Samir Feriani and Kamel Morjane remind us that the Tunisian Revolution is a continuous struggle

Samir Feriani is a policeman that got arrested after he published in a newspaper names of people holding key positions in the Interior Ministry involved in the shooting of peaceful protestors during the Tunisian revolution. After a trial, he was released last week. His release was seen by the optimists as a victory for the Revolution, the others say that his arrest, regardless of the result of the trial, was already a failure in itself for the justice of a country that aims to be democratic.

Kamel Morjane is the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, currently involved in the scandal of the 3 years diplomatic passeports issued to Ben Ali and his family on January 16th, two days after they fled to Saudi Arabia. He held a press conference where he explained that in his point of view, he just followed the law. The passeports were cancelled since, but the exact extent of Kamel Morjane is still unclear.  He runs with his party ‘Al Mobadara’ for the coming elections, although he was a member of the Ben Ali government.Many disapprove the fact that a former Ben Ali minister, although apparently not involved in criminal affairs during or before the Revolution, can still participate to the political life of Tunisia.

Samir Feriani and Kamel Morjane represent well this strange transitional period in Tunisia; they remind us Revolution is a continuous struggle. The remnants of the old regime still have a strong hold on the affairs of the state, strong enough to interfere with justice in particular. Not that the Revolution ‘failed’, like we hear sometimes; cleaning a rusty machine takes time, and the improvements are already beyond the reasonable predictions that were made at the beginning of the transitional period. But still a lot has to be done that can’t be delayed anymore. In particular, justice has to be reminded to its primary function. In the country dozens of the former regime heads like Morjane are moving freely, unworried, while thousands of simple citizens like Feriani are still under the threat of trials, harrassment or other means of pressure when they use their right to disagree.

To push reforms forward, let’s use our deadliest weapons: our pens and our voting cards.

To all the Tahrir Squares in the World

At the end of 2010, with the events of Sidi Bouzid, I felt something had changed in Tunisia, but it took me a few days to me like to most of us to realize that it was more than a local revolt. A Revolution. I remember the tears of joy on January 14 and the pride I felt to be Tunisian, and I remember thinking Tunisians changed Arab History forever. At that time I wished so strongly that it could happen to my other country, Egypt, but I was afraid to be too optimistic: when you walk in Tunisia streets, you are afraid of the police, secret services and a powerful extended presidential family, but when you are in Egypt, you fear an Intelligence agency almost at level of Mossad and an army potentially stronger than Saddam Hussein’s, all in hand of one strong olligarchy. But they did it: a wave of millions of people, on Tahrir Square and everywhere else in Egypt made it, they made the Revolution. And since there is no limit to my optimism. There is an empirical statement that basically says: what happens in Egypt, ends happening in the rest of the Arab World.

I dreamt about two things: first, that the Revolutions spread, second that it’ll breaks enough of Israel’s self-confidence and arrogance to force them to accept a Palestinian State. Both of hopes are “in progress”. Everywhere in the Arab World we are seeing Revolutions, and though it seems sometimes difficult, we know and hope, it’ll end coming. Change Square in Yemen, Pearl Square in Bahrain, inspirations of Tahrir Square (in fact, they are inspirations of simultaneous Egyptian Tahrir Square and Tunisian Qasba events, that took place after January 14 and was for real the second revolution in Tunisia in less than one month).

But once again, things went beyond my hopes: Tunisia and Egypt are inspiring more than the Arab World. An Eritrean Revolution is in preparation and a facebook event annouces a start for the movement in May 28 in Asmara. And now a “Tahrir Square model of revolt” is taking place in Spain. In Puerta del Sol, youth is gathering every day after 7pm or so, for protesting: unemployement, injustice, lack of means, like in Tahrir square and Qasba the crowds were gathering every day to protest through the simple act of civil desobediance consisting in sleeping on the ground of the place, just because it challenges curfews and non-authorizations to protest. They are in revolt actually against a whole European political and economical system that broke their country. Almost half of young people in Spain are unemployed. Yet they don’t call for “toppling the regime” like Arabs (“Al Chaa’b yorid isqat an-nizam“), for they have the chance we didn’t have to be able to change their regimes with free elections, but their demands are so similar to Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions that it is clear that they are part of the same wave of freedom. In fact, Europeans do not live in autocratic states, but the fact that European politics totally escapes the direct control of people makes European citizens almost as powerless as were Tunisians under Ben Ali or Egyptians under Mubarak.

This wave of change begins to sweep Europe and represents the only serious effect to oppose the rise of populist right wing in Europe. With this new wind of freedom, Europeans stand to say their problem is not immigration, but the unsocial policies of the econimical Europe, the big capitalist  machine crushing nations in their lost battle against debt. Belt-tightening policies when the banks are back to profit, bonus and risky markets?

And after Spain, don’t we see it coming? Portugal, Greece, Italy,… And one day, isn’t it going to reach the core of politcal economical Europe: France and Germany? Tahrir Squares will blossom all over Europe. Tunisia and Egypt, you changed Arab History, you also  might have changed the World History.

