http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article26167
Tunisia : A new stage in left regroupment
BARON Alain
16 août 2012
version imprimable Enregistrer au format PDF n°26167
In the days following the fall of Tunisian dictator Ben Ali, left political and
Arab nationalist organisations, whose activists had played a motor role in the
revolution, regrouped under the name of the January 14 Front. This rapidly
broke up and each organisation then acted alone. The ability of these
organisations to intervene in the struggles was reduced. Their dispersion at
the October 2011 elections seriously marginalised them.
Since spring 2012, the Tunisian political landscape has been marked by a
growing bipolarisation between two main poles.
the first is constituted by the Islamists of Ennadha, the CPR of President
Marzouki and Ettakatol, led by the social democratic president of the
constituent assembly, Mustapha Ben Jafaar [1]
the second groups diverse forces, essentially the 17 parties originating
from the breakup of the parties of Ben Ali and Bourguiba which, in the logic of
"Anything except Ennadha”, have fallen behind Nidâa Tounes (Call to Tunisia)
led by Caïd Essebsi. The latter had occupied central positions inside the state
under Bourguiba, then more briefly under Ben Ali. Essebsi was a prime minster
from February 27 to December 24, 2011.
Negotiations began in late spring 2012 between Essebsi’s party, and forces
which had participated in the Ghannouchi governments just after the fall of Ben
Ali, like for example those originating from the ex-PDP who have come together
under the name of the Parti républicain (Republican Party) and “modernists”
around the former Ettajid (the name adopted by the former Communist Party in
1993). [2] The first objective of Essebsi is to bring together the former
leaders and activists of Ben Ali’s party, the RCD, dissolved after January 14,
2011).
Simultaneously, discussions have taken place to reconstitute a January 14 Front
on new bases, open to other parties as well as independent activists. The aim
is to set up a third political pole opposed to the other two, which are both
located within the framework of neoliberal capitalism.
A first agreement was announced on August 13, 2012 between the 12 parties
listed below. To aid identification, the names of the most prominent party
leaders are given in brackets.
From the Marxist-Leninist tradition
Parti des travailleurs [Workers’ Party] - ex-PCOT [Communist Workers Party
of Tunisia] - (Hamma Hammami)
PTPD (Mohamed Jmour)
Mouvement des patriotes démocrates (Movement of Democratic Patriots -
MOUPAD - (Chokri Belaïd)
Les Patriotes démocrates (Democratic Patriots) (Jamel Lazhar)
Parti de la lutte progressiste (Party of Progressive Struggle) - PLP -
(Mohamed Lassoued)
From the Trotskyist tradition
Ligue de la gauche ouvrière (Workers’ Left League) - LGO - (Jalel Ben Brik
Zoghlami)
Other party of socialist orientation
Parti populaire pour la liberté et le progress (Popular Party for Liberty
and Progress) - PPLP -(Jalloul Ben Azzouna) cf. Ben Salah
Pan-Arab Marxist
Front populaire unioniste (Unionist Popular Front) (Amor Mejri)
Nationalist and Nasserite
Mouvement du people (Movement of the People) - Hraket Echaab - (Mohamed
Brahmi)
Baathist Arab nationalist
Mouvement Bath (Baath Movement) (Othmane Belhaj Amor)
Parti de l’avant-garde arabe et démocratique (Party of the Democratic Arab
Vanguard) - PAGAD - (Khereddine Souabni)
Green
Tunisie verte (Green Tunisia) (Abdelkader Zitouni)
From the press :
Hamma Hammami (Workers’ Party, ex-PCOT) : “This coalition is a political front
and not essentially electoral. It will work for the realisation of the
objectives of the revolution and constitutes a third pole of opposition to the
ruling troika and “Call to Tunisia”. The official announcement of the creation
of the popular front, its structure and its leadership is planned for next
September”.
Mohamed Brahmi (Mouvement du Peuple) : “We are based on about a dozen parties
as well as independents and components of civil society which have been created
in the regions following the example of the December 17 Front set up in Sidi
Bouzid”.
BARON Alain
Notes
[1] Ettakatol is the new name for the FDTL, which was an observer member of the
Socialist International at the time of Ben Ali and became its official section
after Ben Ali had been expelled on January 17, 2011
[2] In April 2012, Ettajid joined together with the Parti du travail tunisien
(Tunisian Labour Party) led by Bedoui, and some independents from the «
Modernist Pole » inside a new formation called El Massâr
* Translation International Viewpoint. http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/
Mis en ligne le 24 août 2012
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