The New Tunisia

...By winning full sovereignty, however, Bourguiba swept most of the ground from under Ben Youssef's feet...

...A wave of strikes seriously threatened Tunisia's precarious economy, and, when the UGTT announced a general strike, a struggle for power between Ben Salah and Bourguiba seemed in the offing...

...Yet, the juridical compromise was sufficient to rally religious leaders behind the Neo-Destour and against Ben Youssef...

...Yet it has excellent potentialities for commerce and tourism, agriculture and industry...

...The League found a tool in Salah Ben Youssef, once the No...

...Results were not long in coming: Recently, for the first time, some members of the French terrorist group known as the "Red Hand" were discovered and arrested...

...The French secret police, guarding the frontier against arms smuggling, allowed the French police inspector involved with the "Red Hand" terrorists to escape...

...the UGTT, led by the youthful and capable Ahmed Ben Salah, is fully conscious of the distinction between a political party and a trade union and shows no disposition to "capture" the Neo-Destour...

...After Bourguiba had spoken strongly against the amendment, it was unanimously rejected...

...In actual practice, it is no more a theocratic or racist state than, say, Holland or the United States...

...The old guerrilla army has been completely dissolved and replaced by a regular national army...

...A remarkable organization in every way, it is today one of the main bastions of Western democracy in the Arab world...

...The decisive triumph of the nationalist movement came when Bourguiba successfully appealed to the terrorists and fellaghas to lay down their arms in order to make negotiations possible...

...This program, of course, won him considerable support in ultra-conservative circles...

...Yet, it is a one-party institution, the entire Neo-Destour ticket having been swept in at the elections together with a few allied candidates...

...The UGTT is now devoting much of its energy to a program of Tunisian social and economic reconstruction, and its influence in the Government is strong...

...Ben Youssef won over the extremist wing of the fellagha movement and resumed the fight?this time against the independent Tunisian Government...

...Moreover, the Neo-Destour includes enough able and forceful personalities to guard against any abuse of power by its leader...

...The Tunisians have a parliament, which they regard with a touching reverence and pride...

...I was present at a session when Ben Salah proposed an amendment to the Constitution...

...As one of his followers said to me, "There are some things you can do but can't say you're doing them—especially in a Moslem country...

...The Neo-Destour is a broadly popular party which unites workers, small farmers and middle class...

...After a series of clashes, his forces were thoroughly defeated...

...The New Tunisia Having shattered the fanatical nationalist forces, Neo-Destour party leader Habib Bourguiba is concentrating on improving conditions in his country By Sal Tas Tunis Tunisia, the first of France's North African possessions to win its freedom, was also the first to establish order and authority within its borders...

...This clearly showed that the Neo-Destour represented the people and possessed the authority needed to govern...

...The reason why the French police had never been able to find them also became clear: The "Red Hand" was led by French policemen...

...Tunisians—particularly the former guerrillas—feel strong solidarity with the Algerian independence movement...

...The Tunisian Government has also created a new police force to take the place of the heavily discredited colonial police...

...Bourguiba made concessions to this sentiment by declaring that the French could not count on help from the Tunisian Government in curbing arms smuggling into Algeria and that Tunisia could not be used as a base for French military operations against the Algerians...

...Poorer than newly liberated Morocco to the West, it suffers from tremendous unemployment, which is constantly increased by the rising population...

...Originally, the two countries agreed on the principle of "cooperation for the defense of Tunisia"—a formula designed to preserve French control of the big base at Bizerte, which is essential to Tunisian as well as French security...

...By gaining internal autonomy, it opened the first breach in the wall of North African colonialism...

...Democracy is safeguarded by the freedom of discussion within the Neo-Destour party organization and, above all, by the independence and self-confidence of the trade unions and the press...

...He then proceeded to make a compromise with the religious groups, in effect swallowing a statement he had once made in France that Tunisia would be a secular state...

...Nor is this merely a legalistic objection...

...The new Constitution now states that Tunisia is an Arab and Islamic state...

...Prime Minister Bourguiba's position in the country is unassailable...

...This economic convention continues to stir ill feeling among Tunisians...

