ALLONS ENFANTS….
(it’s time for a day of glory)

Rouget deLisle never could have imagined how much of an impact the stirring lyrics of his anthem would later have on so many other parts of the world….beyond France. His intent was probably simply to provide an evocative grand theme, and focus, for what was, at the time, an otherwise chaotic mass of a popular uprising against the oppressive system of its –ancient regime-, and, as a rallying call to arms against threatening invasions by its allies.

Today, Tunisia faces a somewhat similar situation, one where the pent up anger of the people from decades of being ruled by a politically oppressive and kleptocratic regime, could no longer be tolerated. And as we have seen elsewhere with such situations, that pent up anger usually bursts with uncontrollable explosive fury.

But the one constant in these spontaneous popular revolts against homegrown tyranny is, unhappily, a far too common negative result. That is, once the euphoria of being free of their oppressors evaporates, it is too often followed by confusion, incoherence of purpose, and violent debates about what to do next. All of which inevitably leading to factionalism which, as time goes on, usually ends up with a particularly strident and radical one seizing control, submerging the original ideals and aspirations of that popular revolt, into a spiral of bloody-minded zealotry and renewed oppression, ultimately followed by a new dictatorship even worse than the one the people rose up against in the first place. France, Russia, China, and many others, all followed that unhappy path. Even America barely escaped from that end after its own revolution.

We can only hope that the Tunisian people will have the wisdom and understanding of how to avoid such pitfalls and traps unleashed by these terribly destructive forces.

If Tunisia is to avoid such a dismal scenario, it will have to marshal all of the best elements of its national character, to help focus that popular energy on one thing, and one thing only. That is, to immediately create a mechanism to convoke a representative constituent assembly. An assembly whose only mission will be to draft a new constitution that will reflect the true aspirations of all Tunisians, then to be presented to all its citizens for ratification through a national referendum on it. Nothing else will do.

To that end, therefore, the people’s focus should be directed on that as a priority above all else, to get them to organize and form up local elections as rapidly as possible, as the means to select the delegates to be sent to such a constituent assembly. In the interim they can allow a caretaker government to maintain civil order, regardless of its composition, knowing that, ultimately, it will be dissolved, and sent packing. The fact that their Army seems to have sided with the people, suggests that the interim government will not hinder that process (no matter how much some of its elements might want to do so).

It will be a delicate process, no doubt, and the odds are massively aligned against them, but the long history and character of Tunisians as being perhaps less volatile, and more inclined to rational and considered decision making, than most of their near neighbors, gives some hope that they can succeed with that process, with a minimum of chaos and destruction.
If so, Tunisia will have truly displayed that its day of glory….has arrived.

CENTURION