Tiré de là
Béji Caïd Essebsi, le nouveau Premier ministre tunisien, fidèle du premier président de la Tunisie, témoignait, en 2009 pour L'Express, sur les coulisses de trente ans de pouvoir sans partage.
Le nouveau premier ministre tunisien de transition, Béji Caïd Essebsi a fait partie du premier cabinet constitué par Habib Bourguiba, au lendemain de la proclamation, en mars 1956, de l'indépendance de la Tunisie. Il a ensuite occupé plusieurs postes ministériels, dont celui de ministre des Affaires étrangères. En juillet 2009, Béji Caïd Essebsi a publié, an editor Tunisian (1), a big book that is both a biography of the "father" of the independence of Tunisia and the story of "years Bourguiba. The book has enjoyed sales success which has, in all of Tunisia, a best-seller.
Why this subtitle, "the wheat and tares"?
Habib Bourguiba was a great statesman. It was no less a man. I wanted to report on its merits but also its limitations and constraints. It has changed society and mentality, but he has struggled to uphold his project.
L'indépendance de la Tunisie est reconnue le 20 mars 1956. Quelques semaines plus tard, le nouveau gouvernement institue une haute cour chargée de juger les nationalistes dissidents. Leur chef, Salah ben Youssef, est condamné à mort par contumace. Une façon de signifier qu'il n'y aura pas de place, dans la Tunisie de Bourguiba, pour une opposition ?
Je ne dirais pas cela. La dissidence youssefiste a éclaté bien avant l'indépendance, à l'automne 1954, au moment où s'engagent avec la France les négociations pour l'autonomie interne. A son retour en Tunisie, en septembre 1955, Salah ben Youssef a poursuivi sa campagne contre l'autonomie et pour l'indépendance totale. Puis he radicalized his opposition to Bourguiba, despite the independence of Tunisia. The party congress Destourian (Neo-Destour) in November 1955 has clearly decided in favor of "political steps," advocated by Bourguiba. Prior to these positions, the most senior party officials and those of the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT), the national union, had gone with Ben Youssef, first in Geneva and Tunis, to convince him to spare the country the fratricidal struggles and heartbreak of the division, since the political victory was finally achieved. But fort de l'appui du dirigeant égyptien Gamal Abdel Nasser, il a maintenu son option de guerre totale contre la France. Il prônait une résistance armée généralisée, incluant la Tunisie, le Maroc et l'Algérie. Bourguiba entendait, lui, privilégier la voie plus efficace de l'indépendance de la Tunisie, tout en affirmant son alliance avec la résistance algérienne. Le youssefisme n'était pas à proprement parler une opposition politique. C'était une autre vision de la Tunisie, du Maghreb et du monde arabe.
L'une des toutes premières réformes décidées par le gouvernement né de l'indépendance porte sur le Code du statut personnel, c'est-à-dire the rights of women. Why did this reform was considered a priority?
Bourguiba came to power with a project. He wanted to make Tunisia a modern nation. And he was convinced that no changes in society would be possible if not terminated archaisms that characterized the status of women. I remember myself being surprised, asking him if he was really at this point, a priority to tackle a topic as controversial as we were just starting to take the reins of the state. He replied that if he did not he, this reform, one else would do. And he added that he did not do it immediately, he was not sure we can do it later ...
These reforms do not correspond to an expectation of the population. It was a modernization imposed from above ...
I would rather say "initiated" from above. It was the only solution if we wanted to modernize the country, break their outdated in which he was confined. Moreover, there was no question that the status of women. Bourguiba also reformed teaching, he has now generalized to all levels, Arabic and French. He wound up the habous (Awqaf) campaigned against the wearing of the veil, legalized abortion, began the fight against the slums. It is true that the reform of the Code of Personal Status is one that has caused the most resistance. If she had been subjected to referendum, it would probably not receive a majority. We really owe it to voluntarism and to the foresight of Bourguiba.
Then the situation goes bad. The establishment, in the name of socialism Destour, in the 1960s, a cooperative system raises a lot of discontent. At the same time, reform of Destour adopted in 1964 at the Congress of Bizerte, introduces a real confusion between the state and the party.
