The Pen, Part II: Living Through a Revolution

In case you haven't heard, Tunisians got rid of their dictator, Z. Ben Ali, after demonstrations that lasted a month and ended on January 14, 2011 when he slipped out of the country--his mafiosi family had preceded him, taking with them millions and bleeding the country. Although the demonstrations remained peaceful, there was bloodshed because the police shot at protesters, killed over three hundred, and wounded thousands. The Tunisian revolution was a first in the Arab world, followed by a successful movement in Egypt that involved millions of demonstrators, and massive protests in Bahrain, Yemen, Syria and Libya.  In Tunisia, a major factor was unemployment with 180,000 of the 700,000 unemployed (total population 10 million) being university graduates. Unemployment in some areas, especially interior towns, is still around 80 percent. So here was a mass of people with nothing to lose. The spark: a young man couldn't find work in his town, so he started selling vegetables from a wheelbarrow. The police told him he couldn't do it, there was some kind of altercation (the details remain fuzzy), so he went to the local government building and set himself on fire, a human torch. Now if he had done this in Tunis, nobody would've noticed, but in the towns, everyone is related to everyone else, so the protest marches started immediately and soon all of Tunisia joined in. Taken by surprise, the West just watched, while the French offered to send law enforcement "aid" to the Tunisian police, creating an awkward diplomatic situation after the dictator fled.

       The toughest part has been accomplished--dislodging a dictator generally approved of by the West. Serious problems remain. There were organized looters that arrived in towns at night and burned certain structures, especially the police and national guard stations. These people were presidential guards and the ruling party militia who were paid to provoke chaos and create a vacuum in power and social order so that Tunisians would beg the dictator to come back. Hmmmfff. Fat chance. Tunisians are no longer afraid. After 23 years of fear, they are freed and proud. They organized by neighborhoods to stop the thugs. All things were quiet in my street thanks to a neighborhood watch organized by people who sometimes hadn’t talked to each other in years. There suddenly appeared feelings of solidarity and responsibility. I find this impressive and very positive, for Tunisians have been unable to organize into any kind of real civil society because government policies have promoted fear and division in order to rule.

        Unfortunately, the corrupt infrastructure that served Ben Ali will be difficult to change. The press still appears to have serious problems and seems to be playing to mob rule rather than to the formation of a democracy “by the people and for the people.” After the initial euphoria (suddenly the internet worked right, everyone was critisizing everything, bureaucratic paperwork became more restrained, etc.—it feels so good to stop hitting your head against the wall), the “transition” period has been prolonged until elections in October, making it hard to enforce policies. People are discouraged because changes have not come about fast enough. To make matters worse, the Libyan people's very violent struggle to depose their very violent dictator, Gadaffi, is putting pressure on a fragile Tunisian economy and destabilizing the entire region.  

On a positive note and returning to the idea of the power of the Pen: One of the things that helped the Revolution was technology. People communicated by written text that included image (photos, videos) through Facebook, Twitter, and other internet sites. Thanks to Al-Jazira TV, news coverage was excellent and information flowed and continues to be available. Satellite dishes are all over Tunisia, even in poor areas, so everyone was on the same page. 

I propose, then, that the power of the Pen has adapted to the times and that there is hope that notions of truth and reason will not be muffled. The positive/negative reflecting images of this art quilt--with only a change in language--show that no matter what language, freedom, knowledge, and truth are the same for everyone, they are universal. 

The pens are executed in French knots. The model for this piece was my daughter's favorite fountain pen that she used through secondary school and--more importantly--it persevered in her sweaty hand through the grueling baccalaureate exams. Many years ago she said "That's the quilt I want on my office wall someday." She forgot that she said it, but I didn't. This summer "The Pen" has finally found a home in my daughter's office at an American university.

And I am honored to be a witness to Tunisian courage and the monumental changes that Tunisia has undergone.