The clear reluctance on the part of Arab regimes and Western powers to support the Tunisian revolution is amazing. This is especially the case since the revolution, from the beginning, has been popular and democratic; it has not employed any religious slogans, but rather civil and humanistic slogans against oppression and corruption.
In truth, it’s understandable that Arab regimes, autocratic in nature, would lament the success of the Tunisia’s democratic revolution. But it’s embarrassing that France and other European countries show the same level of indifference and even sorrow over the ousted Tunisian regime.
The French government, for instance, was reluctant to announce its recognition of the revolution. French President Nicholas Sarkozy praised former Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali on more than one occasion for combating Islamic movements and serving as a symbol of modernity.
Even respectable French newspapers, such as Le Monde (which critiqued the French government’s tacit support of Beni Ali’s regime), were reluctant to use the term “revolution” when describing the events. French newspapers largely supported the new Tunisian government, arguing that it would deliver much needed stability, and they maintained little faith in the unruly Tunisian people who, like all Arab and Muslim populations, were considered unfit for democracy.
Coverage of the Tunisian revolution in the European press has been upsetting, especially when compared to the treatment of similar events in Eastern Europe over two decades ago. At the time I was a student in Paris. I recall that some of the events referred to as “revolutions” in Eastern Europe, such as the overthrow of Ceausescu in Romania, were actually staged attempts to oust old regimes from power. The European media (and European governments) embraced the events in Eastern Europe, neglecting many professional guidelines for journalism in the process. The media became an advocate of these revolutions, many of which did not take place, and ignored critical voices that analyzed what was happening differently. My French friends attributed my own critical perspective about Eastern Europe to the influence of conspiracy theories prevalent in the Arab world.
We do not demand Europe or the Western press treat events in Tunisia in the same fashion they treated Eastern Europe. We do want Europe to interfere in Tunisian politics by meddling with the new government. Instead we hope it will support a genuine democratic transformation.
There is a new regime in Tunisia that is moving toward democracy. There are similar experiences in Eastern Europe of what has become known as “late transitions” to democracy. These experiences have shown that democratic institutions can be built and old regimes can be toppled without dismantling the military or other state institutions. Such processes have clear rules and have worked in several countries, sometimes with European support.
Arab peoples will remain alone in the struggle for democracy, much like the United States left Latin American to fight for democracy after it had supported autocratic regimes there for decades. In the end, we are alone in the struggle for democratization, with support neither from Arab regimes nor from the West.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
