Rescue First: a letter to the Destourians

Letter to the Destourians in particular and to Tunisians in general:

Rescue First

The Destourian movement is one of the largest intellectual and political families in Tunisia. No one has the right to monopolise its name or to set the conditions for belonging to it. It is an idea of Tunisia, and every system of thought necessarily evolves and renews itself, so that it cannot be confined within the limits of history and geography. It is also a set of values and principles that we serve, not ones we make use of.

This is my conception of the Destourian experience, as I have expressed it since 2015. For me it was never a political regime, nor an ideological doctrine in its own right. It is, if you will, a concept and a vision of Tunisia: a Tunisia that is dignified, free, safe, independent, sovereign, smart, developed and open… the Tunisia that refuses surrender, submission and despair, and rises up whenever dangers threaten its foundations. The Destourian movement is a vision for a better Tunisia and a method for more effective action; as such it is a human endeavour that errs and succeeds, open to criticism, evaluation and correction, like every civilised human work.

The Destourian idea, as I have understood it and committed myself to it, is a set of constants, values and principles carried by men and women at difficult, decisive moments, in order to rescue and to build… to rescue the country from the colonial threat and to build a strong, modern nation-state, rooted in its Arab and Islamic identity and engaged with its surroundings, in a dynamic that keeps pace with changes in the situation, in society and in the world.

That was yesterday’s challenge. Today neither the dangers nor the methods of building are the same. Tunisia has changed, and so have its needs and priorities. If the Destourian idea wants to be as active and useful as it was yesterday, it must renew itself, open up and keep pace with change, in word and deed, in method and practice, with no monopoly on thought and no exclusion of others…

Yes, Tunisia today needs more than ever a renewed and vibrant Destourian idea that contributes to rescue and reconstruction… Whoever seeks to deny the Destourians their right to political participation and action seeks in fact to deprive the country of a hope of rescue; and whoever seeks to constrain the Destourians and reduce them to a historical period or a rigid framework not only neglects the duty of rescue, but deepens the wounds further and stifles hope for the future.

Whether you belong to the old generation or the new, rising one, whether you are conservative or progressive, a party member or independent, none of this takes away your Destourian identity or your patriotism… But to sell your conscience and your country, to give up its sovereignty, to justify corruption and legitimise mediocrity, to feed hatred and spread discord… that is folly, a deviation and an offence against the nation. Whoever wrongs the nation wrongs the Destourians, and whoever serves the nation well serves them well: we stand wherever our country’s interest lies, for the Destourian by belonging is a patriot by loyalty. This has always been my understanding of the Destourian identity, and I will not depart from it.

Today, as Tunisia lives through one of its darkest periods, how much we need to draw inspiration from a legacy the Destourians have preserved, so that all Tunisians may benefit from it. For a victory for Tunisia is necessarily a victory for the Destourian idea. Every Destourian who cares for this country faces a duty of “double rescue”: rescuing the country from the bad situation into which it has fallen, and rescuing the Destourian family from attempts to distort and weaken it and to strike at its leaders and activists through arbitrary arrests, judicial prosecutions and all manner of harassment and defamation…

My belonging to the Destourian family, which I have never abandoned, prevents me from falling into the quagmire of polarisation and side battles into which those who have monopolised power, and turned opponents into enemies and conspirators, want to drag us. I will not further fuel conflicts or divide what is already divided. Nor will I exhaust my efforts excluding brothers, friends, those who disagree and rivals. I have never regarded politics as “amputation surgery”, or as a culture of elimination and exclusion.

The Destourian family is large, long-established, deep-rooted, broad and far-reaching. Some see in it a leader, some a party, and some a concept of the State, a model of development and a way of governing… I see in it an idea and a source of strength and inspiration. Some view it through nostalgia and longing for the past; I view it through the wide horizon of the future and the demands of a changing, pressing reality that will not wait. I view it through great principles that have formed, and will continue to form, the country’s safeguards and defences:

1 – A force for building: the Destourian movement was a genuine force for building, which helped lay the first foundations of an advanced society and build a modern, developing State that became a model in its region and sphere. Today, as the will to destroy has overcome the will to build and set Tunisia back years, Tunisians must recover this positive spirit to make a new start.