You write that Bourguiba had "a certain allergy to democracy" and that "his own decision in his eyes was the only one that should prevail for the salvation of Tunisia" is more or less the definition of enlightened despotism ...
Bourguiba was certainly not a despot. It was an authoritarian. Itself does not say, moreover, a Democrat. He did not feel concerned by the issue of democracy, elections and their vagaries ... He was deeply convinced that it was a mandate of the Tunisian people who transcendait ces contingences. Sa légitimité était historique. Elle reposait sur un lien singulier qui l'unissait au peuple de Tunisie depuis l'accueil triomphal qu'on lui avait offert lors de son retour au pays, le 1er juin 1955, après son exil en France. Cela dit, il est exact que le congrès de Bizerte, en octobre 1964, a marqué un tournant. Les structures de l'Etat et du parti ont été amalgamées, ce qui a restreint le débat démocratique à l'intérieur du parti et fait le lit de l'autoritarisme. Et Bourguiba s'est ensuite, peu à peu, isolé.
A partir de 1971, et plus encore de 1975, quand Bourguiba devient président à vie, vous êtes plusieurs, within the Destour to criticize the democratic deficit, without question, at least initially, the principle of the single party. This translates into 1977 by the creation of two newspapers, Al Ra'y in Arabic - which will give its name to date - and Democracy in French. But the group broke up pretty quickly. To enter the pluralism in fact, some of its members around Ahmed Mestiri, finally opting for the creation of a new formation, the Movement of Socialist Democrats (MDS). You are those who decide to stay in the lap of Destour. Why? Afraid to cut the umbilical cord?
I am, therefore that time, supported the principle of multiparty politics. But I also know the reality of my country. I am convinced that without the support of Bourguiba, the attempt is doomed to failure. I think he must first convince.
Do you think this is possible?
Yes, because Bourguiba is a pragmatist who knows how to deal with the forces. When asked after the appointment of Mohamed Mzali in 1980 as prime minister, to return to government - where I was since the early 1970s - at first I refused. He asked me why. I then explained that I no longer believed in the party. I Destourian wanted to stay, unlike Mestiri, but I thought other training as ours should be able to exist. And the need for this reform came from him. It has undertaken and I joined the government. Shortly after, during a party congress, he officially said he saw "no objection" that there may be other political forces.
But the attempt to open the plan, was expected in legislative elections in 1981, failed miserably. We stuffed ballot boxes to prevent supporters of Mestiri to enter Parliament and to obtain the 5% that would MDS to have a legal existence. None of the proponents of democratization of the regime resigns ...
No stuffed ballot boxes. We decided even before the polls open, to ignore the vote of electors and to publish results fabricated. The government was divided on the issue of pluralism and, unfortunately, not everyone made the same speech to Bourguiba. Me, I was no longer the front line, because the head of state had meanwhile asked to take the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, which was also a way to get away from the domestic politics. The Interior Minister, Driss Guiga himself was convinced that Bourguiba, despite his statements to the Congress party, did not want the multiparty system. I do not know what was the exact content of his conversations with the president, I do not know if he has received from him specific instructions, or has interpreted his wishes. He has competed in any case to affect the import of these elections, which were to be the moment of truth for the government Mzali.
Yet nobody has resigned, not even you, who had left with a bang in 1972, your ambassador France ...
No. Mzali, the head of government, informed by Guiga the eve of elections, has publicly regretted afterwards not having slammed the door on the occasion of this failure. We, the other ministers of the opening, have learned that several months later what had actually happened, although we were aware that the government's credit was reached. Then in December 1983, there were the "bread riots" a series of violent demonstrations to protest against rising prices. The government was further weakened. The objective of democratization was then parentheses.
At that time already, and all the years that followed, the Tunisian political life is poisoned by the question of the succession of Bourguiba. Power struggles exacerbated in 1984 with the arrival at the palace of Carthage, with an aged Bourguiba, his niece, Saida Sassi. You do not like this character ... What was his relationship with Bourguiba? Why did she do to gain such influence?
past few years, Bourguiba was weakened by age. He lived confined in his palace, without contact with the outside. He walked away also his wife, Wasilla. Gradually, he surrounded himself with a clique composed almost exclusively of Monastirienne like him. Including her niece Saida Sassi. She adored her, she slept at her feet on the rug, but she spent her time making her believe that one or the other wanted him to go against the whole world. She loved money too, while he, his life was totally disinterested. It was an intriguing one. His influence has been disastrous.
