[Below is the latest from the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) on Tunisia.]
Promises and Challenges: The Tunisian Revolution of 2010-2011
The Report of the March 2011 Delegation of Attorneys to Tunisia from National Lawyers Guild (US), Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers (UK), and Mazlumder (Turkey).
PART I: Preface
A. Introduction
Had you stood on any street corner in the U.S. before December 2010 and asked passersby what they knew about Tunisia, you`d likely have been met with blank stares. In Europe you would have fared a bit better; Europeans knew it as a tourist destination, but most knew as little about the nation`s political system as Americans. No longer. In December 2010 and January 2011, our television screens were filled with images of Tunisian men and women, young and old ‐ but mostly young ‐ demanding that the dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, as well as his family and political cronies, "Degage!," French for "Go away!" And on 14 January, Ben Ali in fact fled to Saudi Arabia, his flight the culmination of a remarkable, non‐violent revolution.
Between 12 March and 19 March, 2011, at the invitation of the National Bar Association of Tunisia, a group of 13 lawyers and academics came to Tunisia to investigate US and European complicity in human rights abuses committed by the Ben Ali regime. The Delegation was comprised of members of the National Lawyers Guild (US), the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers (UK) and Mazlumder ‐ The Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People (Turkey). It also included academics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and Queen Mary College, University of London, and a Tunisian‐born British attorney who had been unable to return to his homeland for 20 years. Profiles of the Delegation members are attached as Appendix 1 to this report.
B. Methodology
Understanding that we would be in Tunisia for only a week, the Delegation was focused on meeting with as broad a spectrum as possible of those who had participated in the Tunisian revolution. We did background research on the political and economic situation in Tunisia before arriving. We had discussions with organizations outside of Tunisia who had been involved in supporting various segments of civil society during the Ben Ali regime such as the Solidarity Center, an organization affiliated with the US AFL‐CIO that is funded in part through the US State Department and which had worked with the Tunisian trade union federation (the UGTT). Before arriving, we also met with members of the Tunisian Solidarity Campaign (London). We involved academics in our preparation, and upon arrival in Tunisia, attended an orientation meeting with a professor of sociology, a journalist, and a former political prisoner, all who gave us an overview of the situation in Tunisia both pre‐ and post‐revolution. Our meetings with Tunisians are discussed below. Most were arranged by our hosts, the Tunisian Bar Association, which we wish to thank for their help and hospitality. Meetings with government officials (such as the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice, etc.) were generally the most formal ‐ and least productive ‐ of our meetings. We met with various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), labour leaders, as well as leaders of the Communist Party and al‐Nahda (Nahda), the large Islamist2 party, both of which had formerly been banned. We had several wrenching meetings with former political prisoners and torture victims of the Ben Ali regime along with some of their family members. One of our meetings was with a Tunisian victim who had been detained in Guantanamo for over five years, only to be returned to Tunisia and imprisoned by Tunisian authorities until the revolution. We also met with Tunisian lawyers and a former judge who were involved with prisoner and torture matters. The American delegates met with an official of the US Embassy. The British delegates also requested a meeting with the British Embassy; on 16 March the Vice President of the Haldane Society transmitted a formal request, and further emails were sent on 16 and 17 March and 7 April. At the time of preparation of this report the British Embassy had not responded to these requests. Finally, we met with some of the young people who were so instrumental in this revolution by using social media such as Facebook, blogs, and Twitter. One significant omission was not meeting with student organizations.
Finally, we had many unplanned and informal encounters. Demonstrations were everywhere, addressing a broad spectrum of issues from protesting the low wages of civil servants to Secretary of State Clinton`s visit to Tunisia (which occurred while we were there) to the situation in Libya. Some of our most interesting discussions were held with demonstrators, some of whom showed us US‐made tear gas canisters which had recently been used against protesters. Also, for example, we had lengthy exchanges with students and others who approached us during and after our concluding press conference that was held in the public promenade in front of our hotel
As a result of these meetings we received a large number of diverse perspectives on the situation in Tunisia. There were, of course, many groups that we did not have time to meet with. Nor did we meet with anyone who identified him/herself as a member or supporter of the old regime.
[Click here to download the full NLG report.]