In recent months, a new system of negotiations has been set up whereby Ennahdha in a Manichean way offers to all the caciques and the rotten of the old regime the possibility to remake a virginity on the condition of lending allegiance. What is a few malpractices and a few billion lost for the country, in front of the expertise and the know how that Hédi Jilani, for example, can bring to the “new masters of the country”? One must be truly naïve or particularly “believing” to think that the contribution of Abdelfateh Mourou to his defense and the recovery of “his property” is only legal.
If the Tunisian government today, especially in its Nahdhaoui component does not cease to remind us that it comes from the ballot box, it is clear that it is especially marked by its years of secrecy or of prison and that consequently, it is mostly immured in a paranoia that makes him lose all lucidity. Every day that goes by only puts forward a behavior and a state of mind totally … Zabaesque.
While the weekend is not completely finished and when the case Sami Fehri and his puppets makes the buzz and becomes the ultimate proof that freedom of expression is in danger in Tunisia, here is an artist, a Crazy King comes to put his two cents and pulls us a joker from his sleeve. A joker whose only one has the secret.
Lotfi Abdelli, current holder of the title of national symbol of the freedom of expression flouted, posts a video in which he makes his mea culpa for his wanderings passed during his one man show critic of Ennahdha and its derivatives and promises to stop his show. He announces in the wake that the end of his show does not mean the end of his career and that he is preparing a new “work” that fails to be 100% Hallal will be 100% anti-government. He even gives a taste of future games by saying that he would not be surprised if he ended up in a prison cell one day. However! For a stand up comedian, seriousness and gravity serve only to camouflage the comic fall that often ends the skit. He simply spoke to Lotfi Zitoun, the most publicized and aggressive member of the government, a real dog attack of Ennahdha and his uncle, Guru Rached Ghannouchi, reminding him that he was not a very minister. But that on the other hand, it could only be an olive that we swallow at the aperitif, a simple Kémia!
A crime of lese-majesty committed by a shameless jester towards “moralizing” rulers who sincerely believe they have an infinite legitimacy coming from the ballot boxes and confirmed by a divine right.
It did not take much for the pessimistic democrats to see in Lotfi Abdelli’s act and message the same consequences as the Sami Fehri affair. That is to say, he would also end up in jail. After all this government has demonstrated exceptional speed in suppressing freedom of expression by putting media directors in jail and clearly announcing that they were criminals even before some court does not care and too bad for the presumption of innocence. One would even regret that the killers of the martyrs of the revolution are not journalists or media people. It’s a safe bet that justice would have been done for a while now.
However; Lotfi Abdelli is another pair of sleeves. It is a crazy and friendly troubadour who first, spontaneously broke the stranglehold of fear by attacking ZABA before he even fled. Remember that he was the first to use the iconic phrase “clears” and even called it yogurt expired. To believe that the only references of Lotfi come from the agro-food industry.
In the popular imagination, Lotfi is a kind of Robin Hood who has more legitimacy than any of the neo-revolutionaries who were stuck in London and who did not see anything happen so they were busy sending messages to dictator, through his son-in-law Sakhr El Materi, to tell him that they were kind and that they were ready to collaborate with him.
Lotfi is above all a self-made man who has succeeded only thanks to his talent and that against all odds and despite a social environment of departure of the most difficult. Let’s not forget that beyond his role of troublemaker and free electron, Lotfi has now behind him a nice film career that has earned him some international awards and especially a CV actor who will mobilize very quickly the international artistic community at the first warning shot. It is enough to see the methods of this government to understand that they are finally only the illegitimate children of Ben Ali (still him). And like him, it’s cowards who recoil at the first push that takes place in the spotlight.
Finally, if it is difficult to prove with certainty that Lotfi Zitoun is not a kemia, we can say without much risk of being mistaken that Lotfi Abdelli is not a cachet of aspirin. It is not easy to swallow and it does not guarantee the end of headaches.
Hisham Ben khamssa
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