Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s two-day visit to Tunisia (16-17 January, 20011), coming on the heels of earlier visits by Assistant Secretary Jeffery Feltman and Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman, is part of the US’s strenuous, large-scale effort to gain the trust of the Arab masses which have emerged on the political scene as a moderate third force vying for power and recognition with two other forces familiar to the West, namely, long-ruling Arab autocrats and dangerous Islamic radicals.
It is commonplace but true that the West has often backed Arab autocrats and turned a blind eye to their human rights violations provided they keep the lid on Islamist groups and maintain stability and security in the region. The Tunisian Revolution, however, has changed the political scene in the Arab region beyond recognition and has shown the entire world that freedom, justice, and human dignity are more important than stability and security. To echo Tunisian human rights activist Moncef Marzouki, the tyranny of Arab leaders was such that it placed the Arab subject in an existential impasse where life without honor and freedom is no longer an option. In a word, Tunisia’s revolution has initiated a radical re-structuring of Arab consciousness writ large.
Foreign policy think tanks both in Europe and in the US are, therefore, compelled to re-appraise their policies toward the Arab world, bearing in mind that the rules of the political game have changed dramatically and that the outcomes still remain disturbingly unpredictable. US government officials, in particular, have to re-learn how to tiptoe ever more cautiously the precarious tightrope facing them in the region, lest they find themselves running counter to the forces of change there--lest they miss out on the last opportunity to correct what many consider the stark fiasco of the Iraq experience.
With the human catastrophe in Iraq still weighing heavy on their hearts and minds, a good portion of the Tunisian public already feels apprehensive about the U.S. chief diplomat’s visit. In the eyes of many Tunisians, this visit does not bode well for the country’s future as they see it, since they find themselves unwilling to trust those who have supported the very regime they grew to despise over the years. In fact, what they fear most is a behind-the-scene deal between the US and the Tunisian Interim Government that would turn Tunisia into a strategic U.S. arms depot, especially given the potential emergence of anti-Western Islamic regimes in neighboring Libya and Egypt. Notable not only for its crucial geo-strategic location but also for its openness to secular values and “westernized” lifestyle, Tunisia would certainly be one of the U.S.’s best watchful eyes on what transpires in North Africa and the Middle East both in the near and distant future.
Emboldened by a newly acquired sense of empowerment and driven by shared aspirations, a few hundred Tunisians have already protested Clinton’s first post-Ben Ali visit, brandishing the same proverbial slogan they used to oust their dictator: “Clinton, Dégage!” (“Clinton, Out!”). They see in such visit a prelude to a dubious political maneuvering, one that is coated with the patina of benevolent humanitarian rhetoric and carried out in the name of political reform and economic development in the country. And even if this is not necessarily the case, they still believe that the financial inducements that the U.S. and Europe are willing to offer will exacerbate Tunisia’s dependence on interest-based foreign aid and ultimately perpetuate the structural vulnerability of its economy.
In an unprecedented appearance on Nessma TV, an independent Maghreb-oriented satcaster based in Tunis, Mrs. Clinton applauded the many achievements of the Tunisian Revolution and reiterated the Obama administration’s commitment to support a “genuine democratic transition” in the country. This, in fact, comes as a consolidation of a statement she had made prior to her first trip to post-dictatorship Tunisia and Egypt: “We have an enormous stake in ensuring that Egypt and Tunisia provide models for the kind of democracy that we want to see.” And this is precisely what the protesters in the streets of Tunisia are clearly loath to see: an American-made democracy that does not emanate from the political and cultural exigencies of Tunisian reality.
While re-charting the course of American foreign policy in the Arab world, the Beltway think thanks are clearly at pains trying to steer the emerging regime there in a direction that responds to the aspirations of the Arab peoples but that is not incompatible with America’s strategic interests. In this winter of Arab discontent, as the phrase goes now, how long will the U.S. continue to hedge its bets before it finds itself – once again! – on the same side of history as the despotic regimes it has long supported.
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