La “Primavera araba” nella stampa inglese e francese

anno I, n.2, 2011
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La “Primavera araba” nella
stampa inglese e francese
Alessia D'Annibale
Dalla rassegna delle principali testate giornalistiche francesi e inglesi emerge un particolare interesse per le questioni relative alla "ʺPrimavera araba"ʺ. Ecco alcuni titoli esemplificativi: 1. "ʺLes Tunisiens se prennent au leu de la démocratie"ʺ e "ʺLa nuovelle proudière du Shael"ʺ – Le Figaro – 19 e 20/10; 2. "ʺActivist set to serve as Tunisia PM"ʺ e "ʺMubarak has gone but security service stays"ʺ – Financial Times – 22/11; 3. "ʺAnd the winner is ... -­‐‑ Islamists, elections and the arab spring"ʺ – The Guardian – 22/11; 4. "ʺL'ʹheure de la vérité pour les généraux égyptien"ʺ – Le Monde – 23/11; 5. "ʺL'ʹinexorable espansion d'ʹAl-­‐‑Qaida au Maghreb islamique"ʺ – Le Figaro – 25/11; 6. "ʺEn Egypte, la police reste un facteur de troubles – Les manifestations sont reprimées par des forces de l'ʹordre ultraviolentes, comme avant la révolution"ʺ – Le Monde – 26/11. Wadah Khanfar (già Direttore di Al-­‐‑Jazeera) nell'ʹarticolo "ʺThose who support democracy must welcome the rise of political Islam – From Tunisia to Egypt, Islamists are gaining the popular vote. Far from threatening stability, this makes it a real possibility"ʺ – The Guardian – 28/11, vuole mettere in guardia da estreme semplificazioni e da letture dei fatti con chiavi interpretative non corrette il cui rischio è quello di distorcere la realtà e non anno I, n.2, 2011
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favorire la comprensione delle ragioni storico-­‐‑politiche alla base delle scelte di questo momento storico. «È questa interazione fra gli Islamisti e gli altri che da un lato garantirà la maturazione della transizione democratica araba, dall’altro condurrà ad un consenso e ad una stabilità politica araba che è mancata per decadi» afferma l’autore.  «Ennhada, the Islamic party in Tunisia, won 41% of the seats of the Tunisian constitutional assembly last month, causing consternation in the west. But Ennahda will not be an exception on the Arab scene. Last Friday the Islamic Justice and Development Party took the biggest share of the vote in Morocco and will lead the new coalition government for the first time in history»;  «And tomorrow Egypt'ʹs elections begin, with the Muslim Brotherhood predicted to become the largest party. There may be more to come. Should free and fair elections be held in Yemen, once the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh falls, the Yemeni Congregation for Reform, also Islamic, will win by a significant majority. This pattern will repeat itself whenever the democratic process takes its course»;  «In the west, this phenomenon has led to a debate about the "ʺproblem"ʺ of the rise of political Islam. In the Arab world, too, there has been mounting tension between Islamists and secularists, who feel anxious about Islamic groups»;  «Many voices warn that the Arab spring will lead to an Islamic winter, and that the Islamists, though claiming to support democracy, will soon turn against it. In the west, stereotypical images that took root in the aftermath of 9/11 have come to the fore again»;  «First, we must define our terms. "ʺIslamist"ʺ is used in the Muslim world to describe Muslims who participate in the public sphere, using Islam as a basis. It is understood that this participation is not at odds with democracy»; anno I, n.2, 2011
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 «In the west, however, the term routinely describes those who use violence as means and an end. This disconnect in the understanding of the term in the west and in the Muslim world was often exploited by despotic Arab regimes to suppress Islamic movements with democratic political programmes. It is time we were clear»;  «Reform-­‐‑based Islamic movements, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, work within the political process. They learned a bitter lesson from their armed conflict in Syria against the regime of Hafez al-­‐‑Assad in 1982, which cost the lives of more than 20,000 people and led to the incarceration or banishment of many thousands more. The Syrian experience convinced mainstream Islamic movements to avoid armed struggle and to observe "ʺstrategic patience"ʺ instead»;  «Second, we must understand the history of the region. In western discourse Islamists are seen as newcomers to politics, gullible zealots who are motivated by a radical ideology and lack experience»;  «In fact, they have played a major role in the Arab political scene since the 1920s. Islamic movements have often been in opposition, but since the 1940s they have participated in parliamentary elections, entered alliances with secular, nationalist and socialist groups, and participated in several governments – in Sudan, Jordan, Yemen and Algeria. They have also forged alliances with non-­‐‑Islamic regimes, like the Nimeiri regime in Sudan in 1977»;  «A number of other events have had an impact on the collective Muslim mind, and have led to the maturation of political Islam»;  «However, political Islam has also faced enormous pressures from dictatorial Arab regimes, pressures that became more intense after 9/11. Islamic institutions were suppressed. Islamic activists were imprisoned, tortured and killed. Such experiences gave rise to a profound bitterness. Given the history, it is only natural that we should hear overzealous slogans or intolerant threats from some activists. Some of those now at the forefront of election campaigns anno I, n.2, 2011
