Middle East Online, 25 July 2007

The 50th anniversary of the Tunisian republic

Although committed to their essentially Arab-Islamic identity, Tunisians reject fundamentalist radicalism as anachronistic and disruptive, says Sadok Bouhlila.

The meaning of a landmark-event

In Shakespeare's The Tempest (Act 2, sc1), Antonio, speaking to Adrian about Queen Dido's exact whereabouts telling him, “This Tunis, Sir, is Carthage”. He utters these words in a remarkable contemporary vein; paying tribute to Carthage's past glories and the civilizational continuum linking that ancient city to its modern heiress.

In spite of the passing through a myriad of other civilizations, Tunisians today feel entitled to reclaiming their Carthaginian ancestry. Even if modest in temperament, they show awareness of being the heirs to a powerful and inventive civilization that shaped the history of the Mediterranean and, in many ways, still does.

In this sense, modern Tunisia has more to boast of Carthage than the ruins the victors have left to posterity to visit, and appreciate. They also remember the Senate of the Carthaginian republic cited by Aristotle.

Some 3,000 years later, the Tunisian Republic is ironically turning 50 years old, perhaps a trifle in the age of civilizations, but a great deal for contemporary Tunisians who have lost nothing of the resilience, inventiveness and openness of their worthy predecessors.

Proud Republic

Tunisians looks today at the achievements of the 50year-old-Republic with much pride. Theirs is one of the success stories of Africa and indeed of the emerging world, Tunisia deemed today the first most competitive economy in Africa, the first nation “most at peace” in Africa, the first country in Africa in terms of global information technology, the country is also the first in travel and tourism competitiveness on the continent and the list is long. Lots of firsts for a small country. Indeed, each year the World Economic Forum is rating Tunisia higher and according to analysts, the North African country's growth is expected to continue in the years to come.

The feat, which is remarkable in itself if one looks at other developing nations, takes on even greater magnitude when one realizes that the country has few natural resources, and is bordered at the south by the desert and the sea at the north and east.

One should add to this that in area where fundamentalist extremism is rife, the country has been able to steer a course of moderation, tolerance and openness on other cultures. Enshrined in law, Tunisia's secular policies, such as that banning all religious parties, are a protective shield against fundamentalist radicalism.

This course of action, which precludes adventurism and bigotry, is supported by the overwhelming majority of Tunisians. Although committed to their essentially Arab-Islamic identity, Tunisians reject fundamentalist radicalism as anachronistic and disruptive. This is best illustrated by the rising aspirations of Tunisia's large middle class which represents some 80% of the population and its belief and investment in the education of their children as the most precious of all assets.

No back-seat

In this modern republic, gender equality does not take a back-seat. Tunisian women who are leading the way to their less lucky Arab counterparts, who are lagging far behind in terms of rights, are displaying increasing entrepreneurship and creativity, often arousing aggressiveness in the face of what looks at from the point of view of the bigoted, regressive segment of the Arab population as an almost arrogant belief in equality and in their aptitude to be men's partners.

This is a country where women represent some 40% of the overall country's workforce, but also 72% of pharmacists, 27% of magistrates, 43% of university professors, 42% of medical doctors, 23% in the Chamber of Deputies and where there are currently more than 10,000 women who are entrepreneurs.

If the country has been blessed with a homogeneous ethnic and religious makeup and has thus “been spared the awful toxicity of ethnic and religious rivalry” as Christopher Hitchens has aptly put it in Vanity Fair's 2007 July edition, the challenges ahead in terms of pursuing women's empowerment and education, as well as providing employment to its university graduates and professional training to its young people, are real.

On the eve of Tunisia's celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic on July 25, 2007, after more than 250 years of monarchy under beylical and French rule, Tunisians want to further boost the strides their country has accomplished towards modernity and social and economic progress.

Few countries in Africa and in the Arab world can boast Tunisia's record, even if some of the country's western critics continue to disagree with the country's cautious approach in terms of democracy-building. Their criticism often sounds hollow or at least unfair. If in the West, democracy took centuries to become a functionally viable political system, is it even near to reasonable to expect the same in the less than 20 years President Ben Ali has been in office?

Shouldn't they judge Tunisia at the numerous initiatives taken by the Tunisian President to make pluralism and democracy an irreversible choice, and make sure that the country stays clear from one party rule and authoritarian form of government?

Some of the country's critics chose to ignore the fact that political pluralism and contested presidential elections, have become part of the Tunisian political landscape thanks to President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after he took over office from President Bourguiba, Tunisia's on November 7, 1987 at a time when the country was being threatened by the rise and spread of radical fundamentalism brought about by the protracted and painful fin de règne of Tunisia's former leader.

Since then much has been accomplished in a relatively short period of time in terms of the upgrading and modernization of the infrastructure, reforming the political system, liberalizing the media, reducing poverty, reforming the school curricula to adapt it to current international norms, setting up of wide ranging reforms at university level, including a new diploma system and the establishment of a quality program for Tunisia's research and higher education.

The Tunisian system to quote American scholar, Marshall Breger, is “liberalism with a heart”. Solidarity is a basic policy orientation in a country where the poverty rate stands at 3. 9% . The dividends of growth seem accessible to all citizens in a nation where the birth rate is less than 1.2 %, one of the lowest in the region.

Understandably, Tunisia's population which is composed of a largely educated middle class is eager for a better and more comfortable life.

As the country readies itself to welcome some 500,000 university students by 2011, one can only barely imagine the results of tapping into this impressive potential source of innovation, without losing sight of the formidable challenges it faces in harnessing this huge manpower into employment opportunities, development prospects, as well as investment ventures. One has also has to imagine the challenge of trying to meet the aspirations of so many educated young people.

The spirit of Carthage

With an increasing number of graduates entering medical, accounting, computer and engineering schools, Tunisian professionals are among the best trained professionals on the continent and around the Mediterranean.

The country is also one of the best connected in Africa and in the Arab world with more than 1.1 million internet users and a rate of 60% of mobile phone ownership. It is visited by 6.5 million tourists each year and hopes to attract more visitors once the upgrading and diversification of its tourism industry are completed.

As the previous Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan once said, “Tunisia is one of the rare countries in the world that can truly represent a model for other developing nations.”

Among the many reasons for Tunisia's successes is the ‘spirit of Carthage' which has left a strong imprint on the country's history. The same spirit drives Tunisia to develop trade and partnership with its northern Mediterranean neighbours. It does so without forgetting for a moment its distinct and unique identity.

No doubt, future generations of Tunisians who cherish their past as much as they engage their present, are also confident they can meet the formidable challenges ahead, as their country is just beginning to unleash its full potential and deliver its promises. It is not a coincidence, maybe, that “this Tunis was (indeed) Carthage”!