This statement on the revolutionary situation in Tunisia is from Al Mounadil-a, an Arabic-language website of the Fourth International, published by the Moroccan section.
After 23 years of tyranny, robbery and oppression, the dictator Ben Ali has been forced to flee Tunisia.
Since 1987, Ben Ali and his corrupt supporters, the families of his wife and his relatives, the Trabelsis and Materis have relied on a huge apparatus of repression to prop up a regime characterised by systematic plundering of the economy leading to humiliation and starvation of the people. He controlled a police force of 150,000. This equals one policeman for every 27 citizens.
The regime was a loyal client of French imperialism and the global financial institutions which cynically condoned the dictatorship of Ben Ali for the sake of their share in the so called "Tunisian Miracle" which made the country the Hong Kong of North Africa. Now the regime’s erstwhile backers have had a rude awakening by a true miracle, an explosion of popular anger from the victims of Ben Ali and the neoliberal policies of the World Bank.
The current revolt was sparked in Sidi Bouzid, a month ago, when the young Mohamed El-Bouazizi set fire to himself as a protest against unemployment and indignity. This fire turned into a popular flame which spread across Tunisia and rocked it to its foundations.
From one demonstration to another, from barricade to barricade and martyr to martyr; the uprising flourished and grew as it resolutely made its way towards the palaces of the Carthage torturer, demanding the head of the old dragon.
The old tyrant fled in panic - marking a great victory not just for the people of Tunisia but for all the oppressed and exploited peoples of the Maghreb, the Arab world region and countless millions across the globe. This is living proof of the indomitable will of the people and the possibility of revolution to bring down reactionary regimes across the Arab world.
The Tunisian revolution has made a huge step forward, but its fate is not yet decided. There are still enemies of the revolution to uproot and sweep aside. The remnants of the old regime have not yet been decisively defeated and the dragon of the counter-revolution could still rear its head.
The old state machine is tottering but still has control of the police force and other means of repression.
Therefore, the revolution will not succeed in achieving the hopes of the Tunisian people unless the old regime is smashed and replaced by a new government representing the revolutionary people. We need a government of the workers, poor peasants and popular masses overseeing the election of a constituent assembly to create a new constitution.
The revolutionary people cannot simply wait for an interim government to form. We must seek to form workers’ councils and people’s assemblies in factories, neighbourhoods and schools and also in the barracks to win sections of the army to the side of the revolution. Such councils should be convened at the local and national level and be based on directly elected delegates subject to immediate recall. The councils must be a revolutionary power to run the country and also to defend the gains of the revolution. They must oversee the arming of the people as a guarantee against both internal counter-revolution and the possibility of foreign intervention.
We cannot trust the former allies of Ben Ali who still remain. Beware the liberal politicians who now seek to ride to power on the coat-tails of the people’s victory! “All power to the revolutionary people!” is the slogan that should unite Tunisian revolutionaries.