Tunisia: government crackdown misses source of terror

Submitted to Green Left Weekly for publication.

The Tunisian government has responded to the June 26 terror attack at the Imperial Marhaba hotel in Sousse with increased security measures and a crackdown on unlicensed mosques preaching ‘venom’.

The attack on the beachside resort was targeted at foreign tourists; none of the 38 killed were Tunisians. Seifeddine Rezgui, the gunman, accessed the beach from the ocean, before storming through the hotel’s lobby.

"Rezgui had training in Libya at the end of 2014. He was trained during the same time in Libya as the Bardo attackers," prime ministerial spokesman Dafer Neji told Reuters.

After escaping from the hotel, Rezgui was confronted by a local construction worker, Mayel Moncef, who threw tiles at him from a neighbouring rooftop where he was working. After this, the police intervened, shooting Rezgui dead.

"All I did was my duty, the duty of any Tunisian and any Muslim," Moncef told Channel 4 news.

In response to the attack, solidarity marches were held in Sousse and throughout Tunisia. Two days later, hundreds of activists joined victims’ families and offical figures on the beach where the attack had taken place, laying flowers.

The Tunisian government’s response, however, has been increasing securitisation of the issue of terrorism. The BBC has reported that army reservists will be called up to guard popular tourist hotels, while hundreds of police have already been mobilised.

New anti-terror legislation will also be rushed through the parliament in response to the attacks. Mohamed Ennaceur, speaker of the parliament, vowed that the new legislation, which has been under debate for months, will be passed ‘by July 25’ to radio station Mosaique FM.

The new legislation will reintroduce the death penalty, undermine due process for suspects or those convicted of terror-related charges, and allow extended detention – hallmarks of the Ben Ali regime.

Even more worryingly, Prime Minister Habib Essid, an independent associated with the ex-regime Nidaa Tounes party, has vowed to close 80 unlicensed mosques. 

Essid said: “Some mosques continue to spread their propaganda and their venom to promote terrorism. No mosque that does not conform to the law will be tolerated.”

Naturally, this has been welcomed by Europe’s Islamaphobic right. Roberto Maroni, the governor of Lombardy and a member of Italy’s Right-wing Northern League party, responded by saying: "If Tunisia has closed some mosques, it means that it is a road that we have to consider and also follow,” the Telegraph reported on June 30.

“So I hope that the interior ministry and the government do not bow to ideologies of any kind, and focus instead on the safety of citizens and eventually, if necessary, on the closing of the mosques."

The logic of this repressive response, however, does not get to the real origins of terrorism.

Tunisian tennis player, Malek Jaziri, told reporters at Wimbledon “"It happens when more people are poor. I don't know how they do it but [terrorist organisations] infect them."

"The most important thing is we need help in order to protect, to give confidence to Tunisian people. We are all the same and we are against terrorism,” he said.

Rezgui was from Gaafour, a town in Tunisia’s impoverished interior region of Siliana that have seen serious unrest since 2011, including general strikes in 2012 over unemployment and lack of development that saw the regional governorsacked.

President Beji Caid Essebsi, leader of Nidaa Tounes, told French radio station Europe 1 that combatting terrorism is difficult because "Tunisia has not the financial resources to pay 2,000 euros to each unemployed," referring to sums of money granted to "youths recruited by the Islamic State."

Essebsi served as President in the aftermath of Ben Ali’s overthrow while elections were organised for the Constituent Assembly. Prior to that, he had been a statesman under the previous dictatorship of Habib Bourguiba. 

His party leads the government which has taken office since February. After winning 86 seats in the 217 seat parliament in last October’s elections, Nidaa Tounes eventually formed a coalition with the moderate Islamist party Ennahda, which has previously held government, as well as liberal parties the Free Patriotic Union (UPL) and Afek Tounes.

Of the parties of the previous “Troika” government, which ruled through general strikes and the assassination of two Popular Front trade union leaders, Ennahda fared best in the October elections. Both of their “liberal” partners, Ettakatol and the Congress for the Republic, lost almost all representation in the parliament.

The Popular Front, a united left formation that functions both electorally and in social struggle, was the largest party left out of the government, holding 15 seats.

Now Hamma Hammami, a leader in the Popular Front, is criticising the government’s response to the June 26 attack, telling Le Monde that: “a genuine strategy against terrorism must also incorporate social, economic, regional, cultural and religious aspects,” and “not just security ones.”

Poverty has remained unchanged since the days of the Ben Ali dictatorship. The latest National Institute of Statistics figures show poverty at 24.7%, while United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation data shows 1.287 million Tunisians suffer from undernourishment, and 1.928 million suffer from severe and chronic difficulties in meeting their organic needs.