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were only recently released from prison. It would not be fair to expect them to use the voice of professional diplomats»;  «Despite this, the Islamic political discourse has generally been balanced. The Tunisian Islamic movement has set a good example. Although Ennahda suffered under Ben Ali'ʹs regime, its leaders developed a tolerant discourse and managed to open up to moderate secular and leftist political groups. The movement'ʹs leaders have reassured Tunisian citizens that it will not interfere in their personal lives and that it will respect their right to choose. The movement also presented a progressive model of women'ʹs participation, with 42 female Ennahda members in the constitutional assembly»;  «The Islamic movement'ʹs approach to the west has also been balanced, despite the fact that western countries supported despotic Arab regimes. Islamists know the importance of international communication in an economically and politically interconnected world»; Now there is a unique opportunity for the west: to demonstrate that it will no longer support despotic regimes by supporting instead the democratic process in the Arab world, by refusing to intervene in favour of one party against another and by accepting the results of the democratic process, even when it is not the result they would have chosen. Democracy is the only option for bringing stability, security and tolerance to the region, and it is the dearest thing to the hearts of Arabs, who will not forgive any attempts to derail it»;  «The region has suffered a lot as a result of attempts to exclude Islamists and deny them a role in the public sphere. Undoubtedly, Islamists'ʹ participation in governance will give rise to a number of challenges, both within the Islamic ranks and with regard to relations with other local and international forces»;  «Islamists should be careful not to fall into the trap of feeling overconfident: they must accommodate other trends, even if it means making painful concessions. Our societies need political consensus, and the participation of all political groups, regardless anno I, n.2, 2011
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of their electoral weight. It is this interplay between Islamists and others that will both guarantee the maturation of the Arab democratic transition and lead to an Arab political consensus and stability that has been missing for decades». Alain Frachon (Direttore editoriale di Le Monde) nell'ʹarticolo "ʺLes 'ʹprintemps arabe'ʹ, les islamistes et les autres"ʺ – Le Monde 9/12, ritiene che i cambiamenti in atto non derivino che dalle scelte del passato, quelle dei dittatori decaduti che hanno in qualche modo favorito l’ascesa dei movimenti islamisti a scapito delle forze più moderate. Ma oggi i tempi sono cambiati, anche i più estremisti come i salafiti sono ormai consapevoli che la loro esistenza politica passa attraverso la legittimazione elettorale. L’autore sottolinea in particolare che:  «Après les moments lyrico-­‐‑révolutionnaire, retour au réel: la force dominante dans le monde arabe, ce sont les islamistes. Pas les courageux jeunes gens qui ont risqué leur vie au nom des libertés-­‐‑d'ʹexpression, de mœurs, de rêve»;  «Première leçon. Le pouvoir ne revient pas aux gentils utilisateurs de Twitter, Facebook et autres 'ʹréseaux sociaux'ʹ; il se prend à l'ʹancienne, avec des partis de militants bien organisés comme ceux des islamistes. Les élections ne se décident pas dans les cafés Internet»;  «Le premier tour des élections législatives égyptiennes a vu, cette semaine, l'ʹécrasement des partis laïques, les amis de Wael Ghonim, et la victoire des partis islamistes. Ceux-­‐‑ci l'ʹont aussi emporté en Tunisie lors d'ʹélections à une Assemblée constituante. Au Caire comme à Tunis, les "ʺFrères"ʺ, ces tenants d'ʹun islam politique censé avoir réponse à tout, n'ʹont pourtant pas été à l'ʹorigine du "ʺprintemps arabe"ʺ : ils ont pris le train en marche. Qui a dit: les révolutions profitent rarement à ceux qui les font?»;  «Deuxième leçon. Cette situation était prévisible, la déroute des laïques égyptiens l'ʹétait moins. On se rassurera en citant une étude sur l'ʹopinion arabe réalisée par l'ʹuniversité du Maryland et qu'ʹévoque cette semaine le anno I, n.2, 2011
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site Telos. Dans les cinq pays arabes concernés par ce sondage -­‐‑ Liban, Egypte, Jordanie, Maroc, Emirats arabes unis -­‐‑, la puissance étrangère qui suscite le plus d'ʹadmiration est la Turquie»;  «A tous ceux qui seraient tentés de comparer la situation égyptienne avec la prise du pouvoir par les mollahs au lendemain de la révolution iranienne, en 1979, Jean-­‐‑Pierre Filiu, professeur à Sciences Po, expert du monde arabe, rétorque : "ʺIl y a une grosse différence. Tous les mouvements islamistes, même les plus extrémistes comme les salafistes, estiment cette fois que leur existence politique passe par la légitimité électorale."ʺ Début de sécularisation ?  «Troisième leçon. La victoire des islamistes a des causes culturelles, économiques et sociales profondes. Mais elle a aussi été provoquée par les dictateurs déchus. Hosni Moubarak comme le Tunisien Zine El-­‐‑Abidine Ben Alì n'ʹont eu de cesse d'ʹéradiquer toutes les formations laïques susceptibles de leur faire de l'ʹombre»;  «Pire: Moubarak comme Ben Ali ont favorisé l'ʹémergence des salafistes, partisans d'ʹune théocratie absolue, pour contrer les Frères musulmans, la branche traditionnelle de l'ʹislam politique. L'ʹapparition de ces extrémistes, explique le professeur Filiu, est 'ʹle dernier coup de poignard dans le dos porté par ces dictateurs à leur peuple'ʹ»;  «Quatrième leçon. A l'ʹadresse de l'ʹEurope et des Etats-­‐‑Unis, les proches des régimes tombés lors du 'ʹprintemps arabe'ʹ commentent la montée en force des partis islamistes sur le ton du reproche : 'ʹOn vous l'ʹavait bien dit'ʹ, 'ʹIl ne fallait pas laisser tomber Moubarak'ʹ (ou Ben Ali). Le premier ministre israélien, Benjamin Nétanyahou, critique Barack Obama: l'ʹAméricain est accusé d'ʹavoir abandonné son allié égyptien»;  «'ʹStupidité, écrit très justement Thomas L. Friedman dans le New York Times. Les dictateurs arabes ont été chassés par le peuple et personne n'ʹaurait pu les sauver'ʹ. Ceux qui croient le contraire se trompent d'ʹépoque».