Fwd: The Wrong Man to Promote Democracy

[Meryem Marzouki <marzouki@ras.eu.org>]

Hi all,

I thought those of you who are preparing their trip to the very nice 
Gammarth for the "informal WSIS meeting" might be interested in some 
further reading, besides the Lonely Planet Guide recommended by the 
WSIS Executive Secretariat. Meryem

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The New York Times
Editorials/Op-Ed
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
The Wrong Man to Promote Democracy
By KAMEL LABIDI
Published: February 21, 2004

CAIRO — This week, President Bush played host to President Zine 
el-Abidine ben Ali of Tunisia, giving this ruthless autocrat a 
long-coveted audience at the White House. To his credit, Mr. Bush 
rebuked Mr. ben Ali for his violations of press freedom, but the United 
States is sorely mistaken if it believes that democracy and the rule of 
law can ever take hold under leaders like Mr. ben Ali. The Bush 
administration's welcome of Mr. ben Ali makes America's aggressive 
promotion of democratic reform in the Arab world ring hollow.

It's not obvious from Mr. Bush's public statements, but Tunisia today 
is one of the world's most efficient police states. Since his ouster of 
President Habib Bourguiba in a coup in 1987, Mr. ben Ali has quashed 
virtually all dissent and silenced a civil society that once was an 
example of vibrancy for North Africa and the neighboring Middle East. 
In the early 1990's, the regime cracked down on the country's Islamist 
movement, arbitrarily arresting thousands of suspected activists and 
subjecting them to torture and unfair trials. Mr. ben Ali then extended 
his crackdown to human rights defenders, opposition leaders and 
independent journalists. (I, for example, was stripped of my 
accreditation after 19 years as a journalist following the publication 
of an interview with a human rights advocate.)

Tunisian society is now a shell of its former self; political debate is 
relegated to a whisper under the gaze of the omnipresent secret police. 
Newspapers are filled with Soviet-style hagiography: Mr. ben Ali is 
called the Architect of Change, a title that's hard to accept given 
that last year he won a referendum (with more than 99 percent of the 
vote) that will allow him to run for a fourth presidential term in 2004 
and grant him immunity from prosecution for life. Meanwhile, human 
rights advocates have to put up with constant surveillance, the cutting 
of their phone lines, anonymous threats, and even attack by thugs for 
the regime.

For more than a decade, American policy toward Tunisia has quietly 
ignored these excesses, focusing instead on the country's role as 
moderate ally in a turbulent region, a supporter of the 
Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and a model of relative prosperity 
for the Arab world. The Congressional delegations that periodically 
visit the country have heaped praise on Mr. ben Ali, with one 
congressman a few years back lauding him as a statesman who has "done a 
tremendous job in Tunisia and who is well respected back home as well 
as here in the Arab world." During his visit to Tunis in December, 
Secretary of State Colin Powell gently prodded the government to adopt 
"more political pluralism and openness" while expressing admiration for 
Mr. ben Ali's leadership skills.

Unfortunately, this muted diplomacy has shown little sign of compelling 
illegitimate officials like those in Tunisia to reform themselves. 
Without sustained local and international pressure to overhaul the 
autocratic political leaderships that dominate the Arab world and to 
hold democratic elections, only cosmetic change can be expected.

The United States needs to make it clear to its allies that cracking 
down on terrorism can never be an excuse for violating basic human 
rights. In Tunisia, however, Mr. ben Ali's Parliament passed an 
antiterrorism law in December that would apparently give the regime 
more ammunition to attack peaceful critics and prevent the emergence of 
a credible political opposition. International human rights groups have 
already documented hundreds of cases of political prisoners who, even 
though they never advocated violence, have been labeled terrorists by 
the regime.

In the end, injustice and political repression pave the way for 
terrorism and revenge. The terrorist attack on a synagogue in Djerba in 
April 2002, which the state-run press initially presented as an 
accident, is a reminder of this. The absence of free speech has also 
made extremist clerics on satellite TV stations look like reasonable 
alternatives to the government, leading more young Tunisians to the 
mosques and more young women to wear the veil.

Despite Mr. ben Ali's oppressive regime, Tunisians still hope that 
democracy will take root in their country and that terrorism can be 
defeated. It remains to be seen if the world — and in particular the 
United States — is ready to help make this hope become reality.

Kamel Labidi is a former director of Amnesty International-Tunisia and 
former Tunisian correspondent for La Croix, a French daily.
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