His tour started in Washington with a meeting with John Kerry’s deputy Secretary of State, William Burns, and continued in the most important American universities, to end at Columbia University’s World Leaders Forum where Reset-DoC spoke to him. He spoke of what remains of the era that began with Ben Ali’s fall and the hopes for the democratic stabilisation of the only Arab country to survive the ‘Arab Springs.’
This is Ghannouchi’s fifth visit to the United States since he returned to Tunisia from exile on January 30th, 2011, two weeks after the revolution was won. His narrative of a democratic Islam has and continues to give rise to a degree of hope. One of Ghannouchi’s key concepts is the idea that not only is there no Arab-Muslim exception, but that Islam can become a pillar for democracy.
A week ago at the United Nations General Assembly, President Obama said that the new Tunisian constitution is a model of compromise between secular and Islamist parties. Ghannouchi took note of those words and said, “The reason for which Tunisia is about to hold its second democratic elections in less than three years, is the result of five factors. These factors are the majority party (his) rejecting the monopoly of power, the coexistence of political parties with very different political values, the exercising of consent, inclusiveness and the democratisation of the new republican army.”
Ennahda’s leader says he does not wish to give interviews, but once we approached him he did not hesitate in answering all of our questions. He tried to reassure us, saying that Article 6 of the new constitution is a manifesto of his message, obliging the state “to disseminate the values of moderation and tolerance and to prohibit hatred and violence and to oppose them.”
This, however, did not prevent over two thousand young Tunisians from joining ISIS and many others from embracing the Caliphate’s ideals. Ghannouchi says that Tunisia is always in the front line in fighting terrorism. “Since August 27th, 2013 the Ansar al-Sharia group has officially been added to our black list. We have arrested dozens of its leaders, dismantled its cells and prevented violence. If we have not joined the American-led coalition it is only because all efforts are concentrated within our country.”
And yet, students at Columbia University did not refrain from pointing at Ghannouchi for having what they call “double standards”, nodding to the West on the one hand and to the Salafists on the other. The famous video stolen in April 2012, in which Ghannouchi told Salafite leaders that their objectives were the same as Ennhada’s, while their methods differed slightly, remains an example of what his critics describe as a dangerous ambiguity.
Ghannouchi however rolls out facts and figures to answer his critics, saying, “In the 2011 elections none of the Salafite parties took part in the democratic process, next month three of them will run in the elections. Dialogue is the only way to persuade extremists to abandon all temptation posed by violence.”
What about Shari’a law? And women? “We have renounced Shari’a. Article 1 of our constitution states that Tunisia’s official religion is Islam and its language is Arabic. That is enough as far as we are concerned.”
Ennahda’s MP Amel Azzouz, who follows Ghannouchi like a shadow, answers the question about women, saying, “The women belonging to my party are more threatened than others; extremism sees moderate Islam as its main enemy. Our presence is a bastion for the defence of democracy and an example to other countries.”
Abdel Aziz Hali, who is following Ghannouchi’s tour for one of the most important daily newspapers in Tunis, La Presse, is not at all convinced. “This is all smoke and mirrors. Ghannouchi takes an MP with him on his American tour, but Amel Azzouz is totally unknown to people in Tunisia. His real objective here is fund raising. On the one hand he wants to persuade the Americans that he is the go-between for Islam and democracy, while on the other there are intermediaries from the Emir of Qatar waiting for him here. He will win the next elections with the money he has raised.”
However, Ghannouchi’s party will run in the next elections only to a certain extent. Making a choice that astonished many, at the beginning of September Ennhada announced it would not present a candidate for the presidential elections. Ghannouchi explained this choice saying, “We want to preserve the pluralist characteristics of our democracy. We hope to obtain a majority in parliament, but will leave to others the task of leading the country from the president’s desk.”
The most recent polls, which according to Tunisian law can be published only until three months before the elections, saw Ennhada in the lead for the general election, but the candidate for one of the secular parties, the former post-revolution Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi, in the lead for the presidential elections.
Mustapha Tlili, an elderly member of one of the great traditional Tunisian left-wing families and now the director of New York University’s Center for Dialogue, remains very pessimistic; “Essebsi belongs to the old guard, leading a party that has brought together the worst of Ben Alì’s establishment.”
What Tlili considers fatal is perceived by most people as better than other revolutions. Nedal Swehli, a high ranking Libyan government official visiting New York, made a comment that revealed concern: “I came to listen to Ghannouchi in the hope that their democracy will inspire ours.”
In the meantime it is Ghannouchi himself who answers recent criticism. “Tunisia today is one hundred times better than it was four years ago. The uprising that started on December 17th, 2010, in Sidi Bouzid, and in a few months spread to the entire region, led to a season of change from which there is no going back. The light shining from a democratic and Muslim Tunisia will continue to be a beacon for the rest of the Arab world. And very slowly, albeit amidst a thousand contradictions, others will follow.”
Faced with the cold winter that has followed the Arab Springs, not everyone in the United States is easily persuaded. Many, however, hope he is right.
October 26th and November 23rd will be the days when the truth is revealed.
Translated by Francesca Simmons