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

Others express concern about the varying messages coming from different
members of the leadership and the alleged “double speak” of the leader himself, Rachid
Ghannouchi. Hatem Bourial, a mainstay of Tunisian civil society, put it this way: “Mr. A
says, ‘We are against that,’ Mr. B says, ‘We are not against but not for it,’ and Mr. C
says, ‘Well, these people are closer to us than whoever’…It has been like this since
Ennahdha was still called MTI” (SAIS Group Meeting, 25 January 2012). Such
conflicting public statements from different leaders may or may not be due to the
growing pains of a young and diverse party; the main fear lies in the seemingly blatant
contradictions in Rachid Ghannouchi’s stance. At least four interviewees, including
Mokhtar Trifi (member of the Tunisian League of Human Rights (LTDH)), Khedija
Arfaoui and Latifa Lakhdar, pointed to comments Ghannouchi has allegedly made
regarding the potential necessity to reinstate polygamy and repeal the law allowing single
women to adopt. Zeina, 13 a young Tunisian woman who has spent time in the United
States, explains, “Ghannouchi has said, ‘We have a lot of single women and we don’t
have enough babies. Polygamy is a good solution to this.’ What does that mean?” (28
January 2012). Meanwhile, Laryssa Chomiak, Director of CEMAT, claims “Ghannouchi
has never made a comment about polygamy. These are rumors created by the secularists.
There is no double-speak” (SAIS Group Meeting, 27 January 2012). Zeina credits this
interpretation to the fact that most of Ghannouchi’s questionable comments occur during
speeches made in Arabic and are thus inaccessible to most Western audiences.
Regardless of the truth of the issue, the presence of such concerns speaks volumes about
the population’s views about the relevance of women’s rights. The allegations of
“double-speak” extend beyond comments that Ghannouchi has made and into the
discrepancy between his words, the words of others in the party, and the party’s actions.
There are a number of recent occurrences that raise suspicion in the eyes of many
secular Tunisians; events that point to the potentially deep trends of conservatism that
may be steering the policies of the Ennahdha party—and thus call into question the
group’s commitment to women’s rights. When asked about Ennahdha’s alleged “doublespeak,”
almost all of the interviewees pointed to the failure of its leadership to
13 Real name excluded to protect anonymity.
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