In Tunisia, there is no separation between the struggle against government repression, for freedom of information, for human rights, and for better economic conditions. They are all embedded in the struggle for a better world.
This struggle extends into the wider Arab Maghreb region, where issues of political imprisonment and government repression persist, by governments such as that of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Egypt, the government of Morocco, and of course, the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Bassem Trifi of the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights spoke at the Dilemmas of Humanity conference in Tunis, Tunisia in September, on the centrality of the human rights struggle to the struggle against “social suffering”.
From this rostrum, I extend a warm and sincere greeting to the political prisoners in Tunisia and all prisoners of conscience in the world. I also extend my special greetings to the detainees in the prisons of the Zionist occupation, and I wish them strength and steadfastness, and I express our full support for their just cause and their struggle for freedom.
This conference is being held in a global context characterized by escalating human suffering: worsening poverty, declining economic and social rights, especially in light of the worsening economic crises, the spread of armed conflicts, the growth of racist and colonial movements and tendencies, and the further deterioration of environmental conditions.
Our Arab and Maghreb region is one of the regions in the world whose people are experiencing double suffering from social and political persecution: poverty and violation of economic and social rights on the one hand, and tyranny and violation of human rights and freedoms on the other hand.
In Tunisia, the conference is being held in light of the continuing efforts of the existing authority to liquidate democratic gains and undo the rights and freedoms that were seized by the people and their fighting forces.
There is a common idea in popular circles, and even among some “elites,” which is that issues of human rights, freedoms, and democracy are “elitist” issues that do not concern the general public and do not concern them for a living, and that the human rights struggle and the struggle to consolidate democracy is a type of extravagance.
There is also another common idea in human rights circles and civil society, which is the separation between “human rights issues” and “political issues,” that is, the separation between defending human rights and the struggle to consolidate democracy and raise a wall between political parties, forces and movements in part and civil society organizations in other parts.
These ideas are completely wrong. From our concrete experience, the victims of human rights violations are mostly from the poorest and most marginalized social segments and from the most vulnerable groups, such as women and youth…
In the same direction, the more democracy is absent and tyranny worsens, the greater the economic and social suffering of the popular masses, as tyranny deprives them not only of a decent living but also of the right to protest and the means to struggle for their rights, and the more the restrictions on jurists and civil society organizations also increase. The greater the gap between the various forces fighting for democracy—parties, movements and associations—the more vulnerable they become and the easier it is to target and attack them.
Therefore, the struggle for democracy and human rights is a central struggle for human and social liberation and freedom.
Therefore, it is very important that forces that are different in nature (parties, political and social movements, associations and unions, as well as organizationally independent activists) and diverse in terms of their interests, references, programs and means of action, participate in this conference, but they are united at least on the major values: freedom, justice and emancipation. This diversity and richness in the nature of the participants will certainly enrich the discussion on the basic topics presented and will reflect positively on its outcomes.
We wish us success in the conference work.
This text is part of a series, Voices of Dilemmas, which seeks to bring the perspectives and key debates of the different organizations, intellectuals, and political leaders that are part of the Dilemmas of Humanity process.
