Tunisian Revolution

Friday, January 14, 2011: Tunisia's Second Independence

January 14, 2011 is a day indelibly printed in every Tunisian's memory. After 23 years in office, thanks to a bloodless coup d’etat in 1987 and rigged elections thereafter, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali’s regime is swept into the dustbin of history.  A university graduate turned fruit-and-vegetable vendor sets himself ablaze in front the city hall in Sidi Bouzid when denied a vendor’s license.  Little did he know that this was going to change Tunisia’s history--if not that of the entire Arab world.  Less than a month later, and after major popular protests and violent clashes with security forces, Ben Ali succumbs to popular pressure and eventually flees the country to Saudi Arabia.  Now the eyes of the world are riveted on Tunisia as it etches into our memories the glory of its people, their courage, their dignity, and their capacity for sacrifice.

Constitutional glitches in the transfer of power:  PM Mohammed Ghannouchi takes over, based on Article 56 of the Tunisian Constitution, which  stipulates that the PM must assume the presidency in case the incumbent president is temporarily incapacitated.  But since Ben Ali fled the country, creating a power vacuum, Article 57 dictates that the Speaker of Parliament must become the interim president until an election is held, and this within two months.

As much as they are jubilant at having put an end to Ben Ali’s 23-year old dictatorship, Tunisians are extremely disappointed to see M. Ghannouchi president of the new interim government, since he is considered by many a holdover of the very regime they grew to despise over the years. But this is not worse, they thought, than a power vacuum which would potentially plunge the country into civil war.   

Reports of secret militias connected to former regime prowling through city streets looting and pillaging department stores and even breaking into houses and terrorizing families. The army is soon mobilized to protect civilians against these militias.  To protect their properties and their families, civilians decide to set up in every neighborhood an anti-militia committee armed with bats, machetes, and much love for the country.