Tunisia is feeling its way between demands for pluralism and for respect for the country's deep-rooted Arab-Islamic identity, writes Lassaad Ben Ahmed in Tunis While Tunisian audiences may have arrived en masse to hear the sermons of visiting Islamist preacher Wagdi Ghoneim at the Sports Palace in Al-Manzah, Tunis, on 12 February and at other venues the following week, the Tunisian press was not nearly as enthusiastic. It had opposed the invitation of the controversial Egyptian cleric to Tunisia on the grounds that he could encourage religious witch-hunting and create discord in Tunisian society at a delicate juncture that calls for concord and a collective drive to rebuild the country and set it on a healthy course. What many writers in the Tunisian press found particularly alarming was that Ghoneim is known to have issued a fatwa calling for female circumcision. Although the sheikh did not raise this subject during his sermons in Tunisia, his visit triggered dozens of statements on the part of official agencies such as the ministry of women and health, civil society organisations such as medical associations, and several political parties, all of them cautioning against female circumcision. In addition, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and some leaders of the majority Al-Nahda Party, which is Islamist in orientation, issued statements to the effect that Islamic jurisprudence does not make the practice obligatory. The question of female circumcision had never arisen in Tunisia, which subscribes to the Maliki school of Sunni jurisprudence as the official frame of reference for Islamic education and training and for religious decrees. As the uproar over the Egyptian sheikh continued to rage, Al-Nahda Party leaders and several members of the government turned the accusations against the press, accusing it of sensationalism and a lack of objectivity and professionalism. The press, they said, was blowing the situation out of all proportion and fuelling contention at a time when the country needed to restore calm, revive the confidence of local and foreign investors, and focus on drafting the new constitution. Tunisian sensitivities are also running high, as still fresh in people's minds is the outcry triggered by the screening of the film Persepolis about Iran during the electoral campaigns. The film portrays an image of God, and it was widely deemed to be "insulting to sacred values" in Tunisia. Nevertheless, even as Ghoneim was touring Tunisia a fresh controversy arose when a Tunisian newspaper published a front-page picture of the German-Tunisian football player Sami Khedira holding onto his naked German model girlfriend. The picture, deemed offensive to public morals, stoked tensions in the already uneasy relationship between the public and the press. Under the former regime of former Tunisian president Zein Al-Abidine bin Ali, the press was an instrument of government propaganda, and it was notorious for obfuscation, disinformation and deliberately misleading the public. The public is also aware that even the so-called independent Tunisian press did not play nearly as important a role in the last year's revolution as social-networking websites and satellite news channels such as Al-Jazeera. This has put Tunisian journalists, particular those noted for their integrity and opposition to the Bin Ali regime, in an awkward position. Many are torn between the urge to support a colleague who has been detained over the publication of the picture in defence of the freedom of the press and the desire to side with the majority of the Tunisian public, which demonstrated its conservatism in last October's elections and longs for a dignified life after decades of impoverishment and marginalisation. Meanwhile, crowds led by Al-Nahda Party and Salafist leaders demonstrated in front of the state television building in Tunis on Friday, calling for the media to be purged of members of the old regime and demanding that standards of journalistic objectivity and professionalism be respected, along with public morals. Perhaps the only saving grace of another controversy that has captured public attention these days is that it was anticipated and the parties were therefore prepared to pre-empt tensions. As expected, the opening sessions of the country's new constitutional assembly brought to the fore the question of whether Islamic Sharia law should be the sole source of legislation in the country, or whether it should be one of several inspirations for the new constitution. Speaker of the assembly Mustafa bin Jaafar, a leftist leader, has reiterated on several occasions that the constitution requires a consensus among all parties, since this is the document that will establish the groundwork for a new era in the country's history. In a gesture towards compromise, Al-Nahda leader Rachid Al-Ghanouchi told a French-language newspaper that the constitution did not necessarily have to state explicitly that legislation would be based on Sharia Law. However, the substance of the constitution should not conflict with the explicit provisions of this law, he said. As these controversies suggest, Tunisia is still feeling its way between demands for pluralism and mutual acceptance and the demands of the Arab-Islamic identity that is ingrained among segments of the Tunisian public. At a press conference in Tunis on Friday, Al-Ghanouchi cautioned against the dangers of a rift in society between secularist-minded people and conservatives who are deeply attached to their Arab-Islamic culture. Most Tunisians would agree that moderation, compromise and the acceptance of the right to differ are the ways forward and the keys to sustainable and peaceful coexistence.
