Time of Trouble in Tunisia

...and the 1973 congress abandoned the reforms...

...The man was obviously a winner, and few politicians doubted he would remain one...

...But as the turmoil of the last two years suggests, the modern Tunisia forged by Bourguiba expects—and deserves?something more than he is providing in his decline...

...His diplomatic passport has been revoked, his home is under surveillance and his incoming mail is being seized...

...But prosperity has also meant inflation...

...Seven other movements have joined Mestiri's opposition, including the Movement for Popular Unity, formed abroad by Ben Saleh after his escape from prison in 1973, and the Communist Party, outlawed in 1963...

...Still, as long as Bourguiba remained in good health he provided the country with a measure of stability...

...The Social Democrats protested these decisions, only to be forced out of party and government posts...

...As the country matured, however, what was needed was more flexibility and more popular participation in party and government affairs...

...Even office boys have been known to demand a favor if a proposal is to find its way to a minister's desk...

...Over 600 strikes have broken out in the past two years alone, including the country's first general strike last January—despite economic progress widely hailed by the international business community...

...The government's toughening stand precipitated more strikes...

...His openly pro-Western stance began to attract foreign investments and trade...

...Among them were the election of higher officials by lower ones, free discussion, and the sharing of presidential power with ministers and the National Assembly...

...The signatories agreed to settle problems amicably...

...Possessing a rare ability to communicate with illiterates as well as with elites, to bargain effectively in private as well as to exhort winningly in public, and to attract capable lieutenants as well as support from leaders of assorted interest groups, he made his Neo-Destour Party one of the few genuine nationalist mass movements in the Third World...

...On December 23, Nouira abruptly dismissed Interior Minister Tahar Belk-hodja, who had preferred negotiating with the strikers to violence...

...Those who did not understand learned quickly: A former opponent, Saleh ben Youssef, was ruthlessly tracked down and ultimately assassinated...

...Ahmed Mestiri, the 53-year-old leader of Tunisia's moderate Social Democratic movement and one of his nation's most responsible critics, believes the answer lies in the deteriorating political system: "The one-party state no longer responds to the economic needs and political aspirations of our people...

...For a while it looked as if a blowup might be avoided...

...Although widely condemned abroad as "militarization," the new program, if properly administered, could be helpful in dealing with the restless youth...

...Corruption, once rare, is now common too, and is a source of considerable frustration...

...One of the strongest challenges comes from Mestiri, who is trying to turn his Social Democratic movement into a party...

...the arrest of Achour and several colleagues at the end of the month...

...Moreover, although the party was organized along Leninist lines, initially it emphasized the "democratic" as well as the "centralist elements...

...Many of the men who won this nation independence from France in 1956 have been cast in political limbo or prison...

...But by last fall, when the prices of olive oil and phosphates dropped and the Common Market imposed quotas on imported textiles from developing countries, a rash of strikes erupted...

...In 1974, the whole process was carried a step further when a constitutional amendment was passed restricting public office to Destour Party members...

...Since Nouira is also secretary general of the party (and any possible presidential replacement is likely to have powers similar to Bour-guiba's), the elections are apt to be tightly controlled...

...In the early '60s he received international acclaim as president of the UN General Assembly—and was soon relegated to the meaningless post of special representative of the President...

...the calling of the bloody general strike...

...At that meeting, individuals closer to Prime Minister Nouira were elected to replace the prisoners, who continue to await trial on charges not yet specified...

...Appointed the country's first prime minister in 1969 after the downfall of economic czar Ahmed ben Saleh, who proved a disaster, Ladgham tried to avoid undue publicity...

...Instead, it was decided that the job would fall to the prime minister—who is selected by the President—pending the outcome of subsequent elections...

...the proclamation of a state of emergency...

...Under Tunisia's Fourth Plan (1973-76), the conservative Nouira had virtually reversed the socialist trend to one of laissez-faire capitalism, attracting considerable foreign capital on a tax-free basis while creating 164,000 new jobs ?5,000 more than projected...

...The 65-year-old former right-hand man of the President can do little except write his memoirs...

...Last November, Tunisia was able to borrow on the international finance market for the first time, receiving a $125 million loan from various foreign banks...

...In selecting Ahmed ben Saleh to carry out the program by placing him in charge of five powerful ministries, the President raised doubts about his judgment...

...In short, the show belonged to the President, and he insisted on monopolizing the spotlight...

...Yet while Mestiri prefers (at least in public) to stress the institutional nature of the problem, he and everyone else on the scene knows that the system has been virtually synonymous with, and is now as frail as, the 64-year-old President of Tunisia—Habib Bourguiba...

...Worse, the rapid population growth (half the country's 6 million people are under 18) has swelled the ranks of the unemployed...

...His colleagues did more and more work, but they were careful to let him take the credit for it...

...Particularly disappointing was his insistence that he continue to pick the party's top Political Bureau himself, rather than have them elected by its Central Committee...

...He is useless...

...At the same time, most of them understood that the national idol would tolerate little serious opposition or disagreement, and they adjusted their political aspirations accordingly...

...Although this, according to a recent IMF survey, is averaging only 5.9 per cent a year, it is hitting the working classes hardest and has been accompanied by shortages of such essentials as housing...

...Despite his precautions, he attracted considerable acclaim in September of 1970 for his role as a mediator of the Jordanian-Palestinian conflict...

