When Ben Ali’s party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally, was dissolved on 9 March 9 2011, all of its members withdrew from the public eye. Those who appeared on TV or in newspaper interviews did so to “erase” their past and denounce the ousted dictator.
Only three years later, the country is witnessing a media comeback of the party’s leaders and symbols as well as a heavy political presence through a number of recently created parties serving as extensions of the old dissolved party.
When Ben Ali’s party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally, was dissolved on 9 March 9 2011, all of its members withdrew from the public eye. Those who appeared on TV or in newspaper interviews did so to “erase” their past and denounce the ousted dictator.
Only three years later, the country is witnessing a media comeback of the party’s leaders and symbols as well as a heavy political presence through a number of recently created parties serving as extensions of the old dissolved party.
In a series entitled “Return of the Old Guards” Correspondents will examine the role the party wants to play with its continued media presence as well as its new sister parties under different names.
Devil’s advocate
Tunisians still remember the day when Abir Moussi, a lawyer and Assistant Secretary General of the party, appeared in the media, just a few days after the escape of President Ben Ali to Saudi Arabia, to defend her party.
In those days, being accused of membership in the party was an insult and an accusation, which even senior party members have tried to deny. But Moussi, despite the surprise and disapproval of the Tunisian people, continued to defend the party, which had imprisoned a number of oppositional party leaders. She continued to do so although the time she served as Assistant Secretary-General was very short and did not exceed one year. It was for this reason that many opponents described her as “the devil’s advocate”
She opted to stay away from the political scene and not appear so often in the media because of the existing hostilities between her and her fellow colleagues, which have reached prosecutions in the courts. However, in the last five months she surprised everyone by returning to the forefront and becoming active, together with her fellow “comrades” who gathered in the Constitutional Movement, headed by Hamed Karoui, who served as prime minister for a period of ten years during Ben Ali’s era and as Vice President of the party until 2008.
A sinking ship
Correspondents met Abir Moussi and asked her about the reasons behind her insistence on defending the party. Her answer was similar to what she said three years ago. “I’m proud to be a member of the party. Those who left the party jumped out of the boat when it started to sink.”
Moussi confidently stressed her disapproval of dissolving the party by a judicial decision she considered unfair. She added that those who demanded the dissolution of the party were just trying to take its place.
“Some parties wanted to disintegrate the Rally party in order to make it easier for them to mobilize its members and use them to attract people’s support. The exclusion of the constitutional party is in and of itself an authoritarian act.”
However, Moussi’s denunciation of exclusion does not apply to her party’s past behavior. She says that her party was not an authoritarian but rather a dominant party and which acquired its role from its history and because it has a big popular base. “It is a party with a social role.”
Moussi claims that her party is not an authoritarian one and did not practice any political oppression. “It was the state and not the party that was responsible for the oppression.”
Moussi makes a clear distinction between the state and the party and considers that “interlinking the state and the party creates confusions in concepts.” Still, she avoided answering the question posed by NIQASH on her party’s use of state institutions in its election campaigns and its use of state resources for its activities.
She is not only against the dissolution of the party but also against criticizing it. In a statement to Correspondents, Moussi said: “The opponents of the party have distorted its history and portrayed it as an abandoned party created by Ben Ali. This party is an extension of the Constitutional Party of former President Bourguiba who ruled Tunisia from independence in 1956 and until Ben Ali came to power in a bloodless coup in 1987.”
A few bad apples
In her interviews with Correspondents, Abir speaks about what she describes as political exclusion and a collective punishment practiced against the party. “Mistakes made under the rule of her party were personal mistakes and corruption was practiced on an individual level. Only those specific individuals who committed these acts should be held responsible,” she maintains.
Moussi insists that “the immunization of the revolution” is an authoritarian act that has led to the creation of a corrupted political scene in the country since the elections held in October 23, 2011.
Moussi was the exception amongst party members who disappeared after the revolution and denied any relations to it, although she did denounce Ben Ali, despite defending his “wise policy” only a few days before the revolution.
In a meeting held during the first week of January 2011 at the party’s headquarters, a few days before Ben Ali fled, Moussi referred to the deposed leader as a “compassionate father”.
On that day, she considered that Mohammed Bouazizi, who set himself on fire on 17 December 2010, did so because he had “a weak personality and was psychologically instable.”
Moussi’s renunciation of her former president came at a time when she reconsidered her stances regarding the revolution. In the beginning, she said: “There is a campaign to raise suspicions and this campaign has been launched by the opponents of the party”. Today, she considers the events that led to Ben Ali’s ouster a popular uprising but refuses to use the term revolution and insists that her party, against which the public rose up, was demonized.