Despite this, a World Bank document on poverty in Tunisia currently being prepared recommends more of the same economic medicine for Tunisia – and argues for restructuring of public banks, and “great cooperation” of the public & private sector – typical neoliberal language for partial privatisation, reported All Africa on June 3.

Without a government providing real solutions these kinds of issues, the political vacuum which has bred radicalism will remain, even now that parliamentary democracy has been established in the nation where the Arab Spring began.

Tunisia: Opposition prepares for 'Week of Rage'

Catching up my articles from August. Originally published in Green Left Weekly.

In a move aimed at demobilising and splitting the opposition, the leaders of Tunisia's governing party, Ennahda, reached out to Beji Caid Essebsi, leader of the secular ex-regime party Nidaa Tounes. It was part of a bid to resolve the political crisis that has crippled the north African nation for weeks.

In a meeting in Paris on August 15, Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi offered Essebsi the presidency and four ministries in a new government if his party supported resuming the suspended National Constituent Assembly (NCA), reported Tunisia Live.

“Leaders of Ennahdha are seeking alliances with Nidaa Tounes and are discrediting the Popular Front,” Ammar Amrousia, a leader of the Popular Front coalition of left parties, said in response.

Business News Tunisia said the Popular Front and General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) were potentially being excluded from the deal ― and that Ennahda was under pressure from the European Union and United States to strike such a compromise.

Secular parties
Since the assassination of Popular Front figure Mohammed Brahmi on July 25, some of the non-government secular parties have been united in the streets with the Popular Front and other left groups, demanding the NCA be dissolved and a non-partisan government to oversee immediate elections.

The move by Ennahda, the senior government partner after the NCA elections in October 2011, could weaken the support base of the protests and divide the broader masses who have mobilised in recent weeks against the government.

Nidaa is the largest party in the Union for Tunisia alliance of secular democratic parties, which brings together social democratic party al-Massar, the al-Joumhouri (Republican) Party and ex-regime figures such as Essebsi.

Although Nidaa has not thrown its full weight behind the protests in the Tunis suburb of Bardo, al-Massar and al-Joumhouri have both done so.

Essebsi, who acted as prime minister in the interim government after the overthrow of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, pressure the Union for Tunisia to withdraw from street protests if such a deal is struck.

Mohsen Marzouk, a member of the Nidaa Tounes executive committee, told Al Jazeera that the party would “not accept any one-on-one deal with Ennahdha and that discussions must continue between all parties, including civil society as represented by the UGTT”. However, another high-level meeting between the parties will reportedly take place this week.

Seeking a more direct route to end the crisis, a group of NCA members opposing the body's suspension began circulating a petition of no confidence in the speaker, Mustafa Ben Jafaar, reported Tunisia Live on August 21. Ben Jafaar, from “troika” government partner Ettakatol, suspended the NCA on August 6 in the face of huge protests.

On August 22 Tunisia Live said Ennahda had accepted a UGTT proposal for “national dialogue”. However, Ennahda statements reaffirmed the party wouldn't accept the demand for the NCA's dissolution, and that the Troika government would continue working until “national consensus” was reached.

Bardo sit-in
While these movers were taking place, Prime Minister Ali Larayedh told state news agency TAP that “there will be no hesitation or retreat against those who, by terrorism, anarchy or rebellion, jeopardize the state institutions,” after the opposition declared another week of protests, dubbed the “Week of Rage”, would begin on August 24.

In response, Hamma Hammami, Worker's Party and Popular Front leader, told AFP that “we have not called for violence... just for peaceful sit-ins to get rid of the coalition in power and of officials appointed for their political affiliations and not their competence”.

The ongoing “sit-in of departure” (rahil in Arabic) at the NCA's chambers in Bardo has continued; after the police removed tents from the site at August 9, the camp was rebuilt on August 16. An outdoor cinema was set up at the site on August 21.

Since Brahmi's murder, the Popular Front and Nidaa Tounes have both joined a “National Salvation Front” demanding a technocratic government to oversee fresh elections and both have supported the "rahil" sit-in and major protests against the regime.

But friction between the two groups before the most recent maneuvers by Ennahda has been notable; the Front declared both the Troika and Nidaa Tounes “extreme” and declared it would seek to break their duopoly in the political sphere when it first formed in October last year.

Nonetheless, in June journalist Yosr Dridi accused the Popular Front of “anti-revolutionary conversion” by seeking a closer alliance with Nidaa Tounes against Ennahda.

