By Husam Dughman
I visited Tunisia for the first time in 1993. I visited it again in 2000. I was impressed. Unlike other countries of MENA (the Middle East and North Africa), Tunisia seemed to have all of the ingredients of a nation that was well on its way to creating and sustaining a developed, progressive, and tolerant society. From its independence in 1956 to the late 1980s, that country was run by Al Habib Bourguiba, the enlightened leader of Tunisia’s movement of independence from France and the founder of modern Tunisia.
Bourguiba’s achievements were colossal: A constitutional government with no military interference in politics, the rule of law, well-established state institutions, a relatively clean administrative system, and an open, capitalist-based economy that encouraged private enterprise. Moreover, Tunisia had an excellent education system and an admirable healthcare system. Its infrastructure and telecommunications were modern; its buses, trams, and trains ran on time. Women were protected by the laws of the land. Tunisia earned its national income from three major sources: Its technically advanced agriculture, its reliable manufacturing industry, and- above all- its world-class tourism industry, something to which even the late British writer Christopher Hitchens attested.
Numerous people hold the mistaken view that a country does as well as its leadership; it is the leaders who call the shots, not the people. What they do not understand is that according to the ABC of political science, there is a very strong relationship between a country’s form of political governance and the political culture of its population. In other words, the reason why Sweden has an enlightened form of political governance and many Middle Eastern countries do not is not because of Swedish good luck versus Middle Eastern bad luck. Rather, it is a country’s political culture which determines its form of political governance. As the Middle Eastern saying goes, “This bread is from that dough.” By the turn of the 20th century, Germany was as technically developed as the UK and France were, but its political culture lagged way behind those of the UK and France. The result was what happened in the aftermath of World War I and Hitler’s subsequent rise to power. For a similar reason, the most popular political leaders in MENA in the last 100 years have been some of its worst: Nasser, Qaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Assad, and Osama bin Laden.
Bourguiba on his own would not have been able to achieve much with Tunisia had it not been for the fact that the Tunisians themselves were (by MENA standards) enlightened, accepting, and forward-thinking. Generally speaking, Tunisians truly love their country. They are real patriots. Those who show preference for ideologies like Pan-Arabism or Islamism tend to be a minority. In fact, the Islamic State group (IS) was noted for having a disproportionally high number of Tunisian fighters, but the fact that they operated only in countries with an environment that was favourable to their extremism- such as Libya and Syria- indicated that the Tunisian cultural and political environment was unfriendly towards them and their kind of repugnant extremism.
What I observed about Tunisians throughout my extensive interactions with them stands out in comparison with other nationalities of MENA. Six major differences are worthy of note: Firstly, as stated above, and unlike the vast majority of MENA nations, Tunisians are truly patriotic. They are very loyal to their country, a far cry from Iraq’s, Lebanon’s, or Syria’s sectarianism, or Libya’s tribalism. Secondly, Tunisians are rational, not emotional. Here, they stand in stark contrast to all other very emotional MENA nations. Thirdly, they are way more educated than other MENA nations. And if the difference in education is big when we compare the males, it is absolutely immense when we compare Tunisian women to those of other MENA countries. Fourthly, Tunisian men have considerably more respect for women than men from other MENA countries: Tunisian women can go to coffee shops and similar places of social gatherings without being harassed by men. They actually swim at the beach and in swimming pools without Tunisian men bothering them in any way. Fifthly, Tunisians respect other people’s personal freedoms. For example, and unlike other MENA nations, Tunisians are accepting of Muslims not fasting Ramadan in public. They see that as a personal choice, nothing to do with other people, since it does not violate their rights in any way. They accept such behaviour as something between the individual and God and that, therefore, people have no right to pass judgements on other people who may act in a way of which they disapprove. Last, but certainly not least, Tunisians respect other religions. They have developed a very healthy culture of peaceful and respectful coexistence with the Other. For example, Jewish Tunisians that I have spoken with indicated to me that their relations with other Tunisians were generally civil. Politically, Tunisia has had at least four prominent Jewish political figures since independence, the most recent of whom is René Trabelsi, the minister of tourism, a first in MENA. In addition, many Tunisians are accepting of people who were born Muslims but who have since renounced Islam. Again, they see that as a personal choice, a reflection of people’s personal freedoms which others should not infringe.
Instead of running after the nonsense of the deluded ideology of Pan-Arabism or that of deranged Islamism- the two particular ideologies that have completely ruined MENA- people of that region ought to take Tunisia as a role model to emulate so that they can create nations and peoples who are viable, tolerant, progressive, and respectful, instead of the dismal and embarrassing failures those countries have now become.
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About the author
Husam Dughman is a Libyan Canadian political scientist, religious thinker, linguist, and an expert on immigrants and refugees. He received his formal education in Libya and the UK. Mr. Dughman later worked as a university professor of political science in Libya. Due to confrontations with the Qaddafi regime, he resigned from his university position and subsequently worked in legal translation. Mr. Dughman has been working with new immigrant and refugee services in both Canada and the US since 2006.
Husam Dughman has published a book entitled Tête-à-tête with Muhammad. He has also written numerous articles on politics and religion. He has just completed the full manuscript of a book which he hopes to have published in the near future. The new book is an in-depth examination of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and the non-religious school of thought.
