Tunisia beaten, but not broken by attack
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The deadly attack in Tunisia appears to be a reaction by Islamist extremists to the country's peaceful move to democracy after the Arab Spring. But if they want to tear down the new order they will fail, writes Leila Ben Mcharek.
The armed attack in Tunisia on Wednesday targeted tourists who were visiting the Bardo National Museum in the capital Tunis - a top tourist attraction that houses one of the world's largest collections of Roman mosaics and is located next to parliament.
The 21 fatalities is a heavy toll and includes 18 tourists from Australia, Colombia, France, Italy, Japan, Poland and Spain. This makes the attack the deadliest on civilians in 13 years after the 2002 Al Qaeda suicide bombing on a synagogue in Jerba that killed 21 people, including European tourists.
Authorities have identified two gunmen who were killed by security forces as Tunisian nationals, Yassine Laabidi and Hatem Khachnaoui, and said that security forces are searching the surrounding area for accomplices on the run.
The gunmen used Kalashnikovs. It is believed they were either coming back from areas of conflict, namely Syria, Iraq or Libya, or were part of sleeper cells within Tunisia. The jihadist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
Tunisia is the only democracy in the Arab world to have peacefully completed its transition to democracy after the 2011 revolution, having successfully ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.
It elected a constituent assembly that produced a new constitution that expanded civil liberties, and organised fully democratic parliamentary and presidential elections. However, the country is still struggling to recover from economic hardship and is trying to revive its once thriving tourist industry - a vital economic sector as Western tourists are the main source of foreign currency.
The attack seems to be a desperate reaction by Islamist terrorists to the success of the army and security forces in the dismantling of terrorist networks in the last couple of months, and mainly since the government of the second republic took office. In that time arms depots have been raided; sleeper cells have been dismantled; the army encircled dozens of jihadists in Mount Chaambi on the Tunisian-Algerian border; border control has been tightened to monitor the return of terrorists to Tunisia; terrorism financing sources have been monitored; and the radical discourse by imams in mosques and the activities of religious associations have been monitored.
Clearly the attack was aimed at seriously damaging the Tunisian tourism sector, which is expected to play a key role in the country's economic recovery. Ultimately the objective was to make the economic transition fail and damage Tunisia's new democracy.
However, the reaction of political parties and trade unions was unanimous: they announced they were united against terrorism. Parliament and government decided that the priority would be to fight against terrorism despite the existence of major problems, namely the high levels of unemployment and financial hardship.
The key aspects of this fight against terrorism are twofold: to change the existing anti-terrorism law (a new anti-terrorism legislation is being debated in parliament); and to carry out the necessary reform of the security sector and provide better equipment for security forces.
As well, political parties called for a major demonstration against terrorism and for a national conference on terrorism to be held. There has also been a spontaneous gathering of Tunisians after the attack in downtown Tunis to express their unity against terrorism. Several tourists joined this gathering.
This is also the first time since the revolution that terrorists have targeted civilians in the capital Tunis - until now only security forces have been attacked. This raises the question of whether March 18, 2015 will mark a turning point in terrorists activities in Tunisia. And whether this attack announces the beginning of an urban guerrilla in the country, or whether it is a desperate action by a group under pressure from the republican state.
I personally tend think the second eventuality is more plausible.
Leila Ben Mcharek is an honorary fellow at the Centre for Muslim States and Societies at the University of Western Australia. She was born in Tunisia and has taught at two Tunisian universities, and has held positions at the British embassy in Tunis and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Tunis.
Topics: government-and-politics, foreign-affairs, unrest-conflict-and-war, terrorism
Comments (17)
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Pearcewreck:
20 Mar 2015 2:27:18pm
Que the do-gooders making comments like"Islam is a religion of peace", or "it's not the fault of Islam"....in 3,2,1......
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Truthful Tony:
20 Mar 2015 2:59:48pm
Oh those vile, VILE 'do-goodders'. Oh they make my skin crawl almost as much as the filthy 'bleeding-hearts'
Let us all agree that empathy, kindness and consideration are all human WEAKNESSES!
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Good Grief:
20 Mar 2015 4:39:01pm
@Truthful Tony
No, it's the blissful ignorance about the underbelly of human nature that is doing more harm than good.
Nobody is arguing that empathy, kindness and consideration is a human weakness. But it can't be applied in all instances the same way brute force can't.
Weakness to one self arises when the wrong human quality is exhibited in a scenario where it is harmful. Strength arises when one implements the correct human behavior to the corresponding event.
Turn the other cheek to those whom you have most to gain from non aggression; turn the other cheek to someone who wants you dead and you get nailed to the cross.
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maus:
20 Mar 2015 4:55:52pm
Pearcewreck,
I take great offence to your ill-informed and mistake ridden post. To call someone a do-gooder implies they actually do some good. I find the more correct term is feel-gooder as lets face it, the left is more about seeming to do good or feeling good themselves then actually doing good.
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Dove:
20 Mar 2015 6:36:01pm
What on earth has "the left" got to do with Tunisia?
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Ann:
20 Mar 2015 5:35:23pm
People are dead but you can't wait to get in your ideological attack.
I suppose the fact that Tunisia is peaceful and doing fine, while being over 90% muslim, means nothing to you? They're all sleeper cells waiting to attack themselves?
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Good Grief:
20 Mar 2015 6:40:30pm
@Ann
Most people, regardless of belief and culture are peaceful individuals who just want to get on with their lives and go home to their families. The underlying issue is that, like cells, you don't need many cancer cells to bring the entire body down.