Debate over law
A key point separating the Popular Front and Nidaa is the draft Law for the Protection of the Revolution, being drawn up by the government to put to the NCA.

The draft law would ban figures from Ben Ali's regime from holding public office for a period of time. But Ennahda quickly signalled it would be willing to compromise on the law once the current crisis began.

“Canceling or delaying it is possible as long as it comes through dialogue with all blocs in the Constituent Assembly, because there are some that back the law,” Ghannouchi told Reuters on August 5.

“Another possibility is to tighten it so that fewer people are included, or so the time period is shorter,” he said.

It is widely believed that Nidaa, which includes many ex-regime figures, is opposed to the law. In response to the negotiations between Ennahda and Nidaa, Ammar Amrousia said: “If Nidaa Tounes is exempted from the law for the protection of the revolution, they will reach an agreement with Ennahdha."

The Leagues for the Protection of the Revolution ― pro-Ennahda militias ― have announced they will turn on the party at election time if the law is not passed. “If Ennahdha decides to cancel the law, we will wage a war against it,” LPR press attache Nasreddine Wazfa told Tunisia Live on August 6.

Although more attention by the government has been focused on Salafists ― the suspect identified in the murder of Brahmi and Chokri Belaid, Aboubaker al-Hakim, belongs to Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia ― the Leagues for Protection of the Revolution also has a track record of using violence.

Many suspect the Leagues killed Belaid. The Leagues also led an assault on the headquarters of the UGTT in December.

Popular Front leader Mongi Rahoui (who succeeded Chokri Belaid as head of the Democratic Patriots' Movement) told Al Jazeera that he and other Front leaders were still being intimidated in a campaign by Ennahda supporters to silence dissent.

“When a party manoeuvres to position itself to control the administration, and to create an atmosphere of violence so that opposition politicians will be afraid, we cannot remain inactive,” he told AJE on August 20.

Both Rahoui and Besma Khalfaoui have reported threatening vehicles frequently approaching their homes, forcing them to relocate daily.

Perhaps aimed at addressing criticism of the security situation, the military has launched an offensive against radical Islamist groups centred on Chaambi Mountain, on the border with Algeria. Eight soldiers were killed at the site just days after Brahmi's assassination, on July 29.

And in the hours before Brahmi's funeral, a bomb was planted beneath a police car in the La Goulette suburb of Tunis. After several hours, police arrested two suspects, reportedly linked to a “radical religious group”.

Worsening economic situation
The assassinations of Belaid and Brahmi, and the climate of political crisis following, have only partly impacted on broader social struggles.

The number of strikes has declined significantly from last year. Ministry of Social Affairs figures indicate 9% of Tunisian workers took part in strikes during the first half of 2013, compared to 41% last year. But the number of days lost rose by 37%, increased by the general strikes called in response to Belaid's murder.

Other strikes have also taken up political issues as well as basic wages and conditions. A week-long strike in the port of Rades by employees of the Tunisian Company for Stevedoring and Handling erupted over comments by the company's CEO that privatisation of the port was on the agenda in early July.

The strike was called off after reassurances from the ministry of transport that was not the case ― as well as the resignation of the CEO.

Recent strikes have also been waged by shopkeepers in the Medina of Tunis against monopolisation. Earlier in the year, taxi drivers struck to protest fuel price rises.

The economic and political issues that drove Tunisians to revolt under Ben Ali's rule remain challenges for the Troika. A recent Gallup poll showing approval of national leadership fell dramatically from 60% in May to 23% by March 2013.

The poll also found that levels of anxiety over economic issues remain high, with 71% reporting it is a bad time to find work and 41% reporting it is difficult to get by on their household income.

So long as Tunisians remain under these economic pressures, then the demands of the January 14 revolution ― work, dignity and freedom ― remain unfulfilled.

Tunisia: Daily Protests as Assembly Crisis Grows

Catching up from August. Originally published in Green Left Weekly.

Daily protests are demanding the dissolution of Tunisia's National Constituent Assembly (NCA) in the wake the assassination of Popular Front leader Mohamed Brahmi.

In the face of the protests, leader of the Ettakatol party and speaker of the NCA Mustafa Ben Jafaar announced the suspension of the body on August 6.

However, the main party of government, Islamist group Ennahda, has refused to concede the dissolution of the NCA, in which it holds the largest number of seats. Ennahda now looks to have negotiated the NCA's resumption.

In response to the weeks of protests, as well as the recent ouster of President Mohamad Morsi in Egypt, thousands of Ennahda supporters rallied on August 2 at Kasbah square. They demanded, "no to coups, yes to elections".