Ben Laden’s death has fed America’s appetite for blood, not for justice

President Obama’s “Justice has been done” is trending: on TV, in papers, on the web, even in casual conversations. Ossama Ben Laden’s arrest/death was wished by most of the Americans for now a decade. The outburst of joy depicted us an indecent at ease with itself thirst of blood within Americans.The American President was not the only one to see his approval rating jumping: following results of a poll held after Ben Laden’s death, 1/3 of the Americans are now in favor of detention of innocents in Guantanamo, more than half of Americans believe their mission in Afghanistan is not complete and about 44% think is winning its “War on Terror”.

The conclusion we can draw here is horrific in itself: we wrongly interpreted these last years’ growing opposition of Americans to the murderous wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan as ideological humanist positions of people becoming progressively aware of the fact that these wars are slaughtering civilians and unhappy they were fooled on the reality on the battlefield; now we see that they were disapproving them not because the wars were ethically wrong but only because they were losing them. In short: a dominating opportunistic point of view, not an ethical one.Those who wanted their “boys” back, were not asking for it in purpose of stopping this continuous rape of countries sovereignty and peoples lives: it was merely a “hunger strike” to protest against the fact that their thirst of blood was not adequately satisfied; consumers were unhappy to have been promised the finest beef tournedos and are brought only cheap industrial poultry. And now that they tasted Ben Laden’s blood, the appetite for destruction is just increasing. The lowest part of the being needs to be fed with revenge, humiliation inflicted to others.

America learnt nothing on why in the first place the rest of the World is so keen to be fed with anti-American feelings: their attitude consisting of making prevail their interests and profits over anything else, including any form of ethics, careless of the protests and opposition their acts might encounter, as long as they have enough weapons to crush them. After all, did Barack Obama mean anything else when he says during his announcement on Ben Laden’s death: “ tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. “.

And what comes next? I mean after Muslims paid with 900’000 lives the price of “justice”, will people of Afghanistan, Iraq or Pakistan be given the right to live a normal life, without US troops on their territories? Families of the World Trade Center had their “justice” when Al-Qaeda leader passed away, will the Muslims have right to relief (yes, just relief, since “justice” is affordable only for those who own drones), in seeing the end of the “War on Terror” that was imposed on them? The US have given their answer: no.

First because US officials notified it extremely clearly: Ben Laden’s death is not the end of the war. It is understood that it was much of a high psychological impact, but as this assassination does not disrupt the organizational scheme of Al-Qaeda, a lot has still to be done to fulfill the goals of the “War on Terror”.

Second, this “victory”, by justifying the massive investment of Bush and Obama into the wars, opens the door to a more aggressive global military policy. A first clear sign was given in this direction, when on May 7th a drone attack was launched in Yemen targetting the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabic Peninsula, the American-Yemeni Anwar Al-Awqali, failing in killing him but causing the death of two men. For now like for the last 10years, US is nor bothered nor concerned about this kind “collateral damages”. If it is to kill 5 or 10 millions Muslims around the world in addition just to reach their targets and pursue their agenda, so be it. People of Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan (and soon Iran?) are, for the US foreign policy, no more than insects they can crush without any apology, without any shame. Americans will slowly reconciliate with torture as now it was proven that “it works“, Obama promise to close Guantanamo Bay camp became secondary. Fundings will continue to be granted. Muslims will continue to be killed.

When looking back to the last decade, one has the bitter feeling that US did not understand anything during this war on terror: if efforts were engaged to suppress the roots of the hatred they inspire to Al-Qaeda as well as to the rest of Muslims, even the moderates (even the modern educated revolutionnary egyptian and tunisian youth praised by all worldwide medias have shown their rejection of US strategy in the Arab World in boycotting Hillary Clinton’s visit in Egypt and Tunisia), they would have won the war. If they had fought the aggressive imperialism they submit the world with, they would have gained the sympathy of all. We wanted to believe in a change. All throughout Africa and the Muslim world, we have seen people celebrating Barack Obama’s election in 2008 and Cairo speech in 2009, simply because somewhere, we all thought that a half-African man could be the perfect person to understand what it is to stand on the other side of the barrier, to understand the expressions of despair from populations starving, not accessing education or medication, living in unstable or tyrannic state… for the unique reason that most of the policies that rule our countries are not decided in our parliaments, but in the White House, following interests far from the local population wishes and needs. It didn’t take long for the optimists we all were  to be disappointed.

The truth is that since the end of the second World War, the United States won every battle but lost every war (Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan). Operations were always fulfilled, targets were always reached. But because their outrageous imperialism/neo-colonialism  inspired each day more new opponents than it could kill, making the distance to go to the finishing line of their quest increasing after each step instead of decreasing. Now in killing Ossama Ben Laden, they just added one more item on their list of shameful records during their lost War on Terror. Terror was not eliminated, it only changed its location: the crowds celebrating the death of one man are showing how much terrorized they are from the inside, to the point to “need” that blood to reassure themselves, to simulate their lost sense of justice, while the Muslim and Arab World experiencing the first days of the “Arab Spring” ousting the Oriental puppets of an Almighty West that lost track on the too numerous files they try to handle, the first and only targets in number of victims of the War on Terror, only increase in courage to claim their opposition to an unfair world, building nations where “justice has been done” won’t be just an empty statement.