Tunisia’s Young Democracy: ‘We Learn Democracy By Practicing It’
“We Learn Democracy By Practicing It”
Alexandra Schade talked to the Tunisian activist Amira Yahyaoui about the challenges of democratization, the danger of Islamic radicalism, and the lack of media coverage about Tunisia.
The European: You returned to Tunisia after the revolution to found the NGO “Al Bawsala.” What is the focus of your work?
Yahyaoui: We cover the constitutional assembly through the internet platform marsad.tn, we publish the voting results, the attendance records of the representatives and their voting records. In late August, we sued the assembly over their restrictive handling of information.
The European: Similar projects exist elsewhere as well…
Yahyaoui: Marsad.tn launched in the fall of 2011. I later got to know Gregor Hackmack, who runs the German platform “Abgeordnetenwatch.” I was very impressed by their work and especially by the ability to facilitate interaction between politicians and their constituents online. We will implement a question-and-answer system in Tunisia later this year, and we have cooperated closely with the Germans to make it happen.
The European: There’s one crucial difference: Germany is an established democracy, Tunisia is not. Do you think that online political engagement will work in Tunisia?
Yahyaoui: It’s already working! You don’t have to live in a democracy to want democracy - the Arab Spring showed as much. The first voting results we published created quite a stir. The vote concerned the chairmanship of the Tunisian National Bank, and the government had proposed a candidate from the old regime. For the first time, Tunisians could see how their representatives voted, or if they were even in attendance. Some members of the government party voted against the proposed candidate and have now become very popular. Others have been attacked by their colleagues for failing to attend.
The European: Many politicians must not like this increased transparency…
Yahyaoui: Every time I go to the parliament, I am being followed at each step. I don’t have the right to attend committee meetings, but when nobody is there I open the door and walk right in. And I tweet whatever people say, up to the point where I am kicked out again. Of course they don’t like it, and of course they don’t like to see voting results published. The results aren’t usually made public, but we go to parliament with cameras and film the voting. If we are not sure how someone voted, we call them and ask.
The European: You put all information online. How many people do you reach?
Yahyaoui: Not many. In Tunisia, only 37% of the population has internet access, and many think that internet equals Facebook. Our articles are spread quite widely through Facebook, and that’s good.
But we also want to see journalists writing about the work we do. That’s how we can reach more people. It’s our next step.