Taoufik Ben Brik is well known as a dissident journalist in Tunisia. He’s known for his outspoken criticism of former, ousted Tunisian leader, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, criticism that saw him jailed and harassed many times. Today he remains an opposition figure. Ben Brik has launched his own oppositional newspaper and he continues to criticize the Tunisian government, currently headed by the mainstream Islamic Ennahda party.

Taoufik Ben Brik is well known as a dissident journalist in Tunisia. He’s known for his outspoken criticism of former, ousted Tunisian leader, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, criticism that saw him jailed and harassed many times. Today he remains an opposition figure. Ben Brik has launched his own oppositional newspaper and he continues to criticize the Tunisian government, currently headed by the mainstream Islamic Ennahda party.  He spoke to Correspondents about how the country has been affected by its revolution, who may have assasinated opposition leader Choukri Belaid and whether he thinks Tunisia should follow in Egypt’s footsteps, with a second popular revolution.       

Does it feel to you as though Tunisia has really undergone a revolution?

Yes definitely. My people undertook a popular revolution that was simple and great, they advanced against injustice, tyranny and oppression. The Tunisian revolution surprised the world and it has even influenced people in wealthier countries, where they’ve staged similar kinds of protests against regimes in Greece, Spain and Belgium, and even in Israel.

Maybe that’s why everyone rushed to halt this progress, with a sort of counter-revolution – because that is how I would describe the government ruling Tunisia today: counter-revolutionary.

But the government you describe as “counter-revolutionary” was democratically elected, was it not?

But what elections would reproduce the old regime in new form? History tells us that corrupt and authoritarian regimes are able to reposition themselves quickly, using new tricks. You can’t talk about the results of the election and electoral competitions if the old regime is still in control of the game. While the faces have changed, the practices and methods remain the same.

Also, I don’t think we can talk about elections when the people are not self-aware citizens – they have not been self-aware citizens for over half a century. To return to that requires time. And our elections took place before the original goals of the revolution were achieved. That’s why the election results were disappointing.

But it seems that anti-government opponents in Tunisia are not in the majority anyway.

That’s not true. The people demonstrated in the streets only a week after the announcement of the election results. There were sit-ins and labor strikes and many road closures after the election results were announced. The country had all kinds of protests going on. So what majority are you talking about?

The Tunisian people are the only measure of the government’s failure. And I have great confidence in them – they are capable of ensuring Tunisia’s justice and freedom.

Do you believe there should be a second revolution then?

No. At least, not one like the first one. Rather I believe in a revolution of consciousness, one which sees the people understanding the duties of citizenship and supporting the country’s process toward enlightenment and progress.  Despite the assassination of Choukri Belaid [deceased leader of the Tunisian opposition], this government must eventually fall – I have confidence in my people.

How does Choukri Belaid’s assassination come into it?

Before he was assassinated, it seemed more likely the government would fall. But his assassination has bought the current government time.

Do you think the current government had something to do with his assassination then?

I’m not accusing any particular party. Some say it was a the secret police and it’s well known that secret police everywhere are usually associated with the government of a country. There’s no doubt that Belaid’s assassination bought this current government some time.  To me, the proof of this is that the current government is supported by those who supported the former dictatorship and it’s also supported by the West, by nations that loot the riches of nations like ours.

Why haven’t you started a political party that could stand for your beliefs and those of others like you?

My fate is to be a journalist. I will only be a journalist, a writer, an opponent. I’m destined to oppose any authority that doesn’t side with the workers. That’s just the way I am and I will stay that way. I will live in, and for, this country and I will die here.

So instead you’ve founded a newspaper named “Against the Authority”?

Yes, I founded my newspaper so it could be a voice for the voiceless, and for the marginalized, as well as to expose unjust, authoritarian practices in Tunisia. With this I am trying to confront the three powers that be – that is, money, the military and religion.

You must have heard about the umpteen trials of journalists and artists happening in Tunisia all the time? I hear about them daily. The reality is that freedoms in Tunisia are actually evaporating and we need to stop this, it shouldn’t be happening. It does, however, seem to be normal under a religious government like this.

So you don’t fear the Tunisian authorities. Who or what do you fear?

I fear being deported from my own country. If [former dictator] Ben Ali had threatened me with deportation, I would have shut up.

I also fear for the Tunisian people who embarked on a revolution that inspired so many others. I fear that they will one day forget that they were all together and that they all shouted “get out” and that they achieved that together.