...He is the revered national leader who demonstrated his ability and character during the fight for freedom and when he persuaded the fellaghas to lay down their arms...

...The French desire to use this country as a base for the Algerian campaign is regarded by Tunisians as a violation of their sovereignty...

...And even today, with freedom won, Tunisia's economy is still tied so closely to France's by a special convention that her sovereignty is little more than an empty phrase in that realm...

...This stand caused considerable friction with Paris, but it also contributed to undermining Ben Youssef's influence...

...The first friction between Bourguiba and Ben Youssef had developed when the former agreed to accept internal autonomy from the French...

...The Tunisian nationalist movement, Neo-Destour, and its leader Habib Bourguiba have had to cope with great difficulties...

...Its outlook is progressive and even socialistic, and the trade-union wing is very influential...

...It possesses an ambitious middle class and an industrious population whose political outlook is realistic, unfanatical and basically pro-Western...

...At that time, Ben Youssef had many sympathizers in the nationalist movement, but he lost most of them by turning against Bourguiba...

...If we in the West provide the necessary aid and support, Tunisia seems destined to become a stronghold of liberal democracy in North Africa...

...It sits in the beautiful former palace of the Beys, and I thought its proceedings were conducted with great dignity...

...Reopening negotiations with the French in order to advance from autonomy to independence was a delicate matter...

...Bourguiba had originally accepted the principle of gradual withdrawal of French troops, and the base at Bizerte could be rented to the French without endangering Tunisian sovereignty over the town itself...

...it cannot afford party splits or Government crises...

...Tunisia's economic problems are among the gravest it must face...

...Paris would do well to scrap it for a new and more generous settlement...

...From now on, the Tunisian Minister of the Interior proudly assured me, he could guarantee the life and property of everyone —Arab, Frenchman or foreigner...

...The war in Algeria remained a vexing issue...

...Nevertheless, Tunisia needs a strong, stable government now...

...This does not preclude debate, but it greatly limits the possibility of effective opposition...

...Ben Youssef fled, together with a number of his lieutenants, and last month the remnants of his troops surrendered to Bourguiba...

...Unquestionably, he has a strong authoritarian streak, but this may be an advantage rather than a danger in newly independent Tunisia...

...The disaffected leader then directed his appeal to the country's religious fanatics by demanding that Tunisia become a veritable Moslem theocratic state...

...On the last point at issue with Bon Youssef, the Tunisian trade-union movement (UGTT), Bourguiba made no concessions whatever...

...Yet, despite the intransigent statements made both by Bourguiba and by French Foreign Minister Pineau, there is room for compromise...

...He insisted that Tunisians go on fighting the French until their brethren in neighboring Algeria were free, and he attacked the Tunisian trade-union movement, accusing the Neo-Destour of planning to destroy free enterprise...

...In the first days of liberation, many workers assumed that the moment was at hand for a sweeping social revolution...

...Though the people feel sentimental ties with other Arab nations, I found little sympathy for the Arab League's policies among Tunisian leaders...

...The internal situation in Tunisia is now stable...

...When the Moroccans profited from that precedent to go further and achieve complete sovereignty, the Tunisians inevitably demanded and obtained their independence, too...

...It was not easy for the fellaghas to adjust to the new state of peace, and the Egyptian-dominated Arab League did everything in its power to keep the pot boiling...

...The chief remaining stumbling block in relations with France is the status of French troops in Tunisia...

...At the last moment, however, the two men reached a compromise and the strike was called off...

...Ben Youssef refused to accept his explanation that this was merely the first step toward full sovereignty, which was to be attained as soon as possible...

...Education, including religious education, is under Government control and the church-owned landed properties, long notorious for their mismanagement, have been nationalized...

...The outbreak of war in Algeria, however, changed the situation...

...2 man in the Neo-Destour and always jealous of Bourguiba's power and popularity...

...The initial grant of autonomy in 1954 came only after bloody warfare, with terrorist attacks in the cities and guerrilla fighting in the countryside conducted by the so-called fellaghas...

...Bourguiba is definitely the dominant influence...