An event by Freedom House, “The Role of Women and Islam in the New Tunisia,” featured Tunisian activist and researcher Dr. Kedija Arfaoui. The event was held Question and Answer style and was moderated by Freedom House Egypt Program Director Nancy Okail, who began the discussion by commenting on Tunisia’s role as a model for the emerging democracies in the region. She mentioned that positive developments in Tunisia are often viewed as a “ray of hope” in other Middle Eastern countries, including Egypt.
For full event notes continue reading or click click here for the PDF.
Okail posed a question to Dr. Arfaoui about whether she thought Tunisia’s revolution had been “hijacked” by Islamists, and asked her to comment on the state of freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and women’s rights in Tunisia today. Dr. Arfaoui discussed the changes in the status of women since Tunisia’s revolution. She noted that Tunisia’s independence in 1956 had opened a number of doors for women, and although Ghannouchi himself had stated he did not want to make any changes to women’s personal status in the aftermath of the 2011 revolution, the reality on the ground was different. “Women appear to be the first targets of the Islamists,” Dr. Arfaoui said. She cited a number of examples, including changes occurring in schools whereby girls as young as five were required to wear a hijab and classes for boys and girls were held separately. She noted that the Islamists were “teaching hatred to children” by encouraging their participation in anti-secularist protests. Dr. Arfaoui also pointed to the increasing number of Tunisian jihadists being sent to Mali and Syria to fight, with girls as young as 13 sent to accompany them to as their “sex brides.” She declared that the Salafists were “attacking the very foundations of liberalism” and “changing the fabric of life” in Tunisia.
Okail expanded on this point, noting that Islamists in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya repeatedly emphasized that they would not ban practices commonly associated with secular ways of life. However, she argued the Islamists forget that the duty of a government is not simply to “not ban things,” but also to protect people’s right to engage in such activities. Okail asked how Dr. Arfaoui felt Islamist governments could best be encouraged to do this. Dr. Arfaoui replied that civil society has been very active on these issues; however, she noted that Islamists have the power and pointed to the recent constitutive assembly as an example of the clash between civil society and Islamists. She noted that, despite the efforts of the Islamist-dominated government to get a broad spectrum of civil society actors involved in the process, Islamists made changes to articles that had been previously agreed upon.
Dr. Arfaoui briefly discussed the Salafists’ source of funding, after an audience member noted that this was a conversation rarely held in D.C. because it often pointed to allies of the U.S. She stated, “We believe that Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been financing the Salafists,” and went on to describe how foreign funding enables the Salafists to capitalize on Tunisia’s dire economic situation through patronage. Later, in response to a follow up question from an audience member on what the U.S. should do to address the economic component of the problem, Dr. Arfaoui called on the U.S. to provide more support to Tunisia’s vibrant middle class and took issue with “the silence that has always been shown toward the lack of respect for the law in the country.” She stated, “The U.S. has a very important role and it should show a much firmer attitude toward the Islamists.”
Finally, when asked how the opposition was organizing in order to be a competitive force in the next round of elections, Dr. Arfaoui noted that most opposition groups had failed to heed warnings about the “Algerian example.” This time, however, she stated that many opposition parties were already in the process of joining together in order to limit fragmentation for the next round of elections. There are “still too many [parties],” she said, “but much better than 2011.”
