Crisis in Tunisia Intensifies
Tunisia has seen a growth in protests of opposition in recent weeks. This is happening along with the worsening economic situation and crisis in living conditions in the country. President Kais Saied is insisting on taking unilateral decisions and moving according to the roadmap which he himself has drafted. He rejects any dialogue with his opponents, and denies partnership, or agreement with his supporters also. Despite the expansion of the opposition and the consensus of most of the political spectrum on the seriousness of the political and economic crisis of the country, the opposition movement lacked a clear and agreed-upon strategy to force the president to back down from his steps which he has taken as part of his coup and return to the democratic path.
It is now more than a year and a half that Tunisia is seeing President Kais Saied’s moves against the constitution, an expansion of the opposition, and shrinking of the social and political support of the president. It all has come back along with the policy of repression and the use of state agencies in dealing with those who oppose him. The president is continuously following the approach he took in July 2021, ignoring popular support, and apparently satisfied with the continued support of the security apparatus and the army for him. The opposition factions remain captive to their political and ideological tensions and are unable to agree on a phased plan to restore the path of democratic transition.
[by Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies]
Israeli Consensus against Liberties
The Israeli Knesset’s approval of the law revoking the nationality and residency of those who carried out commando operations, hours after announcing the withdrawal of the “judicial reforms” shows the reality and limits of the Israeli consensus which is now naked and without gimmicks.
In the 120-member Knesset, there are 56 members of the opposition. Some Arabs from within and in Arab countries prefer to describe these opposition members as the centre and the left. Ninety-four Knesset members supported the law which allows the occupying state to revoke citizenship of the prisoners of freedom of those inside Palestine, and residency of the prisoners of occupied Jerusalem. They have also supported their deportation and expulsion from Jerusalem and from inside of the occupied West Bank. It means that the occupation has renounced the most basic rules and human rights of those who resist it.
If we obliterate ten members from the 56 opposition members, including progressive Israeli OferCassif, the limits of consensus become clear.
This consensus once again reveals the fallacy of Israeli democracy. It also reveals the hollowness of liberalism, which covers the so-called centre and the Zionist left in Israel. This is particularly after the shift to the right has started affecting the sectors which were on the side of the left. It has become clear that its strength has declined and its expansion in Israeli society has weakened. The occupying state has already implemented many racist laws in the past.
[by Nidal Mohammad Watad in Al-Araby Al-Jadeed]
Compiled and translated by Faizul Haque