Ennhada's National Congress
Rachid Ghannouchi The head of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party Ennahda called on Thursday for national consensus at the launch of its first congress at home in 24 years, held at a time of political and religious tensions
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Ennhada-s-Natio...
He called for reconciliation saying that all movements could cohabit in Tunisia but Ennhada's unwillingness to deal with violent Salafist aggression and demonstrations still leaves the secular majority in Tunisia unconvinced that an Ennhada led government is ready to protect individual freedoms although he did say that the authorities would crack down on violence.
The first Ennhada conference since the fall of Ben Ali was a moment to savour as so many Ennhada activists had spent many years in exile of prison.This is an understandable reason why Salafists have been treated with such restraint.Some 25,000-30,000 people are to attend the congress. The question of civil liberties and freedom of artistic expression is at the heart of islamist and secular polarisation in Tunisia and it remains unresolved.
Ennhada has still not found the formula which served the AK party so successfully in gaining popular support and keeping it. For all that however ,it seems that Ennhada still has the majority of voters behind it.
The Congress has to assess its strategy bearing in mind that the elections may be closer than the March 2013, date given by Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali. Lowering the high level of unemployment is the major concern as its stands at 700,000 with 200,000 graduates coming on to the jobs market every year. The economic and social situation remains difficult but is improving.
Ennhada will have to devise a strategy to overcome the unpopularity of the interim government amongst the young unemployed andthe deprived industrial areas in the east. The unspoken concern is that many young protestors will join with the salafists in their demonstrations and threaten the country's stability. It will have to renew its sense of mission to pull Tunisia out of a very difficult post revolutionary situation. It will also have to consider how to repare Tunisia's shattered tourism indusrty which catered for 400,000 jobs prior to the revolution.
In Morocco too the islamist PJD party is holding its congress and the same process of evaluation and committment to its role in government as a party will also take place. The islamist parties in the Maghreb have taken political power inTunisia and Morocco they now have to devise strategies on how to keep it as the Turkish AK party has so successfully done.
The first Ennhada conference since the fall of Ben Ali was a moment to savour as so many Ennhada activists had spent many years in exile of prison.This is an understandable reason why Salafists have been treated with such restraint.Some 25,000-30,000 people are to attend the congress. The question of civil liberties and freedom of artistic expression is at the heart of islamist and secular polarisation in Tunisia and it remains unresolved.
Ennhada has still not found the formula which served the AK party so successfully in gaining popular support and keeping it. For all that however ,it seems that Ennhada still has the majority of voters behind it.
The Congress has to assess its strategy bearing in mind that the elections may be closer than the March 2013, date given by Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali. Lowering the high level of unemployment is the major concern as its stands at 700,000 with 200,000 graduates coming on to the jobs market every year. The economic and social situation remains difficult but is improving.
Ennhada will have to devise a strategy to overcome the unpopularity of the interim government amongst the young unemployed andthe deprived industrial areas in the east. The unspoken concern is that many young protestors will join with the salafists in their demonstrations and threaten the country's stability. It will have to renew its sense of mission to pull Tunisia out of a very difficult post revolutionary situation. It will also have to consider how to repare Tunisia's shattered tourism indusrty which catered for 400,000 jobs prior to the revolution.
In Morocco too the islamist PJD party is holding its congress and the same process of evaluation and committment to its role in government as a party will also take place. The islamist parties in the Maghreb have taken political power inTunisia and Morocco they now have to devise strategies on how to keep it as the Turkish AK party has so successfully done.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Ennhada-s-Natio...