[Interview] “Thank you for remembering the Tunisian Jasmine Revolution”

 Korean Ver.
▶[인터뷰] “튀니지 ‘재스민 혁명’을 기억해줘 고맙습니다”

The world was surprised by Arab Spring, which was a democratic movement in the Arab world. No one suspected the democratic revolution would spread so quickly.
The Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia sparked the democratization of the Arab world and Africa at that time.

The Jasmine Revolution was a civil protest against the former President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali to force him out of 23 years of dictatorship. Western media organizations began calling it the Jasmine Revolution, which is the name of a flower easily seen in Tunisia.
The protest began in December 2010 with the death of a young man named Mohamed Bouazizi, who operated an illegal street vendor in the city of Sidi Bouzid located in the southeastern part of Tunisia. Bouazizi was 26 years old and although he had graduated from college, he was a street vendor because he couldn’t find a job. In order to protest against the crackdown by the police on illegal street vendors, he set himself on fire. The media did not report it properly but the story spread through SNS such as Twitter and Facebook and provoked people’s anger.

Jasmine Revolution was the first case to bring down the dictatorship with the uprising of the people rather than leading a coup d'état in the regions of Africa and the Arab nations. It sent a hopeful message to the neighboring countries that it is actually possible for people to overthrow dictatorship in their countries. In fact, many neighboring countries including Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Kuwait, who were under the dictatorship, actually joined in the revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests.

Last June, the organizing committee of Smart World Peace Forum 2013 (co chaired by Sang Myeon Lee, who is the president of Cheonji Daily, and Han Guk Han, world peace writer) presented the Smart World Peace Award to Tunisia, which contributed the the democratization of Arab nations. Tunisian Ambassador to Korea, Mohamed Ali Nafti attended the ceremony hosted by Cheonji Daily. He also had a good conversation with the organizing committee afterward with regards to the Jasmine Revolution and Tunisian history and culture.
Ambassador Nafti expressed his thanks for remembering the Jasmine Revolution when receiving the award. It has already been about two years since the revolution began and it has been fading from people’s memories. Ambassador Nafti repeatedly thanked the organizing committee of the forum for reappraising the historical value of the Jasmine Revolution. The ambassador stated that he had the same name as the person who set himself on fire. Ambassador Nafti said Tunisia has gone through difficult times since the revolution, but he emphasized how the nation was being democratized quickly.

One of the most famous Tunisian is General Hannibal, the general of the century. Ambassador Nafti is his descendant. “I was glad that many people recognized General Hannibal when I first came to Korea six months ago.” One of his goals is to make a movie about him so that many people could come to know more about him.
General Hannibal defeated the Roman soldiers during the Second Punic War. It was an event that changed the stereotype that Carthago (ancient name for Tunisia) was the nation famous for its navy. General Hannibal led 40,000 soldiers and 3,000 elephants through the Pyrenees and the Alps during the cold winter. In the Battle of Cannae in AD 216, he killed 50,000 of the 80,000 Roman soldiers. This battle was recorded as the war that killed the most number of people in a single day in the West until the Battle of Somme in 1916. Hannibal is known by his descendants as the “father of strategy” because he was a genius at combining different elements of war in order to bring out fighting power that was multiple times more than the number of soldiers and weapons he had. Also, he had extraordinary leadership skills. Most of his soldiers were mercenaries and were living in a far-off land in the enemy’s territory for seventeen years, and yet, they did not leave the front line or stir up a riot. People nowadays think that this was possible because of the respect the soldiers had for General Hannibal. When General Hannibal heard King Bithynia of Carthago had decided to hand himself over to the Roman army in 183 BC, he committed suicide by drinking poison.

It has been 44 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Tunisia. Ambassador Nafti is planning to hold a special event to encourage cultural exchange between the two countries.

Due to the abundance of cultural assets, Tunisia is referred to as an outdoor museum. Ambassador Nafti, who is representing his nation and has been appointed to Korea, had hoped that there would be an increase in cultural exchange between two nations. Also, he asked for Cheonji-Ilbo, which specializes in culture and history, to become a good partner.
Tunisia is described as a nation where its head is Europe, heart is Tunisia and feet are Africa because of its unique topographical features. While one can feel and experience Africa, more than half of its territory is the Sahara Desert. Tunisia, which is known as the blue jewel of the Mediterranean, had been invaded by many powerful countries for more than 3,000 years. Most recently, it achieved its independence after being colonized by France for approximately a hundred years.

With its rich historical heritage which range from Carthage, which was established by the Phoenicians during the BC period, to Rome, Byzantine Empire, Arab, and the Ottoman Empire, Tunisia has an abundance of historical monuments that attract more than seven million tourists every year. The famous historic site for the Carthage period is the port of Phoenicia, and for the Roman Empire, the public bath and theaters are popular tourist attractions. The Tunisia we encountered through Ambassador Nafti had made many sacrifices and fought for a long time to attain peace. Ironically, the numerous cultural monuments of Tunisia are a result of a painful history and sacrifices.

Perhaps it is due to Tunisia’s painful past, we were able to feel his earnestness and sympathy in the ambassador’s statement about how he wants to play an important role for cultural exchange between Tunisia and Korea. After Korea experienced 35 years of Japanese occupation, there was a war between North and South Korea. It has been sixty years since the Korean War and the fighting continues. We hope that true peace would be accomplished in both nations that have been yearning for it for so long.

by Song Tae-bok(xoqhr71@newscj.com)