Tunisia | When a dictator falls from the clouds

“But what did I do on the street? I served it! »

At the end of the line, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali does not have the voice of a dictator who reigned over Tunisia for 23 years, but rather that of a little boy who did not really understand why no one wanted to play with him anymore. him.

However, for three weeks thousands of Tunisians had been demonstrating and demanding an end to corruption and political repression. The departure of the president.

At the other end of the line, we hear the one who, during the call of January 14, 2011, was Minister of Defense, Ridha Griral. Covertly, he tries to make the head of state, who left the country the day before to escort his family to Saudi Arabia, understand that he had better not come back. “There is an anger in the street that we cannot describe,” he told the president. We cannot guarantee your safety. »

This fascinating phone call and several others that took place between the strongman and his close associates as his regime crumbled were made public on Thursday by the BBC for the 11^and anniversary of the Tunisian revolution.

Listening to these conversations where French and Arabic mingle, one has the impression of going back in time. To return to one of the highlights of the previous decade. At the height of the Arab Spring. At a time when the citizens of Tunisia and many Muslim-majority countries have realized the strength in numbers. When the dictators of the region understood that they were on ejection seats. At a moment that didn’t last.

While Ben Ali was talking on the phone from the plane that was taking him to exile, I was boarding a plane in Paris that was taking me to Tunis.

It was full to bursting, this plane. Full of Tunisians who wanted to be part of this revolutionary moment.

It was time for heroes. Those who stood up to Ben Ali and his clique, including our pilot. A few hours earlier, the 37-year-old commander had refused to help relatives of the president flee Tunisia to France. He received a long standing ovation from the passengers and held an impromptu press conference in the cockpit.

Because of the curfew, we had all spent the night on the floor of Tunis-Carthage airport before setting foot in the new Tunisia. No longer knowing who their bosses were, the border agents had replaced their uniforms with jeans and a t-shirt.

The street, she no longer knew what to do with herself, hesitating between torpor and joy. On-sight shooters lurked on rooftops, trying to wreak havoc on the transitional state. Despite this, the words flowed from the mouths of the Tunisians interviewed like lava from a volcano that had been thought to be inactive, but which was only dormant. Young and old now thought they were invincible, capable of anything. And it was contagious.

Eleven years later, the city center of Tunis is again the scene of demonstrations against the power in place. Again, Tunisians are asking their president to leave.

This president, Kaïs Saïed, they elected him democratically in 2019. In principle, he should have taken care to protect the achievements of the only revolution of 2011 which led to a democracy, but instead, last July , the populist took advantage of a period of popular discontent to appropriate almost all the powers by invoking an article of the Constitution.

Within hours, he suspended parliament, fired the government, sued a handful of politicians. It has since governed by decree.

At the beginning, he had the tacit support of a large part of the population, who could no longer stand the political mess and the economic slump, but the promises of a miracle recovery have since taken the water.

This week, on the eve of the anniversary of the revolution, Kais Saied imposed a curfew and banned all indoor and outdoor gatherings using the pandemic as justification.

This time, it doesn’t pass like a letter in the mail. Despite a large police deployment, there were hundreds of them on Friday shouting: “Down with the coup d’etat!” The people want an end to the coup! Many were supporters of the Islamist Ennhada party, but there were also leftists and liberals among the protesters. Human rights activists. Teenagers.

One of them, barely 15 years old, was severely beaten by the police, AFP journalists on the ground reported on Friday. Journalists were arrested. Water cannons and tear gas have returned to service.

It’s all starting to look suspiciously like January 2011.

Just before the awakening of the volcano.