The other women accounted for Bourguiba was his first wife, Matilda, and his second, Wasilla. Who were they? Wassila Did she really, as we have often said, played a political role?
The first woman who has accounted for Bourguiba is his mother. It is through her that he was aware of the status of women and the need to reform it. His first wife, Mathilde, a French woman, was a woman of great virtue and righteousness. She helped him when he was a student and supported it when he led the political fight and when he was in prison. Wasilla, finally, was the great love of Bourguiba. She was married when he met her. After independence, they divorced and the other one able to unite.
She was a very political?
It was political through and through. She listened to everything, stood informed of everything. She often had a moderating influence, preventing her husband to get carried away with his outbursts. That was positive. But she wanted to be involved in everything, meet with foreign heads of state ... Her and have often clashed.
In November 1987, Zine el-Abidine ben Ali, the then Prime Minister, deposed Bourguiba unfit to govern the medical profession. How do you react?
With relief. Bourguiba was really unfit to govern. He was already gone. The Tunisian Constitution provides that in case of a power vacuum that the Prime Minister to ensure the functions of head of state. This provision was intended by Bourguiba, who had made constitutional change, a few years ago, because he wanted to choose his heir. Frankly, the transition has gone as smoothly as possible.
Over twenty years have passed. How do you explain the wide interest in your book in Tunisia?
Tunisians who have lived through the period Bourguiba want to better understand some outstanding episodes, and they seek also likely to seize the political and philosophical consistency of this long reign, perhaps to relive the emotions of the resistance, the pride of victory and glory years. Those who are too young to have known her realize that a veil was thrown over this page of our history, they want to sail up, even if only to understand the dreams of their elders. This book, I mostly wrote them in mind, these young people who know nothing of the struggles and sacrifices that made Tunisia today. They gave him a home that touches me deeply. I believe that the wheat has risen. You
expresses the wish that the equestrian statue of Bourguiba, transferred in 1988 in the small coastal town of La Goulette, one day resume its place in Tunis, on the avenue that bears his name. Is it too early you think?
The equestrian statue of Bourguiba find, sooner or later, its place on the main street of our capital. It is his destiny.
(1) Habib Bourguiba. The good seed and tares. South Editions, Tunis, April 2009, 525 p.
Bourguiba Years
August 1903 Birth of Habib Bourguiba in Monastir.
Birth March 1934, the Congress of Ksar-Hilal, Neo-Destour.
July 1954 Pierre Mendes France proclaims the internal autonomy of Tunisia.
June 1955 Triumphal return of Bourguiba in Tunis.
March 1956 Proclamation of Independence of Tunisia.
April 1956 Habib Bourguiba became Prime Minister.
August 1956 Promulgation of the Code of Personal Status.
July 1957 Proclamation of the Republic. Bourguiba becomes acting president.
November 1959 Bourguiba was elected president.
September 1969 Ahmed Ben Salah is deprived of all his departmental responsibilities.
March 1975 Bourguiba became president for life.
April 1980 Mohamed Mzali becomes Prime Minister.
July 1986 ouster of Mohamed Mzali.
pronunciation of divorce in August 1986 between Bourguiba and Wassila ben Ammar.
November 1987 Removal of Bourguiba, "unfit to perform the duties of his office."
April 2000 Death of Bourguiba in Monastir.
Historically, the first party is Destour Tunisia. It was founded in 1920 by prominent Tunisian opposition to the guardianship of France on their country. In 1934, a split within the party led to the creation of the Neo-Destour by a team of young intellectuals led by Habib Bourguiba. Training changed its name in 1964. She became the Socialist Party Destourian (PSD). In 1988, the new head of state, Zine el Abidine ben Ali, in fact, the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD), still the dominant party in spite of a multi-theoretical.
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