Reuters reported Ennahda party leader Rachid Ghannouchi told the demonstration: "Tunisia is a candle whose revolution lit up the world but now they (the opposition) want to put it out by trying to set off a coup."

Estimates of attendance vary wildly. Ennahda officials said 150,000 attended, while media website Al-Monitor reported 12,000–15,000.

On the other hand, independant analysis by a variety of sources suggests at least 95,000 joined the anti-government demonstration on August 6. the day marked the six-month anniversary of the asssassination of antoher Popular Front leader, Chokri Belaid.

The widows of Belaid and Brahmi, Basma Khalfaoui and Mbarka Brahmi, took part in the march from Bab Saadoun to Bardo, where the NCA building is located. The Popular Front began planning for the anniversary march to demand justice for Belaid before Brahmi was assassinated on July 25.

After the major rally, the "sit-in of dissolution" at Bardo continued, joined by opposition delegates from the NCA who have resigned in protest. The protest has continued nightly since Brahmi's funeral.

On August 9, police removed tents set up at the site, prompting activists involved in the Tunisian "Tamarod" movement taking part in the sit-in to declare a hunger strike on August 10.

A few days later, rival pro- and anti-government rallies marked National Women's Day, commemmorating the passage of landmark laws affirming the rights of women in 1956 under Habib Bourguiba, dictator before Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

And on this occasion, numbers reported at the anti-government protest at Bardo — up to 150,000, according to Al-Monitor — hugely outweighed the few thousand joining the pro-government protest at Avenue Habib Bourguiba.

The opposition rally heard from feminist activists, Popular Front leader Hamma Hammami, and Khalfaoui and Brahmi — who both accused Ennahda of responsibility for their husband's deaths.

Mbarka Brahmi quoted from Sahbi Attig, Ennahda member of parliament, who in early July called for "trampling in the streets those who rebelled against legitimacy".

The suspension of the NCA, which is well overdue to deliver a draft constitution, was announced as a way to sidestep the pressure of the protests — but the mass turn-out on National Women's Day indicates frustration with the Islamists in government has coalesced.

In response to the situation, Ghannounchi told La Presse on August 8: "There are excessive demands at protests for the dissolution of the elected government ... In democratic regimes, protests don't change governments."

Ennahda has described Ben Jaffar's unilateral decision to suspend the NCA as a coup, which has been echoed by the network of pro-Ennahda militias known as the "Leagues for the Protection of the Revolution", who called their members to protest it.

However, after only a week, delegates from the governing "troika" of Ennahda, Ettakatol and the Congress for the Republic (CPR), as well as the Wafa movement, announced they had agreed to resume their work in the NCA from August 19.

Whether or not the National Salvation Front, which brings together the radical Popular Front along with centrist democratic forces and the secular ex-regime party, Nidaa Tounes, will hold together in the face of the resumption of the NCA remains to be seen.

The left is taking risks in uniting with such forces in order to galvanise broad opposition to Ennahda.
Yet the sit-in continues to gain momentum. Blogger Lina Ben Mhenni reported that those taking part began rebuilding tents on August 16 as a new contingent from Sousse joined the demonstration, signalling intent to hold strong in the demands for justice.

Tunisia: Assassination throws government into chaos

Reposted from July. Originally published in Green Left Weekly.

For the second time in six months, Tunisia's government has been thrown into chaos after the killing of a left-wing leader. Mohamed Brahmi, a leader of Tunisia's Popular Front, was assassinated on July 25.

Brahmi was attacked by two men on motorbike outside his home in Ariana, a suburb of Tunis, and was shot 11 times. He was taken to Mahmoud Matri Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

His widow M'barka told radio station Mosaique FM: “He died as a martyr to his opinion and position”, Tunisia Live said. She added that “he was killed by a terrorist gang”.

Brahmi was an activist for many years under Ben Ali's dictatorship. He was born in the impoverished interior town of Sidi Bouzid, where the uprising that overthrew Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011 began. After the 2011 uprising, he founded the Popular Movement.

On April 9, the Popular Movement joined with the Popular Front, which is made up of a large variety of radical left groups involved in the trade union and other social movements.

On July 7, Brahmi resigned from the Popular Movement after it rescinded the decision to join the front.

In the aftermath of the killing, interior minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou announced that the same gun used to kill Brahmi had been used to assassinate Chokri Belaid six months earlier.

Belaid, also a Popular Front leader was killed in similar circumstances, gunned down by assailants on motorbikes outside his home on February 6.

Ben Jeddou named a suspect, Islamic fundamnetalist Boubacar Hakim, also wanted on suspicion of smuggling weapons from Libya. He has been connected with the al Qaeda-linked group Ansar al-Sharia.

