Tunisia: 'President Saied settles scores with anyone who doesn't submit to his rule'

No social milieu is safe from the repression that is spreading throughout the country. The witch-hunt could provoke a backlash against the Tunisian president, according to political scientist Michel Camau.

Published on June 2, 2023, at 4:00 pm (Paris) 4 min read Lire en français

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Repression is in full swing in Tunisia against those who challenge Kais Saied's monopolization of power, or who are simply critical. Activists and leaders of political parties, lawyers and journalists are being arrested on charges of "plotting against State security or the Head of State," "spreading false news" or "money laundering."

What helped caused this wave of repression is the empowerment of the country's security apparatus, freed from procedural constraints and the weight of police unions. On the president's initiative, an infernal state apparatus is being deployed, hugely increasing the number of raids triggered by wiretaps, surveillance of homes, monitoring of social media and reports by dubious informers. All that remains is for the judiciary, which has been purged and is subject to presidential injunctions, to "judicialize" the prosecutions and script the supposed plots and other crimes and misdemeanors.

The forthcoming trials will not be shown like the sinister Moscow trials (from 1936 to 1938) based on the "confessions" of the accused. The show already takes place before the trials. They consist of recurrent diatribes by the president in front of the cameras, during interviews with particular officials. During these appearances, the president denounces the plotters, traitors and enemies of the people, without naming them but referring to them as "they." He uses a Koran-type rhetoric that evokes the unbelievers and the corrupt.

'Them' versus 'us'

Repression involves two modes of stigmatization. The first is the staging of the struggle of "the people" – a mythical people – against their enemies, traitors and corrupt elements allied to foreign interests. The president presents himself as the spokesperson and defender of this threatened and robbed "people." He engages in the eradication of political parties and an attempt to neutralize intermediary bodies inclined to the expression of critical opinions. He blames them for all of the country's ills and shortcomings.

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