http://www.marxist.com/tunisia-interview-with-emna-at-wsf.htm
Tunisia: Its evident that a solution for the problems of the people cannot be found within capitalism<http://www.marxist.com/tunisia-interview-with-emna-at-wsf.htm> Written by Our correspondentThursday, 16 May 2013 [image: Print]<http://www.marxist.com/tunisia-interview-with-emna-at-wsf/print.htm>[image: E-mail]<http://www.marxist.com/component/option,com_mailto/link,26fb417f45bf7e85a08a91c32532dde73fa565b2/tmpl,component/> - - - Emna, a young Tunisian revolutionary, talks to *In Defence of Marxism* about the contradictions within the Tunisian Revolution and how they are reflected concretely on the ground. Emna is a young 19 year-old revolutionary Tunisian and journalism student. We met her during the World Social Forum. Active in the student union UGET, she is also a member of the party of the Democratic Patriots (the party of Chokri Belaid, assassinated by the Salafists in February 2013) and of Amnesty International. During this short interview she describes the political situation at university and the main challenges facing the revolution.** *Can you explain what changed in Tunisia since the famous 14th of January 2011 when Ben Ali, the president dictator, was overthrown?* Many things have changed of course. The question is to know if things have changed for the better or for the worse. The good thing is that now we have freedom of expression, even an exaggerated freedom of expression. Everyone can express himself or herself, as he or she wants. But the bad changes since the revolution are more important than the good ones. Unemployment has increased and there is much less security for the people than before. *How has the university changed since the revolution?* The university is dominated by the battle between the progressive and revolutionary students of the UGET and the Islamists organised in the UGTE. The UGTE was historically the student union of Bourguiba (first president of independent Tunisia) then it became the union of Ben Ali and now is the organisation of Ennahda, the Islamic party in power. They pretend to defend the students interests and rights but in reality this is not true, they add nothing to the debate. The students, even the non-militants consider the Islamists as a danger for the Tunisian university. *Why do you say they represent a danger?* Because they are Islamists, they can only talk about religion and have no separate program except that of religion. *So what is the political situation at the university? Do the students support the revolution?* Some students pretend that they are neither left wing nor right wing; they pretend to be neutral. But in reality you have left wing and right wing students. During the elections for the student representatives on March 13th to the scientific councils the left wing student union, the UGET, got 71% of the votes in all the universities across the country. In my faculty the electoral campaign of the UGET has only costed 16 Dinars (8 euro) contrary to the Islamists of the UGTE who spent much more money, for flashy stickers etc., which we did not have. But we won. *Can you tell me something about the social situation at the campus?* The universities attract many students from the interior of the country. Their first concern is where to sleep. There are many problems linked to the Foyers, the student houses, the university restaurants and transport. They have to survive with very few money, 30 Dinars for example a month for food and transport. All this costs a lot. *What is the Popular Front and what are its objectives.* In reality there exists another front, the front of the bourgeois parties who came together after the elections. The Popular Front does not limit its activities to elections. Eleven left wing parties have integrated in our Front, it has a clearer program than the others, and you can say it has a more Marxist program. The objective of the Popular Front is to overthrow the actual government. Its only interest is the people. *Why, in your opinion, has Chokri Belaid been assassinated?* Contrary to other political leaders he had a fierce discourse. He was not afraid of naming the corrupted leaders or those who harmed the people. For instance he attacked the leaders of Ennahda, the Islamist party. He had proof of their wrongdoings and they disliked that. Everybody knows that behind his assassination was the armed section of Ennahda, the Salafists, who organised under the deceptive name League for the Protection of the Revolution. Following his assassination the people rose up in different regions of the country. Then we asked ourselves, who will be next? Journalists in particular are scared. But in the end few things have changed. The Salafists are still everywhere to be seen and are supported by the state. *What are, in your opinion, the problems a real revolution needs to solve in Tunisia?* The first and most urgent problem that needs to be solved is unemployment. Those who are hungry cannot advance as an Arab proverb says. Then there is the question of the infrastructure and the economy in general. *Do you think these problems can find a solution within capitalism?