However, the group denied responsibility in a Facebook statement, calling Brahmi's killing "a political assassination, part of attempts to push the country toward chaos".

Brahmi's murder "only profits remnants of the former regime and lackeys of the Zionists and Crusaders", it said.

The response to the killing was swift, with protests breaking out across the country. A general strike on July 26 shut down banks, shops and flights, as thousands rallied in Tunis to join Brahmi's funeral procession.

Demonstrations took place around the country, with a police station and offices of the ruling Ennahda party set on fire in Siliana.

Popular Front activist Mohamed Mofti was killed in the southern mining town of Gafsa after being struck in the head by a tear gas canister. Tear gas was also used to disperse protests demanding the dissolution of the government in Tunis, Sidi Bouzid, Siliana, Montastir and Sfax.

Protesters in Tunis converged on the Bardo square, location of the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) that is overdue to release a new draft constitution. The Islamist Ennahda party, in a "troika" alliance with two secular parties, holds a majority in the NCA, and the interim government.

Protesters converged on the Bardo on July 26 to demand the dissolution of the Ennahda-led government and the NCA.

They were met by a smaller number of government supporters who rallied across the square, chanting "there's no room for Sisi" — comparing the calls to dissolve the government to the recent ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt by the military.

Despite their similar positions as post-dictatorship democracies with Islamist governments, comparisons between the current events to those in Egypt, where large liberal secular protests preceded the removal of the Muslim Brotherhood government by the military, are weak at best.

A "Tunisian Tamarod" movement, demanding a constitution which would represent all Tunisians and not only Islamists, gained 200,000 signatures in June, but was unable to make a big impact or mobilise strong support on the streets.

Beji Caid Essebsi, the leader of the ex-regime Tunisia Call Party, used the opportunity to demand the dissolution of the NCA. He also criticised a proposed law that would extend a ban on ex-regime figures taking office.

This demand has also been raised by the Popular Front. In an interview with International Viewpoint, leader of the socialist Workers' Left League Alhelm Belhadj said: "The government has failed ... it was put in place to manage a transitional period of one year. Eighteen months have gone by and the essential tasks for which it was there, those of the Constitution, have not been fulfilled."

The Popular Front had proposed to launch a big national protest movement for justice for Chokri Belaid on August 6, before Brahmi's murder.

The anti-government sit-in at the Bardo was dispersed on July 27. The police claimed they were intervening to prevent violence between the two camps in the square after a spate of "stone throwing".

Thousands of anti-government protesters resumed their "Sit-in of Departure" on July 28, where they remained until August 2.

Sixty-five members of the NCA have withdrawn from the body in protest; several have been taking part in the sit-in.

Ennahda spokespeople have announced they are willing to discuss forming a government of national unity, but refuse to discuss dissolving the NCA.

Tunisia: Government in crisis as uproar over killing spreads

Putting up some of my writing from Tunisia's February crisis. Originally published by Green Left Weekly.

The assassination of left-wing leader Chokri Belaid has thrown the interim government of Tunisia, led by Islamist party Ennahda (the Renaissance), into a deep crisis. Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali has threatened to resign if his proposed "technocratic" solution can't be implemented.

The death of Belaid, a well-respected leader of the united left group Popular Front, led to widespread protests, including tens of thousands on the streets of Tunis for his memorial on February 8.

Jebali, a member of Ennahda, responded to the crisis by proposing a government of “technocrats”, like the one that ruled after the resignation of PM Mohamed Ghannouchi in February 2011. Such a government would hurry the writing of the new constitution, now in the hands of the Constituent Assembly (CA), and organise new elections.

This move has put him at odds with Ennahda party leaders. Fethi Ayadi, president of Ennahdha party's Shura Council, told Express FM radio on February 11 that the party opposes Jebali's proposition.

Protesters were quick to blame Ennahda for Belaid's assassination. Party headquarters were attacked with stones and Molotov cocktails across the country. As yet, the killers have not been identified by police.

On February 11, journalist Zied El Heni reported "very serious information" concerning the assassination, including the names of government members, to the tribunal into Belaid's death in Tunis, reported Mosaique FM radio.

A February 8 editorial in the British Guardian, however, argued that Ennahda would not benefit from the killing of Belaid. Instead, it identified ex-members of the RCD, dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali's party, as being in a position to profit.

On the day Belaid was assassinated, the assembly was due to debate a measure designed to bar former RCD members from office for five years.

