This commentary was published in The Jordan Times on 19/01/2011
Although much of the world was taken by surprise by the “jasmine uprising” that overthrew Tunisian dictator Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali, there are some lessons we can learn already from what is no doubt a historic event regardless of what happens next.
It is simply another reminder that so often, it is an unexpected spark that starts a raging fire that cannot be stopped.
In this case, it was the self-immolation of Mohammad Bouazizi, an unemployed student, after police confiscated the vegetable cart that provided his only means of subsistence. The protests first started in his town, Sidi Bouzid, then spread throughout the country. Compared with protests in Iran after the June 2009 election, the international and regional media totally ignored the uprising in Tunisia.
Many must have been confident that Ben Ali’s heavy-handed police state would be able to crush the protests. The deposed dictator must also have reassured himself with this belief as dozens of protesters were killed with live ammunition fired by security forces, and as the state maintained its tight clamp on the media. But apparently the authorities were blind to the fact that the world had changed and that no amount of “iron curtain” could stop news from penetrating the country’s borders through the simplest and cheapest gadgets available to even the most impoverished people.
Ben Ali was not only blind to these realities, but sitting at the pinnacle of a corrupt and brutal dictatorship, he had isolated himself, his family and a small ruling clique from everything beyond the perimeters of their fortress. Their frenzied quest for wealth and power, squeezing national resources at the expense of the country and its people, must have paralysed their ability to recognise the consequences of what they were doing.
Obviously there are important lessons to be learned, and myths to be dashed, and already a lot has been written and said about the Tunisian sudden and very drastic eruption and the message it is sending to the rest of the world. In fact, the talk about the honourable, brave and resolute Tunisian popular uprising will last longer than that about many other events of this kind.
One entrenched myth which has instantly been shattered is that the Arab people - the view from the region and outside it - neither understand nor appreciate the meaning of democracy and freedom, and therefore, out of all other nations, they succumb to stagnant dictatorial rule like herds of sheep.
The Tunisian experience offers a remarkable example of how people could rise in a peaceful, dignified, brave and orderly manner against despotism and oppression. They maintained their struggle offering significant sacrifices until they ended the tyranny and realised their national goal.
There are lessons as well. One is that dictators who rely on foreign support, rather than their people’s, end up disgraced, humiliated and defeated. When they find themselves helplessly disabled before the determined will of the betrayed people, no one comes to their rescue.
As we saw, European countries and the United States refrained from criticising Ben Ali’s brutal crackdown (or did so as gently as they could get away with) in the hope that he would survive. But the moment he fell, they wanted nothing to do with him. France, which backed Ben Ali closely, would not let him land on its soil. Members of his family were declared unwelcome on French territory, too. The United States, which just a few days before Ben Ali’s fall said it “would not take sides”, began to speak of its support for democracy when the revolution triumphed.
All the wealth Ben Ali and his family had plundered was of no use in saving the regime, and this is another lesson dictators should learn.
The fleeing president and his family barely had time to pack, get on a plane and start looking for a sanctuary. This is what happened to the shah of Iran.
Apparently dictators do not read history, and if they do, they mostly believe that what happened to others would not apply to them.
It may be true that greed has no limits. But should dictators not heed the many past experiences of their likes whose astronomical bank accounts and massive wealth, of which they deprived their people, turn worthless when the moment of truth arrived, exposing them to the wrath and disgrace not only of their people but of the rest of the world as well?
A third lesson relates to the foreign powers that lecture us day and night about democracy and human rights, but throw out all their principles the moment their insincere calls contradict their self-serving interests, and therefore require harsh repressive measures instead. This was the case in Tunis (and is the case elsewhere in the region) where 23 years of Ben Ali’s despotic dictatorship received all the support it needed from the “democratic” foreign powers to crush any legitimate popular quest for clean governance and genuine democracy.
It is time that such foreign powers realise that they cannot take the submission of any people for granted. There may come a time, even if late, when the people reach the point of explosion, and turn the tables on their oppressors as well as their backers. At that moment, it seems, and we saw it happen in Tunis, no force in the world can stop them.
A fourth lesson is that when people make up their minds and decide to pursue a just cause, they must be prepared to go all the way; no wavering, no hesitation, no compromise.
The jasmine uprising has indeed earned the brave Tunisian people praise and respect from many foreign and regional leaders who emphasised their support for the Tunisians’ wishes and democratic yearnings. But that is only because they pursued the battle against their oppressors to the very end and won, albeit at a very high cost. They would have been labelled “terrorists”, and would have been condemned and punished accordingly, by both friend and foe if they had lost their struggle.
As a matter of fact, Ben Ali’s first reaction was a stern threat describing the protesters as “terrorists”. That was when he still believed he had the means to crush them. But he turned to grovelling and begging his people to forgive him when he was cornered. He started offering one concession after another, but to no avail. It was too late. For his people, the “problem” could not be the solution.
The Palestinians facing the racist, corrupt and entrenched Israeli occupation, its oppression, its annihilation of their rights, its cruelty and daily humiliation, would not need to do more than the Tunisians did to demand their freedom. But in the eyes of Israel and its backers, they are “terrorists” and aggressors, and Israel’s constant repressive and bloody violence against them is “legitimate self-defence”.
The Palestinians will be condemned as terrorists for as long as they refrain from fighting for their legal rights in the Tunisian non-violent but determined style.
This is another significant lesson for the Palestinian Authority, constantly grovelling for Israel’s mercy, persistently decrying the mirage of a dead peace process and continuously offering rights to the Israelis at no cost.
The jasmine uprising is a noble model of people’s honorable and right resistance. No one could defame the Tunisian protesters as Islamic fundamentalist “fanatics” acting on behalf of Iran or as part of Al Qaeda, as would have been alleged. They are ordinary citizens, many no doubt devout Muslims, fighting for their dignity, their freedom, their rights, the huge resources of their land, which have been systematically pillaged by ruling thieves.
The trigger was indeed a single incident, but that was the spark. There is always a spark to ignite stored energy and cause devastation. Many observers kept saying that what started as protest for food and rising prices has developed into a political revolution demanding regime change. There is no difference. It was clear in the minds of all those who offered their lives for their cause that poverty, unemployment, price rises, underdevelopment, on top of all the other human rights abuses, are the direct result of the regime’s corruption and misrule.
The Tunisian uprising is not yet finished. We must all hope and pray that the Tunisians will be able to save their country and transit peacefully to a real democracy that serves the interests of the people and is worthy of the sacrifices of those who died.
Every Arab watching the developments wishes the Tunisian people well and wants them to succeed in this new chapter. There is no doubt that its impact will be felt beyond Tunisia’s borders, one way or another.
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