IDENTIFYING "CREDIBLE VOICES" IN MUSLIM COMMUNITIES

S E C R E T TUNIS 001264

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA/PPD, NEA/MAG (HARRIS),CTCC (VAN DE VELDE)

E.O. 12958: DNG: CO 09/11/2017
TAGS: KISL KPAO PTER TS
SUBJECT: IDENTIFYING "CREDIBLE VOICES" IN MUSLIM COMMUNITIES

REF: STATE 122288

Classified By: Ambassador Robert Godec for reasons 1.4(b) and (d)


1. (S) SUMMARY. In general, it is GOT officials who speak out
against religious extremism and terrorism on a regular and
open basis. President Ben Ali, GOT ministers and La Presse
(the official media outlet of the GOT) regularly issue
statements warning against the threat of extremist ideologies
and groups. Given the control of the GOT over the media
environment, universities and public speaking events,
Tunisian intellectuals, academics and other media figures are
less likely to speak about these issues in an open forum or
with as much credibility as the "designated" GOT
spokespersons. Few are credible or influential among
Tunisians, let alone with any wider pan-Arab audience. In
this atmosphere, there are still a few individuals who
present credible arguments against extremism, albeit with
criticism of US policy in the region as a subtext for their
listeners. However, few of these individuals are well known
outside of Tunisia. END SUMMARY.

GOVERNMENT MESSENGERS
--------------


2. (S) In Tunisia, it is GOT leaders themselves who speak out
against extremism. One prominent, secular civil-society
leader, when queried about who she thought was the best
personality to speak out on these issues answered, "President
Ben Ali, no question." Meanwhile, a local Sufi religious
leader opined that, although the Minister of Religious
Affairs often speaks out against extremism, his words are not
effective, especially among those in the population with
Islamist leanings.

CREDIBLE JOURNALISTS
--------------


3. (S) There are a number of Tunisian journalists who have
incorporated thoughtful commentary on the dangers of
extremism and the trap of terrorism as a solution for
political or societal problems. These journalists all write
for magazines and newspapers published in the capital city,
Tunis, and most are between the ages of 35 and 45 years old.
They are Sunni; however, they are primarily secularist and
supportive of the Tunisian secular political system. All
regularly write pieces critical of US policy and actions in
the Middle East, which lends them credibility with their
readers. These journalists speak out against extremism, not
because they agree with the US position or rhetoric on this
issue, but because they are convinced that violence and
terrorism are dangerous for the stability of their country
and the future of the region. However, on recent trips around
the country, various Embassy officers have noted that few
Tunisians are actually reading the papers whose total
publication numbers are (charitably) 300,000 copies daily for
a population of over ten million people. Post regularly
invites these journalists to press events and receptions.
Only one of these media outlets (Dar As-Sabah) has received a
USG grant.


A. Kamel Ben Younes, private daily As Sabah:
While no fan of US foreign policy, Ben Younes is generally
balanced in his reporting and has regularly spoken out
against violence and extremism and for dealing with the root
causes of youth disenfranchisement in his editorials. Ben
Younis is also a correspondent for the BBC Arabic service and
well known in regional media circles.


B. Mohamed Moncef Ben M'rad, private weekly Al Akhbar Al
Joumhouriya:
Ben M'Rad is something of a patriarch of the Tunisian
journalistic community, and his thoughtful op-eds are the
most interesting element of an otherwise "light" newspaper.
He, too, has weighed in on many of the issues of the day to
oppose violence and extremism and encourage a rational
approach to dealing with Israel. Most recently, he offered
strong support for the position of As Sabah/Le Temps and Zied
El Heni of the Association des journalistes tunisiens (AJT)
in favor of the "Dove of Peace" youth art competition,
discussions of which intimated the need for normalization
with Israel.


C. Hmida Ben Romdhane, government daily La Presse:
Despite his somewhat restricted position at government daily
La Presse, Ben Romdane does weave an anti-extremist and
anti-violence thread through much of his work, and has even
privately circulated some editorials along these lines that
were rejected or censored by his editor for suggesting
greater Arab responsibilities for such issues.


D. Borhane Bsaies, freelance journalist, often publishing in
private daily As Sabah, private weekly magazine Realites and
al-Jazeera:
While often vehemently opposed to United States foreign
policy and very close to Tunisian powers-that-be, Bsaies is
reasoned and open-minded in his approach and does speak out
against terrorism. Since he stands far away from the US on
most issues, he is likely to have the greatest credibility in
the most anti-US circles.


E. Zied El Heni, As Sahafa/AJT:
While his work as a journalist at government As Sahafa is
more staid, El Heni's great contribution is as an activist
for press freedom and other issues within the Association des
journalistes tunisiens (AJT) and in the greater journalistic
community. Most recently he has been blasted online and by
some other journalists for an interview he gave to
Magharebia.com in which he lauded a joint Arab-Israeli peace
art project and suggested that normalization was the logical
path to take.


