “Salammbô” would be: “A way for France to stay in contact with civil society at a time of drift autocratic.” Well, the solution is ready! I would recommend this exhibition to my mother.
*Zied Bakir, Tunisian author, has lived in France for 18 years, he is the author of “The Love of Invisible Things” [Ed. Grasset, 2021]and “Naturalization” [à paraître en février 2025 aux Editions Grasset].
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