...Ironically, though, this marked the beginning of the downward slide, both for the party—renamed Socialist Destour—and Bourguiba...

...With the Nouira group showing little willingness to improve conditions, and Mestiri's Social Democrats focusing mainly on political and procedural questions, the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT), containing many intellectuals and Leftist activists among its 500,000 members, in effect became a de facto labor party...

...Things have calmed down somewhat, with the government now blaming much of Tunisia's troubles on "foreign influences" (i.e., Lybia...

...In addition, a deterioration of his physical condition set of f a bitter and nationally debilitating struggle for succession...

...During the early postin-dependence years, a strong, single party was necessary to consolidate the country, build its institutions and protect it from external dangers...

...While the Constitution does not forbid this, a 1959 law specifies that "associations" must be licensed...

...and despite censorhip and controls, numerous opposition publications exist...

...Since then the gross national product has been growing at an average rate of 9 per cent, making the dinar one of the world's most stable currencies...

...The Social Democrats had hoped this would be the president of the National Assembly—an elected official...

...This is especially true in agriculture—still the source of income for half the people —where unemployment or underemployment are estimated at 30 per cent...

...He also managed to have his way on the issue of a successor...

...In January 1977, to check the radicals within his ranks and improve relations between government and workers, UGTT Secretary General Habib Achour—an old party loyalist and Political Bureau member—backed by leaders of the agricultural and commercial unions, signed a "social contract" with the government...

...Such socio-economic sops, however, will not make much of a dent in the basic problems that face the regime...

...On the other hand, those who only slightly disagreed with Bourguiba were merely removed from office, and usually regained their former status once they recanted or once he changed his own mind...

...For a time, the population paid little attention to what antigovernment forces were saying—not only because devotion to the Destour had long resembled religious worship, but also because people were pleased with the country's economic recovery...

...Instead, power at the top and bureaucratic strangulation have increased...

...A case in point is Mongi Slim, Tunisia's first ambassador to Washington, later appointed foreign minister...

...With most of them espousing support for labor, social justice and political liberties, it appears likely that Tunisia will have a class struggle superimposed upon the political one...

...But Bourguiba, claiming that the party needed a strong leader more than ever because of the problems left by Ben Saleh, balked at implementing the changes...

...ba's emancipation of women, his rein-terpretations of Islam and his support for education and other modernizing measures increased the country's pool of human resources...

...And foreign observers ranging from Amnesty International to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions have expressed concern about the state of human rights in Tunisia...

...Mestiri and his colleagues are able to work and to travel abroad...

...He was then promptly replaced by Hedi Nouira—ostensibly because he had not acted quickly enough against Ben Saleh—and was officially disgraced...

...Backed by Nouira, Destour Director Mohammed Sayeh and a few others, Bourguiba prevailed...

...and a special UGTT meeting in February...

...Achour's resignation from the Political Bureau on January 10...

...Armored soldiers and police have killed or wounded hundreds of demonstrators in the capital city of Tunis...

...he had, after all, entered politics because he was concerned with the country's welfare, and his extraordinary success was partly due to his ability to act pragmatically, quickly and firmly...

...What accounts for this turn of events...

...It would be a mistake, though, to exaggerate the bleakness of the Tunisian scene: The country still compares favorably with most Third World nations...

...The situation enabled the Social Democratic wing of the Destour, led by Mestiri, to push through a number of reforms at the 1971 congress called to reinvigorate the battered party...

...Whereas Tunisia used to be the one Arab country where baksheesh was unnecessary, a bribe (usually paid into a French or Swiss account) has become virtually indispensable for obtaining a government contract...

...And the conspicuous consumption of officials and speculators who are profiting from these arrangements hardly helps matters...

...Following independence, BourguiLorna Hahn, a veteran New Leader contributor, is the director of the Association on Third World Affairs...

...When I visited Slim in May of 1965 to interview him for the JFK Memorial Library Oral History Project, although he was the first nonhead of state to be so honored, the local media ignored the event and the government refused to cooperate...

...Habib Bourguiba Jr., 50, was simultaneously named the country's first special presidential advisor...

...Economic development, furthermore, has been concentrated around Tunis and the Sahel—the coastal region that is the home of Bourguiba and many of his cronies—to the neglect of other areas...

...His unorthodox postures on the Middle East—urging the Arabs to make a deal with Israel rather than vainly try to destroy it —further enhanced his prestige at home and abroad...

...Most of the young have joined the mushrooming antigovernment groups...

...As a result, they now lack the popular support required to challenge a figure whose power they helped build...

...For political opposition to Bourguiba, elected President for life in 1976, seems to be coalescing...

...In 1964, for example, he averted a major political crisis by calling a party congress that adopted a socialist program to quell the dissatisfaction of the younger members...

...Bourguiba began to publicly insult Ladgham with remarks like: "He weighs over 200 pounds, but he is all meat...

...A similar fate befell Bahi Ladgham...

...In his prime, Bourguiba was one of the true political geniuses of the century...

...Outward appearances to the contrary, he was not interested simply in the acquisition of personal power...

...Two days later, six other ministers resigned in protest and were immediately replaced by obedient hard-liners...

...Nouira has also announced the inauguration of compulsory "civil service," requiring all unemployed educated persons over 18 to take jobs in public works programs...