However, The Guardian’s defence of Ennahda papers over the party’s inability to reform the security apparatus or effectively deal with political violence. Belaid had told the interior ministry of threats against his life weeks before his death, yet no action was taken, Al Monitor said on February 10.

A new report on Tunisia issued by the International Crisis Group on February 13 identified Ennahda’s inability to rein in political violence as a major issue.

In the absence of an appropriate answer by the authorities and the dominant Islamist party, violence in all its shades "whether tied to social, demographic, urban, political, or religious causes", could well cross a perilous threshold, the report said.

The ICG identified three key areas where action needs to be taken to address violence and discontent: the marginalisation of young, poor Tunisians; the debate between secular and religious forces in the CA; and the movement of jihadi fighers throughout the region.

However, this fails to get to the root of the discontent with the interim government's inability to fulfil the demands of the January 14 revolution.

In a Le Temps piece he authored several weeks before his death, Belaid said: “Two years after the outbreak of the Revolution its... causes are still there. They have deepened, whether at the level of social demands, employment, regional development, social justice or political reality.

"Tunisia is opening a second page in the revolutionary process, against the despotic Ennahda project protecting corruption and consecrating dependency."

A key part of this “second page” has been regional uprisings in interior regions of Sidi Bouzid and Siliana.

Hamma Hammami, spokesperson of the Popular Front, told Express FM Radio on February 13 the Front rejected Jebali's proposal for a technocratic government. It instead proposed a government of “national unity”.

Hammami said the tasks of such a government should include the review of Belaid's case, developing a timeline for the next elections, the establishment of social peace through measures to reduce the high cost of living, job creation, taxing large fortunes, and suspension of foreign debt repayment for two to three years.

Tunisia: Rage as leftist leader killed

Putting up some of my writing from Tunisia's February crisis. Originally published by Green Left Weekly. 

Furious protests have exploded onto Tunisia's streets and a general strike has been called after the assassination of left-wing politician and lawyer Chokri Belaid on February 6.

Belaid was head of the far-left Party of Democratic Patriots (PPD). His killing is Tunisia's first reported political assassination since independence.

Belaid was gunned down outside his home. Only 12 hours before, he publicly denounced "attempts to dismantle the state and the creation of militias to terrorise citizens and drag the country into a spiral of violence", Al Ahram said on February 6.

Belaid's brother Abdelmajid told AFP: “I accuse Rached Ghannouchi [leader of the Islamist Ennahda party] of assassinating my brother.”

Although no suspects have been identified by police, most demonstrators agreed with him, with chants such as "Get out!" and others targeting the party and its leaders.

Zied El Heni, a member of the Union of Journalists, accused Mehrez Zouari, an interior ministry official, of setting up a death squad responsible for the death of Belaid, Tunisia Live said on February 8.

A recent report by Human Rights Watch cited a "failure to investigate and prosecute physical assaults by people apparently affiliated with violent groups" from the government.

These groups include the League for the Protection of the Revolution, which assaulted the headquarters of the main union federation, the UGTT, in December.

Although party leaders have denied links, the Tunisian opposition widely regards the League militias as enforcers for Ennahda.

Afer Belaid's assassination, thousands of people rallied outside the headquarters of the interior ministry and other places on February 7 and 8, confronting tear gas and police assault.

Protests spread across all major regional cities and towns, with a general strike in Siliana on February 8. Headquarters of the Ennahda party were attacked in several places.

Siliana was the scene of a regional uprising late last year demanding regional investment, job creation and political agency. Belaid took part in the protests, promoting interior minister Ali Larayedh to accuse him of "stirring up trouble".

The PPD was one of 12 parties that united in October to form the Popular Front. The PF has been active in trade unions and social struggle; the UGTT leadership is largely comprised of PF leaders.
Belaid's funeral took place on February 8. At the insistence of his widow, Besma Khalfaoui, women were encouraged to take part in the funeral procession.

Nessma TV estimated 1 million were on the streets.

As Belaid's body reached the Jellaz cemetery in central Tunis, Nessma TV displayed footage of looters breaking into cars. The police responded with teargas, which entered the cemetery.

"Rest in peace, Chokri, we will continue on your path," fellow PF leader and long-term labour activist Hamma Hammami said in a speech at the funeral.

The general strike was widely respected. Most flights out of Tunis's airport were cancelled, all schools were shut down, and almost all shops were closed.

Ennahda and the other forces of "stability" have jostled ensure the outrage at Belaid's death isn't chanelled into expanding the struggle for justice, dignity and work.

Ennahda Prime Minister Hamdi Jebali has announced he will dissolve the government and form a non-partisan government of "technocrats" ― despite the wishes of his own party leadership.