F. Ridha Kefi, Le Temps/L'Expression:
Certainly the most forward-leaning of Tunisian journalists on
this topic, Kefi has regularly and at some personal cost
spoken out against terrorism and the sensationalist
journalism that fans the flames of extremism. He was
particularly vocal in the wake of recent terrorist incidents
in Tunisia (December 2006-January 2007) and in decrying the
hero-worship that followed the execution of Saddam Hussein.
While Kefi is a strong voice, his association with a
partially MEPI-funded series of roundtables may hurt his
credibility in the most anti-US circles. Kefi is well known
regionally for his previous stint at Jeune Afrique magazine
and has participated in conferences on media and political
issues.


G. Zyed Krichene, Ralits
While not usually the first to speak out, Krichene has
regularly used his pulpit as editor-in-chief of Tunisia's
main news weekly to condemn violence and extremism, both
under his own byline and by facilitating the publication of
commentators like Bohane Bsaies.

CREDIBLE INTELLECTUALS
--------------


4. (S) Few academics, intellectuals, universities or think
tanks in Tunisia deal directly with the topic of terrorism or
extremism. There are no university departments solely devoted
to political science where US foreign policy or global
terrorism are discussed. And, the institution dedicated to
training future imams and religious scholars, the Zeitouna,
is firmly under the control of the GOT. Several conferences
were held in 2006-07 on the topic of religious tolerance by
the universities in Tunis, but participants were careful to
leave discussion of controversial topics to the GOT. There
are a few exceptions to this general trend:


A. Professor AbdelJelil Temimi. Dr. Temimi, in his
seventies, is the founder of the Foundation Temimi pour la
recherche scientifique et l'information (FTERSI) and a well
known scholar of Ottoman and Morisco Studies. He has
published over 29 books and 120 articles of his own research
and dozens of edited works. Temimi is familiar to academic
circles in the US and Europe, as well as the Middle East.
His research center, originally founded in Zaghoun in the
1980's - but now in Tunis, holds weekly seminars, many of
which are on sensitive topics such as censorship in the Arab
world or why democracy has not progressed in the region. The
majority of participants in his seminars are academics,
diplomats and intellectuals. When permitted by the GOT, he
publishes the proceedings of his conferences (currently his
volumes on a series of seminars on censorship are being
censored in Tunisia and he is now seeking a publisher outside
the country). According to Dr. Temimi, he has been pressured
over the last few years by the GOT and "unknown" assailants
to desist his indirect criticism of GOT policies by holding
seminars highlighting the vision of the former President
Bourgouiba and, instead, to hold a seminar on President Ben
Ali and the accomplishments of his tenure in office. He
continues to resist. This academic honesty and courage give
him credibility and his reknown in western academic circles
offers him some protection.


B. Hamadi Redissi, an author and academic, has published many
articles supporting a moderate Islam and secular policies.
Dr. Redissi is a professor at the University of Tunis in the
Faculty of Law and Political Science. He is the author of
numerous articles and books on Islam and Politics. A
compendium of many of these works covers several pages on
Google. Redissi is outspoken; however, he has little
influence in Tunisia outside a small intellectual elite. He
regularly attends regional and European and US conferences,
presenting papers on a variety of topics relating to Islam
and politics. Redissi will be a visiting scholar at Yale
University for the 2008 spring semester.


C. Taieb Baccouche, an independent thinker and respected
intellectual with an important past role in Tunisia's largest
labor union, has influence among orgnaized labor rank and
file. He also enjoys credibility as a human rights activist
in the Arab world - outside of Tunisia.


D. Nejib Chebbi, an articulate and engaging intellectual and
the former Secretary General of the oppostion Popular
Democratic Party (PDP),is also a founding member of the
Movement of 18 October, which for the first time brought
together secular and moderate Islamist opposition to the GOT.
While he is vilified by some secularists for being in "bed
with the Islamists," he is widely respected among moderate
Islamists in Tunisia.

COMMENT
--------------


5. (S) This Ramadan, the GOT gave a permit for a new
religious radio station and website (at a time when many
other requests are pending). President Ben Ali recently gave
an exclusive interview to the station praising its
"moderation. " No doubt, this will be another effort by the
GOT to mold the message and influence the debate on religious
extremism in Tunisia. Journalist Borhan Bessais echoed the
theme of the president on 9/16 in As Sabah that the new
station, Zeitouna, "shows there is no contradiction between
Islam and modernity." Last year at this same time, the GOT
organized a concerted campaign against the veil. Ministers,
police, journalists and the Tunisian Women's Association
(Union national des femmes tunisiennes) coordinated to ban
the veil during Ramadan as a foreign import and against
Tunisian tradition. Several of the implementers of this
campaign, a GOT official and the head of the Tunisian Women's
Association, expressed their concern to the PAO that if they
did not work quickly, the influence of people like Amr Khaled
and stations like al Iqra would erode all the secular,
liberal progress that Tunisia has made over the last fifty
years. The GOT sees the threat clearly and has attempted to
take direct action, albeit with the unintended consequence of
decreasing their credibility with Islamists and those
disaffected with the government through drastic measures such
as last year's heavy-handed campaign of police removing veils
from students entering universities and women walking in the
street.
GODEC