If a country is a human body, then Islam is like the sun. For the most part, it provides the necessary sunlight to generate essential vitamin D (i.e. a guide to a way of life as well as moral values), however, the radical parts of it behave like UV rays where given the right moment can change healthy cells into cancer cells. What it needs right now, is sunblock, such as their version of The Second Vatican Council, where deep seated dogmas of religious superiority and seclusion is replaced with more tolerant inclusive ones.
Until then however, like many previously secular Muslim majority countries, I am afraid that it is just one civil war away from devolving into a theocracy.
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Pete:
20 Mar 2015 3:34:47pm
Well Written article Leila,
I hope that Tunisia prevails and continues on its path to become the free, safe, prosperous and peaceful place that was at the heart of the revolution in 2011.
Tunisia stands out as having a successful transition from the past, particularly in comparison to what has become of the (initially) peaceful revolutions that happened at the same time in Libya, Egypt and Syria
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MA:
20 Mar 2015 4:00:37pm
Unfortunately we have to realise that some peoples are incapable of ruling themselves in a tolerant, non corrupt and stable society. Democracy in Islam countries is a new phenomena for a reason, it won't work. Sectarianism and tribalism will always prevail as in the past. Just a matter of which group are the biggest butchers to confer power. After all Islam is a religion of obedience not choice as in Christianity "let them come to me of their own free will"
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Ann:
20 Mar 2015 5:38:02pm
Unfortunately we have to realise that some peoples are incapable of acknowledging the success of different people's way of life when they "make it", as Tunisia have done. Some people also are bereft of sympathy and decency, too.
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AD:
20 Mar 2015 4:29:18pm
My mother and I are due to make a stop in Tunis on a cruise we're going on in April; she texted me in a panic after news of the attack broke, and I admit that I was also rather unnerved.
Educating myself about the country is helping quite a bit, however; I'd much rather not 'just sit at the bar' when our ship docks in Tunis, as she suggested, especially now that I've read so much about how they need tourism and they're trying their best to keep things stable.
I'll keep my ear to the ground as our departure date approaches, but I'm hoping that going ashore won't be a problem. Thanks for the article, it was very interesting.
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VoR:
20 Mar 2015 5:12:43pm
I visited the Bardo museum back in 2003. It was absolutely astonishing - you really can't miss it if it's considered safe to go ashore.
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Ann:
20 Mar 2015 5:37:05pm
Well, if they're attacking tourists, then it's the big tourist stops that will be dangerous. One would expect the government would increase security.
Or you could just hit up less-visited options. I don't know enough about Tunisia to know if that's viable.
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Peter Schmidt :
20 Mar 2015 5:37:00pm
There is no way that the west did not know that overthrowing Qaddafi and financing jihadistst in Syria to oust Assad will lead to global terrorism and the rise of IS. Even if we accept that e.g. Qaddafi was a dictator, people paid no electricity bills, loans were interest free, 25% had university degrees and . Freedom and human rights were the highest in Africa/World as per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index.
NATO and the west should be sued by the victims for fermenting chaos in the middle east on false charges.
Yet Obama still wishes to supply weapons to 'moderates' in Syria, so the terror never stops.
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Pullet Proof Vest:
20 Mar 2015 5:37:19pm
OM*G,
Each and every terrorist attack. Australia and Europe(all) were conducted by people who were supposed to be under the watch of local security forces.All had been allowed to go about their acts of evil in an open and unrestricted way.Despite being known to security authorities!
Here in Australia we had years of alarm bells and years of failure,over Monis, including at the highest diplomatic level.Despite the govt handing hundreds of millions to security depts, we were still let down.
The common theme of >ALL< these terrorist attacks is the total failure of all of these 'so called protectors' to even watch or track,let alone stop.
Yesterday in broad daylight the Premier of WA was surrounded by personal security guards who still allowed a protester to physically make contact.What the....What if the person was armed and meant harm?
We need to be very alert to the fact that security firms are money takers, and are now invading our privacy to 'keep us safe??Haha.
When it comes to security and sovereignty even the AFP offer up our citizens to death row, so it should come as no surprise that those paid to be the last line of defence between us and acts of terror, are shown to be anything but vigilant,proactive or competent.
None of us are safe if the current standard of 'intelligence' is any indication.
It is now an official international standard.
Security =Anyone who can wear a dark uniform with a balaclava and drive an armoured vehicle.
Problem is we want to avoid the carnage, not pay someone thousands a day to mop up avoidable bloodshed.
On top of this we have a PM whose every utterance exacerbates our security here and abroad.Be alert and alarmed,people.It may save you.
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Peter Schmidt :
20 Mar 2015 5:51:22pm
Looks like there are not many editorials regarding data retention. Bye bye freedom. I came to Australia nearly 30 years ago.
If you want to know what freedom in communism was like, we had a lot more of it under communism. The first time I saw a policeman there when I was 14 and visited the capital.
But I guess if we don't cherish it, the government (Labor and the Liberal) might as well take it away from us.
We are like frogs put in a pot on the stove. The only time we noticed we lost all of our privacy when it's too late.
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Waterloo Sunset 2016dd:
20 Mar 2015 5:50:45pm
I'll just make the observation that hand in hand with education The West has gradually watered down its religious gusto, and is becoming more secular, in tandem with coming to terms with child abuse and the sheer futility of religion.
If Islamic Scholars want to help, they should stop pretending that they have the ear of 'the prophets and God. They should start to moderate their teachings and go into competition with the zealots. They could probably salvage their religion that way, instead of risking it becoming freighted with perdition, in 100 years.
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