Whether such a government will be able to hold the Leagues to account, or deliver on the demands of the January 14 revolution, remains to be seen.

At Marxism 2013 - Contributions

I attended workshops on women's and queer liberation at Marxism 2013. Both workshops were given in-depth presentations on Marxist understandings of gender and liberation, followed by a thorough, ranging and generally comradely discussion afterwards. These are notes from two contributions I drafted on my phone before I spoke (the latter I got to give in the session), which I have slightly polished.

From Gender Construction and Capitalism

A comrade raised concerns about the attitudes towards trans* people and one particular contribution which got quite crudely biological about it. I agree, and I think that this was an issue I felt wasn't addressed enough; several comrades also repeatedly used the phrase of "same sex marriage". This is the kind of demand the Tories, Clover Moore & Alex Greenwhich can support; what we should remember we are fighting for is equal marriage, inclusive of all gender identities.

Recently we've seen footballer Robbie Rogers publicly come out shortly after retiring from Leeds - something that the progressive sporting world certainly should take note of, given the role sport plays as a bastion of reinforcing gender identities. The last footballer to do so committed suicide shortly after, alienated from the football community. Robbie has stated that he needed to step away from the sport to do so, but the fact that he felt he could now do so and seems to be recieving much more positive support for it, to me, reflects that something has changed since the turn of the millenium - and the most obvious answer is the equal marriage movement, which has totally shifted public opinion in Australia and overseas.

This is why independent movements of both lgbti people & women is so crucial to ensure we begin to challenge oppression now; the effect that victories, or even just higher levels of struggle, has on popular consciousness is significant, even if it feels as activists we're shouting into the wind.

Most people in the room seem to have different ways of putting it when it comes to feminism, current tasks or demands to emphasise, and I have an opinion on those things, but I think there is common enough opinions amongst socialist that could forms a basis for united work - against the oppression of women today, seeking to win demands like equal pay, reproductive rights or others, in the same way that we have worked together in the equal marriage movement.

From Festivals of the Oppressed - Women in Revolutions from Russia to Egypt.

I think it's a very pertinent topic to consider and thank Julia for the talk. I think we can all agree that so long as we live in a society based on class oppression then we cannot talk about full liberation for anyone.

To build on what Julia raised about how struggle inspires women to find a greater courage and dedication even than many leading male revolutionaries - Michael Lebowitz said in Socialism for the 21st century:

Rather, we change only through real practice, by changing circumstances ourselves. Marx’s concept of “revolutionary practice”, that concept of “the coincidence of the changing of circumstances and of human activity or self-change’, is the red thread that runs throughout his work.

This is very true for the process of struggle, particularly at revolutionary peaks, undermining sexist ideas, and other ideologies underpinning oppression. Julia identified women's oppression is a barrier to women getting involved in the class struggle already. I think this means if we want all people to be involved in our movement we should struggle against women's oppression and to challenge sexist ideas and behaviours today - the muck of the ages.

This us a big challenge for the revolutionary movements in the Arab world. Julia mentioned that women have played a key role in protests in Tahrir, leading the chants in the square - this was certainly my experience, even in November still the case!

Tahrir Square, 27/11/11

But women and men have also had to challenge sexual assault in Tahrir; there have been many documented cases of assault against women since January 25, by both by forces of the state and others in the street, and that's an ongoing struggle which has come to the fore again today. But the overall success of revolutionary struggle has meant that independent feminist struggle has grown massively since the downfall of Ben Ali and Mubarak.

A key example is the struggle over the constitution in Tunisia - feminist activists led struggle against a constitutional reform being proposed by Nahda which would define women as "complimentary" to men.. That particular struggle has been a key component, along with union struggle in both cities and interior regions, of rebuilding class struggle to the point where it is now - arguably at a higher level than when Ben Ali was overgrown. The lesson is that independent womens struggle is key, not only for the class struggle as a whole but also building a movement to challenge oppression today and lead to a society where we can be rid of it.

Solidarity with the Tunisian teachers

I stand in solidarity with the Tunisian teachers struggle for conditions, jobs and dignity. Tunisian secondary teachers stopped work on January 22 and 23. The Ministry of Education of the interim post-dictatorship government has maintained the curriculum of the Ben Ali regime and refuses to negotiate with the General Union of Secondary School Teachers.

Teachers have been leaders in the struggles again Ben Ali and in struggles for democratic reforms since his departure. Despite Western powers congratulating Tunisia for building a "strong, democratic country", in every area of society - campuses, the media, the unions, the impoverished interior regions - those who took to the streets to overthrow Ben Ali continue to struggle for the demands of January 14: work, dignity, freedom.