2 – A force for openness: the Destourians embodied the will of the people, all of the people’s will… with no room for exclusion or marginalisation… Everyone took part in the struggles for independence and then in building the modern State… The Destourians carried the torch and took responsibility for steering successive difficult stages, but they succeeded only when they opened up to all sensitivities, all segments and all forms of affiliation, widened the circle of participation and made the challenges a national matter rather than a sectional one.

3 – A force for unity: this brings us to the other value that has been one of the Destourian hallmarks, namely the ability to gather and unite, especially when facing decisive milestones in the country’s history… Tunisia fought all its great battles (independence, development, national sovereignty, major crises, the war on terrorism…) united around the value of “unbreakable national unity”, and this strengthened its resilience and protection.

Tunisia’s great affliction today is the drive to divide and scatter, which some have adopted as a method and a way of handling disagreements, conflicts and even crises. The Destourian idea, firmly founded on the principle of gathering and uniting, must take its rightful place and assume its historic responsibility to make Tunisia a matter of addition, not subtraction.

For decades Tunisia has tried division; let it now try sharing. It has tried rupture; let it try convergence. It has tried elimination; let it try reconciliation of hearts. It tried dialogue once and won the Nobel Prize. So why should dialogue not be its guide, and reconciliation its driving force? I do not mean reconciliation with corruption and tyranny, two malignant diseases that herald the ruin of civilisation and the break-up of nations. I mean reconciliation among Tunisians worn out by hatred, grudges and intrigue, reconciliation with all that is beautiful in this country’s history, and refusing to sweep away everything that went before in the name of possessing the absolute truth, building one’s legitimacy on excluding others, denying their existence and erasing every trace of them. My dream is that Tunisians will one day wake up and see around them not opponents and enemies, but brothers in faith and nation, united by far more than divides them.

4 – A force for action and work: faced with urgent milestones and challenges that could not wait, the Destourians shouldered their responsibilities and rolled up their sleeves to act and work… They acted and worked more than they talked and quarrelled, in keeping with Bourguiba’s thinking, one of whose key mottos was: “The strength of hope and the will to work for a better tomorrow”… In this spirit, in less than two decades, they helped transform a country drained by the colonial era into a model for others. And in the same spirit, hope remains strong that the Destourians will contribute fully to the effort of rescue and recovery.

5 – A patriotic force: perhaps one of the most distinctive qualities of the Destourians, before power struggles led them astray, was putting the national interest above individual and sectional interests; the nation was the aim and the purpose, and for it the Destourians gave everything they had.

How much our country needs selflessness today, and to place the nation above conflicts and disputes… a nation over which we may differ, but which we do not abandon… a nation we compete to serve, not to make use of.

6 – A force of competence and excellence: in a world where globalisation has raised the bar and the conditions for prosperity and sustainable development, a world of fierce competition with no room for mediocrity, hesitation or improvisation, a world where crises follow one another and none is like the last, Tunisia must, if it is to take its rightful place among peoples and nations, revive a value and constant of Destourian thought: competence and excellence. The hope of the Destourians, and the hope of us all today, is to recover the Tunisia that rewards merit, the Tunisia of Bourguiba’s thought whose motto was “Through knowledge and work, the joy of life”, the Tunisia known for investing in “grey matter”…

My belonging to Destourian thought is authentic, not fundamentalist. I take from it what benefits the country and contributes to the rescue effort. And I am certain that no sincere and genuine Destourian will stay on the sidelines, or shirk the duty of rescue, while watching the country being mishandled and its capacities, wealth and foundations squandered. And to some I say: attempts to split the Destourian family will not succeed, for it is never more united, supportive and strong than when it wages the battle of rescue and rises to confront a danger threatening the nation.

My brothers and sisters in the Destourian family, citizens of my beloved country: I will not be among those who call for discord and division, even if I were to remain alone. I will not be the voice of hatred, hostility and injustice towards one’s own… Rather, I will strive to be the voice of wisdom, reason, reconciliation and unity.

I will not be the voice of a group, a party or a faction… but the voice of “a Tunisia that has room for everyone”, a Tunisia “united, mutually supportive and cohesive”, in keeping with the words of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: “like a building whose parts support one another”.

God Almighty said: “The believers are but brothers, so make peace between your brothers.” God the Almighty has spoken the truth.

May God protect Tunisia

Mondher Zenaidi