Another Dictator Flees

January 17, 2011

Take note of the following events.

According to Investor's Business Daily:

Tunisian Dictator Flees Unrest

Ending 23 years of iron rule, Tunisian Pres. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled the country Fri. as demonstrators overwhelmed gov't forces in the capital. The PM sought to assume control, but his hold on power was unclear. The public-led ouster of a ruler in a Muslim nation may inspire anti-gov't efforts in other Arab nations, analysts said.

Then, according to CNN:

Interim leader sees 'democracy for all children of Tunis'

Tunisia's acting president on Saturday called for "a new phase" in his embattled land, envisioning "a better political life which will include democracy, plurality and active participation for all the children of Tunis."

Tunisian state TV reported that officials plan to hold presidential elections in 60 days, and an opposition leader told CNN that opposition figures were meeting with the caretaker prime minister to discuss formation of a unity government.

They've also welcomed back exiles.

As one of those exiles, Tunisian author and activist, Sadri Khiari (whose socialist views we strongly disagree with, but whose democratic values we respect), wrote on January 9th, 2011:

The Strength of Disobedience

For many years I have been reading. I read everything that is written about the political situation in Tunisia. Almost everything, to be sincere.

I have read analyses about the Tunisian economy, that marches or does not march, that "marches… but" or that "does not march… but".

I have read articles regarding the omnipotence of the police, of the attacks on civil liberties, repression, prison, torture and the action of the defenders of human rights.

I have read articles about corruption in the highest echelons of the State, rigorous information, rumors or simple gossip about the mafia-style nepotism of the "families" [closest to power].

I have read articles about the North American influence, the French backing, the European support, connections with Israel.

I have read brainy studies on the nature of the State and the Tunisian political system, on the existence or not of a "civil society", on the existence or not of a "public opinion".

I have read essays on the Anthropology of Authority, essays on the deconstruction of the most microscopic mechanisms of power, discourse analyses, culturalist studies exploring the Tunisian soul of the last century or two, in order to uncover the reasons for Ben Ali.

What is it that is missing?

The people.

The people who disobey. The people who resist in the obscurity of everyday life. The people who when too long forgotten make themselves remembered to the world and break into history without prior notice.

If there is something I have learned from the struggle of the Black American slaves, on which I have worked a bit, is that there is no voluntary servitude. There is nothing other than the impatient waiting that erodes the mechanics of oppression. There is nothing other than tension day by day, minute by minute, to overthrow the oppressor.

From afar they seem like unbearable compromises, and no doubt they exist, because we must survive; but almost always mixed with indiscipline, the rebellion; molecular resistances that condense and explode into the view of all at their due time. To the opacity of despotic power corresponds the opacity of the resistances; the shameful forms of loyalty and clientelization walk hand in hand with the construction of popular solidarities; the technologies of control and of discipline are accompanied by elusive devices, of camouflage, of evasion and of transgression that disrupt the established order.

There is no oppression without resistance. Only time stretching more or less slowly before it arises, unexpected—or out of sight—the collective heroism of a people.

Make the despot go away!