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

The current situation in many ways has carried forward this opinion. In the wake
of increasing physical attacks and disruptions by salafi adherents like that at Manouba
University, there is an admission that the general amnesty may well have released
individuals that are now presenting public order concerns inside the country. However,
the ideals of the revolution are still strongly felt, as is the sense of unfairness of the
judicial system under the old regime. And it is unsurprising that in this new political and
social context prisoners interred for all varieties of crime are claiming political designs
behind their convictions—and while the problem of how to deal with the demands of
these individuals is currently being overlooked, it is one that will not quickly fade away.
The RCD
On 6 February 2011, the Ministry of the Interior banned all meetings and activities of the
RCD, requesting that the Tunisian courts dissolve it. Just over a month later, on 9 March,
a court in Tunis duly did so, deciding to liquidate all assets and funds associated with the
party, and an organization that claimed membership by over 2 million people—almost
one fifth of the Tunisian population—ceased to legally exist.
The Interior Ministry argued that it had started this process because the party
itself had never in its thirty year existence been audited or filed annual accounts, but in
reality the public demand for a definitive break with the party was clear. The Kasbah 2
demonstrations, where protestors occupied the main square between the Party and
Government buildings from 19 February to 4 March, had two central demands—for a
new Constitution, and for no more RCD. It was a protest against the risk that the
revolution would not produce real regime change, a completely new system, but there
was also a retributive aspect to it. Protestors rallied around demands for specific
resignations, but also identified and publicized which of the newly created political
parties had former RCD members on their lists.
And it is interesting, if not surprising, that a political elite that has enjoyed its
privileged position thanks to membership of the party should have immediately sought
out new ways to re-enter politics. However, it also seems clear that the ‘risk,’ not so
much of the ‘regime’ as such managing a de facto return, but of the same individuals
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