Tunisia's revolution in the eye of the storm

Few would disagree that what happened in the birth-place of the Arab Spring and the jewel of the Mediterranean a week ago against innocent tourists was a stab in the back of the 17th December Revolution. The brutality of the crime in Sousse and the ignorant nature of the events have led me to call into question the framework behind such crimes. This, of course, becomes even more important when we consider the interior minister’s claim that, “There are individuals who seek to create a vacuum in the security sector so that they could continue to carry out the massacre.”

My reading of the recent events in Tunisia does not fall within the field of conspiratorial analysis, but is based on facts, which confirm that there are criminals who seek to destabilise national unity and the economy in transitional Tunisia. The current status quo also demonstrates how criminal groups in the country seek to disrupt its already sensitive sovereignty.

How can one begin to understand the morally suspect security breach that took place forty minutes after the shooting began? It was this security breach that allowed criminals to hurt the largest number of victims possible in a country that has been living under a constant threat of terrorism since the Bardo museum attacks. Why is it that the killer was not captured until after he had used-up all of his ammunition and was walking in the alleyways adjacent to the crime scene? How was this terrorist able to open the Pandora’s Box of intelligence secrets to use to his advantage? Furthermore, how could we possibly imagine that the hotel in question did not have surveillance cameras at every corner, especially in 2015 and in a world that claims to be fighting the war on terrorism post-Arab Spring?

British and German journalists, as well as the eyewitnesses on the scene and the surgeons who treated the injured, all confirm that there was more than one shooter; the evidence for these claims is that there was more than one type of bullet used and the weapons used were also different. As for the “shameful purple media”, as many activists call it on social networking sites, it claimed that the attack was carried out by gang members and loyalists of the ousted Ben Ali regime. The Tunisian media called the attacks a “settling of accounts.”

The security agencies are not doing their job of collecting the necessary intelligence to protect civilians. What is sickening is the manner in which the state takes advantage of victims and yet is unable to take the necessary steps to counter the terrorists. The status quo of the Ben Ali days has returned.

It appears that one young man, Munther Rizq, who is from a poor family and came to the coast in search of a job, found work in Hadra Al-Buna. He is a teacher by training and a graduate of the faculty of maths. He stumbled across the Sousse crime scene on his way to work and found himself in the hotel security office because he looked impoverished and was wearing torn clothes. The poor man’s dignity was completely stomped on as he was accused of a crime that he did not commit simply because of the way he looks. The hotel security staff did not do their job of protecting him but instead took advantage of him in the way that they take advantage of many innocent people. This explains how dozens of innocent people were killed in about forty minutes.

These people would not have been killed if security forces had intervened at the appropriate time; the many German and English newspapers which covered the story confirmed this. We waited patiently and heard the interior minister make many claims and excuses, yet what should have happened, what was expected, is that he should have submitted his resignation post-massacre. That’s what would have happened in any other country where politicians respect people. The deficit in the security apparatus is demonstrated further in the number of people who came to Tunis shortly after the attack took place.

One must also point out that the gang that carried out this crime did not hesitate to demand public funds from the government, specifically from the tourism fund. In reality, this fund is used to pay off the loans that are related to the tourism industry and also to whitewash funds in general. Tunisia will not fall, as many people within the country and abroad assume. Nor will it submit to the blows that are waged against the country by the counter-revolutionary forces, including Ennahda. All of them are trying to throw dust in our eyes. Our society is fighting for its identity as militias are created, and mosques are closed. Our country is currently a fertile breeding ground for all negative things that threaten our nation.

Translated from Arabi21, 2 July, 2015

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.