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

violence, to lay the bases for a new environment, which tolerates the different opinions,
but protects everybody’s rights.
In parallel, Ennahdha should engage in talks with the salafis. According to
Ghannouchi’s words, his party is already having meetings to convince the
fundamentalists that “what they are doing is not Islam.” Ennahdha can have a powerful
influence over the salafis, since the two movements speak a “common language.” The
salafis are unlikely to pay attention to the Western rhetoric about the necessity to preserve
freedom of speech, but might be susceptible to Ennahdha’s argumentations, since they
come from the same ideological arsenal.
In the long run, Ennahdha should work with its coalition partners to design a
plan targeting the economic revival. In fact, only by fighting unemployment, poverty
and inequalities can Ghannouchi’s party win the hearts and the minds of the Tunisians,
thus making the salafis’ message less appealing. As Abdelwahab Hafaiedh, from the
University of Tunis, and Alaya Allani have pointed out, the salafi message tends to
resonate more in the areas where the economic conditions are harsher and young people
have fewer opportunities. Under this perspective, working to diminish the regional
disparities between the coast and the interior areas will contribute to reducing the
frustrations of many youngsters, who struggle to find jobs to support themselves.
In the long run also, Ghannouchi should accommodate salafis’ requests to
participate in political activity, despite the Western fears. As Alaya Allani argues, the
political practice ends up taming the extremists, since once in the electoral arena, the
desire to have good results at the polls leads to a dilution of their ideological stance
(SAIS Group Meeting, 27 January 2012).
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