What you can do:

Send messages of solidarity to the Tunisian teachers’ strike via menasolidarity@gmail.com or http://www.facebook.com/mena.solidarity

Take a photograph of yourself and colleagues in your union branch using the poster designs below. Send to us or post on our Facebook page and we will forward

Read more about recent strikes in the Kasserine region here, and a report on Mohamed Sghaier’s visit to the UK in November.

Poster 1 and Poster 2

Siliana uprising wins demands from government

Submitted for publication to Green Left Weekly.

Once again, protesters have taken to the streets in Tunisia to demand the transitional government of Hamad Jebali fulfil the demands of the January 14 revolution which overthrew dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

The regional city of Siliana, located 130 kilometres south-west of national capital Tunis and capital of the Siliana governorate, was rocked by days of protests over the lack of investment and jobs in the region.

A demonstration called by the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) on November 27 assembled at the office of the regional government to begin a general strike in the region, calling for more jobs, local development and the resignation of Governor Ahmed Ezzine Majjoubi , who protesters felt was "unresponsive" to their needs.

The demands of the protest reflect the lack of real change felt by ordinary Tunisians since the uprising against Ben Ali and the election of the interm troika government, led by the islamist Ennahda party. Unemployment continues to rise, reaching 18 percent in March, while Jebali's promise to create 25,000 on taking office remains unfulfilled.

And police repression of dissent, virulent under the old regime, continues. The November 27 protest and general strike, which drew 5000 to the street, came underbirdshot pellet fire from the police, resulting in two days of running battles in the streets.

Jebali told a press conference on November 29 that the police force was used in response to "throwing stones, Molotov cocktails, burning of state institutions and damaging public establishments".

However, Human Rights Watch reported on December 1 that there was no evidence of incendary devices being deployed – and over 210 birdshot injuries were reported to the local hospital, including 20 cases of eye injuries which required treatment in Tunis.

On December 2, the government announced it had reached a deal with the demonstrators. AlJazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reported: "the governor is going to be replaced by his deputy... then they have to tackle the biggest issue which is developing this region where people have been complaining for decades about marginalisation, discrimination and also lack of genuine will from the previous government, including this one, to implement dramatic change in the living standards of the local population."

The plight of the under-developed interior region has gained much sympathy all across the nation. Solidarity demonstrations were held by UGTT supporters in both other regional areas and the larger coastal cities; throughout the Siliana governorate, demonstrators continued to clash with police across December 1 and 2.

The cause has also been championed by the united left Popular Front, whose members play a leading role in the UGTT. On December 1, they joined with members of the secular centre-left Republican party to demonstrate in Tunis, demanding the resignation of the Interior Minister Ali Larayedh.

For their activity, left activists have drawn the ire of supporters of Ennahda. On December 4, unionists in the UGTT office in Tunis, preparing for a march to commemmorate the murder of independance leader and unionist Farhat Hached, were attacked by hundreds of Islamists with knives and sticks, reported a Reuters witness.

Over 2000 unionists later rallied outside the government's headquarters, where further clashes with Islamists took place.

In response to the repression and the escalating social struggle, the UGTT has called a general strike for the 13^th of December. The AFP reported on December 5 that the demands of the strike would include the dissolution League for the Protection of the Revolution, which state-run TAP reported were responsible for December 4's attack.

The League called a protest in Tataouine on October 18, in which Lotfi Naguedh, co-ordinator of the ex-regime party Nidaa Tounes, died. It's believed the League is associated with ruling party Ennahda; Beji Caid Essebsi, who assumed the role of Prime Minister after Ben Ali's overthrow and is the chairmain of Nidaa Tounes, alleged members ofEnnahda participated in the October 18 march.

A general strike has also been called in Sidi Bouzid, home suburb of martyred fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi and a scene of ongoing demonstrations and strikes since the revolution, for December 6.

Tunisia Live reported Sliman Rouisi, of the regional branch of the UGTT, as saying: "The main demands of trade unionists in Sidi Bouzid are the following: invite the authorities to put an end to these violations against the UGTT, follow-up and hold accountable the criminals, who attacked the unionists yesterday, who attacked the unionists yesterday, and dissolve the League for the Protection of the Revolution because it has committed a crime against the unionists."

In the leadup to the second anniversary of Bouazizi's immolation on December 17, pressure continues to mount on Ennahda and the ruling troika to fulfil their rhetorical support for the January 14 revolution.

And so long as the troika fails to fulfil the demands for a new economic and social agenda for Tunisia, space will continue to open for the left to pose a real alternative.