Tunisia: Understanding Conflict 2012 - Johns Hopkins School of ...

the salafist movement Al-Salafiya Al-Ilmia. According to Allani’s evaluation, only 25%
of the members of Ennahdha have liberal position, in contrast to half of them who would
espouse more conservative beliefs. In the last elections, he maintains, Ennahdha was also
able to attract the votes of the members of Al-Salafiya Al-Ilmia, who ask to restore the
purity of Islam. This happened, he explains, because Ennahdha and the salafis have an
ideological common aim, the reislamization of the society. In fact, he stresses, the
ideological platform of Ghannouchi’s party has not changed since 1988, only its political
discourse has been modified and has developed. The ideological discourse, he argues, is
simple, whereas the political one is more stratified and complex. This hiatus would
explain Ennahdha leaders’ ambiguous stances and would lead to a double discourse: one,
moderate for the Western audience and the other one, more conservative when it comes
to dealing with the Tunisian public (SAIS Group Meeting, 27 January 2012). On the
other hand, Zied Boumakhla, responsible for Ennahdha students, denies that his party has
as its bases salafi members and sympathizers. “We are very firm on this: we are against
violence and we do not want the salafis to impose their will on other people” (SAIS
Group Meeting, 27 January 2012). However, many Tunisian commentators disagree with
him and maintain that Ennahdha would not take a stance against the salafis, in order not
to alienate the support to this part of its electorate. By following these considerations,
Ennahdha, once again, shows how important electoral calculations are in this new phase
of its life.
Thirdly, another reason that might justify Ennahdha’s lack of resoluteness against
the radicals is the desire to avoid the repression of dissent through Ben Ali-like type of
techniques. As Ghannouchi commented about the salafis: “we condemn them, they are
not Muslim. But Ennahdha is for freedom and they have the right to express themselves.
We do not want to intervene with the police, as it happened in Bourguiba and Ben Ali
years” (SAIS Group Meeting, 24 January 2012). This lack of resoluteness might also be
explained by the inexperience of the party in dealing with problems in the public order.
Also, Tunisian society is still smarting from Ben Ali’s repression, and Ennahdha does not
to want take any false steps in this delicate phase of the country’s history.
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