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At the time of writing, Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi has taken over from Ben Ali. Ghannouchi is Ben Ali's second-in-command, a top leader of Ben ALi's CDR party, and a minister in the CDR government since 1986. A State of Emergency has been declared and the Army has imposed an indefinite ban on rallies. Shots have been fired at residents who took to the streets to celebrate the downfall of Ben Ali, forcing people to return to their homes. Evidently the CDR is still in control of the armed forces. What will be Ghannouchi's next move ? Will he try to placate the angry masses with promises of jobs and pursue the selfsame policies ? Will he call for "free" general elections (unlike the 2009 parody of an election that saw Ben ALi elected with over 80% of the vote) ? The corrupt elite and the ruling CDR party (since 1957 !) have taken the measure of popular discontent. It is however doubtful that they intend to change much in the way things are run in Tunisia, a country founded on corruption, nepotism and a powerful secret police that has literally thousands of informers in every neighborhood. The Tunisian left is deeply divided and has a long history of infiltration by the CDR's agents. The CDR will probably attempt to appease the people with vague promises of jobs and "democracy", while keeping a firm control over the military. IT is still far too early to celebrate, and Tunisian leftists are fuly aware of this. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
