Tunisia's Double-Speak Oppression

Tunisia's oppressive clique of Ben Ali-Trabelsi is quite conscious of the nation's image in the Western world and it wants to promote a facade of a liberal ruling elite. Thus in seeking to have it both ways, crushing dissident at home but also pretending that the regime upholds freedom and pluralism, the ruling elite has devised ingenious, if that is the word, manners of repression.

ibn admms ADmMs 19672

First, there are the selective bans. It does not look good when Tunisia bans, say, the New York Times website or YouTube. That is what the regime used to do and that would often be noticed and condemned by Western human rights organizations. There is no way to deny a blanket ban. But now the government's censors simply ban, say, a New York Times article critical of the regime and YouTube videos that voice dissident without banning the entire site. That way it can claim that it does not ban the press nor anything else while still opposing criticism through selective page bans. It is a Orwellian double-speak.

Then there are fabricated charges. The regime wants to lock-up a dissident but it does not look good to the West if it arrests someone for critical journalism. So they'll fabricate a charge that the person has been involved in illicit bank transactions or even attacked someone on the street and prosecute on these false grounds. The regime can the deny with a straight-face that any political oppression is going on and that this is all just a criminal case that just so happens to involve a political critic.

If that does not work then there are the plain-clothed thugs. These are hired goons who will go rough-up any dissident, pay them a "good" beating, so send a message that they better knock it off. These plain-clothed thugs are often a favorite tactic against those courageously stubborn dissidents.

All this is by way of introduction to speak about a new ordinance that does not appear to be political and will allow the state to stifle this or that dissident and claim that the dissident just so happens to violate this ordinance. So the state will cite a seemingly non-political and non-repressive regulation in order to repress dissident. And that is what is taking place with a new law in the country: incitement against investment.

The Tunisian rubber-stamp parliament has just passed a new law which will allow for prosecution against anyone seen as inciting against foreign investment in the country on the grounds of "economic security." The regime claims that this is not politically motivated and has nothing to do with the question of democracy at home, but just an act to protecting Tunisia's economic interests:

"The country's vital interests are anything that has to do with its economic security," the TAP official news agency quoted the minister as saying in parliament. He denied that the legislation in any way limited freedom of expression.

But the legislation is another mark of how oppressive the ruling elite are and how they'll stop at anything, at seems, to devise ways of punishment Tunisians and denying their inalienable rights while pretending it is doing anything but. This legislation is political and solely that because the pretext is that any dissidents who complain to foreign governments and foreign NGOs are damaging the image of the country which makes it a less attractive place to invest in, apparently. Never mind the nonsense that Western business often neglect human rights concerns when they invest overseas, but the legislation will tie any Tunisian speaking about human rights abuses in the country while abroad with being a threat to the economic well-being of the nation. This is meant to intimidate Tunisian human rights activists from cooperating and collaborating with Western human rights groups. And was passes in response to that:

The organization said that amendment to Tunisia's penal code, which deals with violations of "external security," is intended to target human rights activists who lobby foreign bodies such as the European Union (EU), to put pressure on the government over its human rights record. [...]

This law appears to be a direct response to meetings held in May by Tunisian human rights activists with EU parliamentarians and officials, in Madrid and Brussels.

So now these Tunisians face prosecution even if the speak outside of the country. This is an other effort to build a wall against dissident in the country and to continue to crush it entirely by the ruling thugs. It is means to reduce even the minimal hope for democracy in the country.

This is Ben Ali.