Tunisia's future

On the Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis, a group of long-bearded men dressed in flowing robes are actively discussing politics. One of them decries the separation of state and religion as blasphemous, while another bemoans what he calls the "tainted society."

Just a few months ago, such opinions uttered in public would have led those men to be rounded up and carted off by the secret police. But that was then, and this is now.

The street where the men in white are holding forth takes its name from Habib Bourguiba, the first President of the Tunisian Republic, who ruled the country from 1957 to 1987.

A believer in secularism, the founding father of the nation viewed Islamists as an existential threat to his vision of a modern Tunisian state, and therefore prevented them from entering into the political system. His successor, Zine el Abindine Ben Ali, took an equally hard line, and many Islamists sought exile abroad.

But, much to some people's unease, the demise of Bourguiba's successor on January 14 has seen them return home - and to the political arena.

'I'm afraid of them'

Cyreen Belhedi and her friends are sitting in one of the numerous cafes along the lively avenue smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee, tea, and even beer. They paint a picture of relaxation and enjoyment - until, that is, they look over to the men with long beards.

"I'm afraid of them," says Cyreen who demonstrated every day during the revolution and even lost her job as an engineer as a result. "If those Islamists ever come to power, it will set us back a long way, even further back than Bourguiba's time."

Her fears and those of her contemporaries are not so much directed at the bearded men at the far side of the street, but at the Ennahda Party, which after decades in obscurity, is now back and seeking to make its mark.

The party's leader and spiritual father, Rachid al Ghannouchi, is well respected in conservative Muslim circles. His writings on political Islam are often cited, and he was arrested for his political activity several times during the era of President Bourguiba. He spent 20 years in exile in London before returning home earlier this year.

Unfounded fear?

The house in which the now 70-year-old receives his guests is located in a well-kept district on the edge of the city, where a stocky, mustached man in sunglasses guards the door. In the garden, women's and children's clothing hangs from a washing line strung between fruit trees.

Men in visibly high spirits move about inside the house, mobile phones pressed to their ears. Journalists and political followers wait for the chance to talk to Sheik Rachid in person. One of these is an older man wearing a Palestinian scarf, who says his devotion to al Ghannouchi meant he spent 16 years in prison and many more in exile.

He holds forth on his theory that essentially, everyone in the world is of Arab extraction. "Even Adam was an Arab, so everyone should accept Islam," he enthused.

Rachid al Ghannouchi, dressed in a gray suit, white shirt and black leather shoes, receives his visitors on a red Berber carpet in the middle of a large living room. The Al Jazeera television channel is running on a screen in the corner of the room.

He says the fear of his party is completely unfounded, and is based on the "business of fear" run by Ben Ali in order to keep political opponents at bay. His party aims to "cleanse the society of the remains of Ben Ali's rule, and to create a free democratic state in which everyone is treated as equals."

Seeking distance from al Qaeda

He is at pains to distance himself and his party from the violent ideology of al Qaeda. "We have always said, and we say it again today: the activities of al Qaeda are not legitimate, they are terrorism."

Unlike the peaceful revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, he says al Qaeda has not succeeded in bringing down any of the corrupt regimes in the region. "And besides, Islam and the Islamic movement suffer the most under the consequences of the September 11 attacks."

He laments the fact that Muslim minorities in the West have been tarred with the suspected terrorist brush, and are "under constant police surveillance."

In another café on the Avenue Bourguiba, a spokesman for the more radical Tahrir Party, Rida Belhaj, quietly explains that he doesn't want to talk about the political consequences of the old regime, but about the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. Although he considers what has already happened as "important steps towards the liberation of Muslims all over the world," he says the revolutions are not yet over.

'The intentions behind 9/11 were good'

Contrary to al Ghannouchi, Belhaj does not seek to distance his party from radical Islamists like al Qaeda. Although he agrees that violence is not the right way forward and that it "does more harm than good," he praises the intentions behind the September 11 attacks.

"The thing is though that they had a negative impact because unlike the West, Muslims do not have the same media opportunities to convince people about their intentions."

His own intentions are quite clear. His party's goal is for a Tunisian state in which Islam is the source of all laws.

Cyreen and her friends have now move to another café and are making a list of all the people who could not live in such an Islamic state.

"All Tunisians who like to go to bars for a beer in the evening," one of the group calls out. "All women who like to swim in bikinis, and all men who like to look at women bathing in bikinis," says another. "A healthy majority then," a third chips in, and everyone laughs. But then Cyreen grows serious.

"If the Islamists did take power here, we would all have to emigrate and our revolution would have been for nothing."

Author: Khalid El Kaoutit / tkw
Editors: Jennifer Abramsohn/Rob Mudge