When 68-year-old French national, Regen heard about the killing of tourists in Bardo, she did not reconsider her participation two weeks later in the World Social Forum (WSF), held in Tunis from March 24-28, 2015. After the attack she said she was even more motivated to participate. She even arrived to Tunis earlier than the scheduled time.
“They intend to terrorize and intimidate us, but we will not let them have what they seek,” said the representative of the Association of Friends of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
When 68-year-old French national, Regen heard about the killing of tourists in Bardo, she did not reconsider her participation two weeks later in the World Social Forum (WSF), held in Tunis from March 24-28, 2015. After the attack she said she was even more motivated to participate. She even arrived to Tunis earlier than the scheduled time.
“They intend to terrorize and intimidate us, but we will not let them have what they seek,” said the representative of the Association of Friends of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
Regen added that the Bardo attack could have happened in any other country, just like the attack that targeted Charlie Hebdo newspaper in France this past January. “It is wrong to dramatize the issue and describe it as a catastrophic incident,” she said.
Anticipated fear
But the international press was not as confident as Regen. Shortly after the Bardo attacks, the French newspaper Libération carried the headline “Tourism in Tunisia Is Over.” But Libération spoke too soon. According to Ramadan bin Omar, coordinator of the WSF preparatory committees, the number of participants reached 70,000 including 15,000 foreigners. In the previous event, participation had not exceeded 9,000.
“The huge number of participants showed solidarity with Tunisia, its people and the victims’ families, and their commitment to peace and solidarity principles among peoples for freedom and democracy.”
Messages of solidarity
The general coordinator of the WSF added, “There were fears following the Bardo attack that it will affect the number of participating foreigners and associations, but we were poured with solidarity messages affirming commitment to attend the forum. The organizing committee issued a statement declaring that the forum is not going to be cancelled and that all of its activities are maintained. The only change to the forum’s program is the slogans of the opening march to reflect anti-terrorism attitudes.”
As part of the forum, an opening march was planned for Tuesday 24 March starting from Bab Saadoun Square in the capital towards the Bardo Museum under the banner ‘Peoples of the world united against terrorism’ with the participation of a large number of foreigners.
Over 4,000 organizations and associations participated in the WSF, including 3,100 foreign organizations representing 121 countries from around the world. The International Bardo Charter for alternative international movement against terrorism will be drafted at the end of the forum’s activities.
The Forum discussed key issues related to economic shifts, human rights, labor classes and the social libertarian struggles in the world with a wide participation of associations, organizations, trade unions and activists.
On 18 March, two gunmen killed more than 20 tourists of Japanese, Polish, Italian and Spanish nationalities upon stepping out of a bus at the Bardo Museum adjacent to the headquarters of the Tunisian parliament that is usually under extreme security measures.
The attack has triggered a wide international solidarity with Tunisia over social networking websites demonstrated in posting pictures of foreigners with banners reading ‘We will go to Tunisia in the summer’.
