Marzouki: the icon of the Tunisian Spring

Dr Mohamed Moncef Marzouki was not a product of the Tunisian Spring, which was the first of the Arab Spring revolutions. He was truly one of the actors behind this stand against tyranny very early on, having been one of its victims for decades because of forming and supporting human rights organisations. Indeed, he was persecuted and imprisoned. He was an honest guard monitoring the violations against the oppressed, thus representing a strong pillar against tyranny, from the first tyrant in Tunisia, Habib Bourguiba, to intelligence officer Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who overthrew his master Bourguiba and became president himself.

When Marzouki published his book, Let my country wake up, during the Bourguiba era, he was imprisoned. What connects Bourguiba, Ben Ali and now Kais Saied is the tyranny itself, but what sets the first two tyrants apart was their possession of the intelligence services and the army, while the new tyrant lacks both. As for Marzouki, he differs from them in his pursuit of justice for the oppressed and standing up to the oppressors. Confirming the fact that an umbilical cord exists between the poles of tyranny, Saied celebrated in his own way the anniversary of Ben Ali’s coup against Bourguiba, by publicly affirming his relationship and nostalgia for the tyrannical eras, and his dissent from everything related to the Tunisian Spring, as well as the Arab Spring.

In 2019, Marzouki withdrew from the political scene after his first presidential term, when he saw that his chances of winning a second term were nil, especially after the Ennahda movement supported Beji Caid Essebsi, a symbol of corruption and the previous era. This paved the way for the theft of the Arab Spring in Tunisia, and for reining in not only the icons of the Ahrar Tunisia movement, but even those who stood with them in the elections, especially Ennahda, which was a victim of the counter-revolution that managed to establish itself in power, while the Tunisian Spring had shaken the ground under its feet.

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You may agree with Marzouki or not, but you have to respect and appreciate him. I remember that my last opportunity to spend time with him was via Zoom due to the pandemic. On that occasion, he told everyone taking part in the session that we must all prepare for a wave against the Arab Spring by responding to the doubts and preventing the enemies of the Arab Spring from criminalising it. He also said that we must hold these enemies responsible for what was brought about by tyranny and what was left by the occupation supporting it in the Arab region.

I did not think that he meant himself by his words until his successor stepped up, and he was the worst successor — Saied — to the best predecessor — Marzouki — but there is no rose without thorns. Saied’s thorn turned against the first Arab constitution written by the free people of Tunisia and with the participation of Marzouki himself. The current president was not satisfied with just doing this, though; he pursued Marzouki with an international arrest warrant through Interpol, and withdrew his diplomatic passport. Typically, Marzouki mocked the warrant and the man who issued it, just as he mocked Tunisia’s tyrants before him as he tackled them and deciphered their riddles and tricks. Saied lost his mind when Marzouki managed to postpone the Francophone conference due to be held in Tunisia, which Saied hoped would legitimise his disgraceful coup.

We saw the extent of sympathy with Marzouki when more than sixty Tunisian human rights and political figures signed a petition condemning the steps taken against him and calling for an end to the official incitement against the opposition. There were also those loyal to the Arab Spring who defended him on social media. They will not forget that Marzouki stood by the uprising when he was in Egypt and stood with the martyr Mohamed Morsi and founded an association to defend him; or when he stood with the revolution in Syria. From the first moment, he expelled the Syrian Ambassador and allowed Tunisia to host the offices and conferences of the Syrian National Revolutionary Council. His hands will remain clean, not only regarding the Arab Spring, but also every area exposed to injustice and persecution, as he will continue to defend them all.

Those who said that everyone lives up to their name were right, as Moncef Marzouki has lived up to his name, which means “fair”. He was fair, just and honest when he was in high office, before he took office and afterwards. He was blessed with popular support, and is one of the very few who had the same amount of public affection when they left power as when they took over. In fact, Marzouki was loved much more after he left office. This confirms strongly that he entered the political arena solely to serve his people, not as a tyrannical ruler which the Arab peoples are used to ruling for decades. That is why he won the people’s love and support, and still has it.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Arabi21 on 15 November 2021

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