* No, it is evident, that this is not possible. --------------------------------------- I will Survive the Muslim Brotherhood: Leftist Egyptian Youth Music Video<http://www.juancole.com/2013/05/survive-brotherhood-egyptian.html> Posted on 05/17/2013 by Juan Cole Not an endorsement, but this cover by secular leftists of Gloria Gaynors 1978 I will Survive, with satirical Arabic lyrics (translated in subtitles) about the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis in Egypt since the fall of dictator Hosni Mubarak gives a window into the grievances and disappointments of the youth who made the January 25, 2011 revolution. Thousands of protesters gathered in Tahrir Square today, Friday<http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/71666.aspx>, demanding that Muslim Brotherhood leader and Egyptian president Muhammad Morsi call early presidential elections. The Rebel campaign is supported by a group of leftist and liberal parties. *The video* <http://youtu.be/Rg26RxoVpXo> *http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Rg26RxoVpXo * *------------*-------------------------- http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article3768370.ece Islamist fear drives Israel to support Assad survival *Sheera Frenkel and Roger Boyes* Published at 12:01AM, May 18 2013 Israel would prefer President Assad to survive his countrys bloody two-year insurgency if the alternative were a takeover by rebels infiltrated by Islamic extremists, Israeli officials said yesterday. Intelligence sources said that an intact, but weakened, Assad regime would be preferable for the country and the whole troubled region. Better the devil we know than the demons we can only imagine if Syria falls into chaos and the extremists from across the Arab world gain a foothold there, one senior Israeli intelligence officer in the north of the country said. Another defence official said that his country had believed that Mr Assads regime would collapse sooner. We originally underestimated Assads staying power and overestimated the rebels fighting power, the official said. The Israeli reassessment accords with rising Western doubts that the rebels can win. Meanwhile, the Russian decision to supply advanced anti-ship cruise missiles to Mr Assad complicates the enforcement of a no-fly zone. Also, suspicions are growing of increasing extremist influence on the Syrian opposition. On Tuesday a video filmed near Homs emerged, showing a fighter called Khalid al-Hamad, who claimed to be eating the heart of an Assad fighter. The Islamic fundamentalist group Jabhat al-Nusra has been supporting rebels in Homs. The result has been an unusual,and perhaps temporary, consensus between the US Administration, Russia, Israel and Turkey reached in a series of bilateral talks over the past three weeks that the Assad regime and the opposition should be brought to the negotiating table. A Western intelligence analyst said that President Obama hoped for a negotiated transfer of power rather than a disorderly change reached on the battlefield. Israel shares Turkeys doubts that Mr Assad will make concessions, but its priority remains to stop arms reaching Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia. Better that they busy themselves fighting each other than fighting us, the Israeli intelligence officer said. Until recently there were confident expectations that the Assad regime would collapse. Qatar, which is believed to have ferried 70 cargo aircraft of weapons to the rebels via Turkey over the past year, counted on multiple defections from the elite. In the past year Ehud Barak, the former Israeli Defence Minister, and Meir Dagan, the former head of Mossad, have predicted Mr Assads imminent fall and given him months, maybe years before being killed or expelled from Syria. But they, and the US, have been reckoning without the changes in Mr Assads military strategy, his concentration of forces in the Alawite heartland of northern Syria, the use of some 60,000 militia irregulars trained in part by Iranian advisers and the deployment of Hezbollah units. Russia has continued to back him, sending not only the anti-ship missiles but 200 S300 surface-to-air missiles, Syrian sources said. Last night General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, condemned the shipment. What Im really worried about is that Assad will decide that, since hes got these systems, hes somehow safer or more prone to a miscalculation, he said at the Pentagon. Israeli fears of a hostile northern neighbour have increased. You can see that the rebels in Syria are fighting the Army and the Assad regime, Lieutenant-General Benjamin Gantz, chief-of-staff of the Israel Defence Forces, said in an interview with Israels army radio. But it is clear that there will be another war there. It could be between themselves, but also could be turned against us. I have the impression that we will see both. We see a situation which some call the Balkanisation of Syria as being very realistic, with Assad controlling the vital area from Damascus northwards towards the coasts of Latakia and various rebel groups controlling the rest of the country, he said. Hardline rebels in control in southern Syria say their ambition is to regain the Golan Heights, conquered by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. This month Syrian officials warned Israel they could respond to Israeli aggression if it continued air strikes against suspected weapons convoys. The US is pressing Israel and Turkey to hold back from military action or from calls for regime change in Syria so as not to compromise the chances of an all-party conference that could be held early next month. The US, Britain and Turkey are urging the Syrian opposition which will meet in Istanbul on Thursday to join the talks without Mr Assads removal being a precondition. Russia has been asked to press the Syrian regime to send senior representatives. John Brennan, the director of the CIA, paid a surprise visit to Israel yesterday to discuss the Syrian conflict. 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