Bahraini Dissidents Deem What Happened in Tunisia a Coup D'état

2021-08-01 - 8:52 p

Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): Bahrainis, like the rest of the world, are following what is happening in the Tunisian Republic, after the Tunisian president, with the help of the country's military and security forces, dismissed the government and suspended the Parliament, in the first strongholds of the 2011 Arab Spring.

It is noteworthy that most opposition figures classified what was going on in Tunisia as a coup d'état. Bahraini opposition figure Ibrahim Sharif wrote: "Ending the only democratic experience in the Arab world is a plan to eliminate all hope of change," noting that pinning the mistakes of the experience on only the Ennahda [ Movement] aims at populist mobilization, as was the case with Egypt's democratic experience.

"The public's attitude towards coups can be understood [as] people who have lost their livelihoods and lost hope in corrupt or incompetent ruling elites, drifting behind populist slogans of a tyrannical ruler or opportunistic officer. But what drives educated elites to support coup d'état adventures?"

"What is important about the Tunisian situation is respect for the constitution, democracy, the circulation of power, and that it's not a repetition of the Egyptian situation" Fadel Abbas, former president Al-Wahdawi tweeted. He went on to say that Tunisia is a democratic Arab country that is renewable only once every five years; has a new president and different government; a case we hope spreads in the Arab world and doesn't change regardless of the developments.

Adel Marzouk, editor-in-chief of Eye on Gulf Initiative - the Gulf House, was frank to say that the secular forces and left-wing groups that stand with Ennahda's political and security liquidation will face the same fate. Options are clear; respect for the State, its institutions and the provisions of the Constitution, resorting to early elections or accepting the dictatorship and its provisions.

Human rights activist Abdulnabi Al-Ekri said that "the dream of the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia is democracy and a successful exception to the Arab Spring revolutions. This dream is dissipated by the coup d'état of President Qais Said on state institutions and the undermining of fragile democracy. Correction is required, not a coup d'état and the monopoly of power. The people of Tunisia will not squander its revolution."

Journalist and writer Abbas Bou Safwan described what is happening in Tunisia as "a full-fledged coup d'état which is strongly condemned. The Arabs are retreating with this step, and tyranny is winning. We hope that Tunisians regain their revolution and address their differences in accordance with the Constitution which Said staged a miserable coup d'état against."

Figures close to the Bahraini government expressed satisfaction with the decisions of the Tunisian president, Said Al-Hamad wrote some tweets gloating against Rashid Ghannouchi. Meanwhile, it was clear that Sawsan Al-Shaer supports the coup and is against democracy from the tweets that she chose to retweet.

"This pledge is historic and important, so that the reintroduction of the constitution is not delayed, and that not every Tunisian president repeats the experience. Let this be a unique experience in Tunisian political history, this is important for Tunisia and all Arab countries and societies, the legitimacy of the so-called freeze, derived from the goal of establishing the democratic path," lawyer Abdullah Hachem said.

Assistant Undersecretary in the Ministry of Education Mohammad Mubarak wrote on Twitter: "Real experience in the Arab world has shown that the Muslim Brotherhood is the first enemy of the peoples, and that once it acquires the government system in any country, whether in whole or in part, it is filled with corruption and subversion."

On the other hand, it became clear that members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Bahrain (Al-Menbar) are conservative, as none of them have expressed any position, or even retweeted any tweet rejecting the coup against the democratic process in Tunisia, where their ally Ennahda had the largest share.

 

Arabic Version