Tunisian Unions share peace prize

[Young Master Smeet]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34485865

Quote:

The Tunisian quartet was made up of four organisations: the Tunisian General Labour Union, the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Human Rights League, and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers.

Tunisia remains the one success story of the Arab Spring, so, perhaps, the only one where there was a workers movement strong enough to prevent authoritarianism or obscurantism?

[ALB]

I like the reported answer of the anti-Islamist candidate in last year's presidential election there (who won in the end) to the question "what is the difference between you and your Islamist rival?": a thousand years.

[Young Master Smeet]

http://www.juancole.com/2015/10/recognizes-democratic-transition.htmlJuan Cole writes it up, and shows just how important the Unions were not just to the details of the porcess, but providing the muscle that kept a Conservative Islamist party engaged in democracy.

Quote:

The Renaissance Party deserves enormous credit for its commitment to dialogue, and for compromising with its critics. But it has to be admitted that the party was pushed in this direction by the labor unions, youth and other activists, women who demonstrated in the streets, and human rights organizations. The 2013 Egyptian military coup against the Muslim Brotherhood government in that country may also have put al-Nahda into a mood to compromise.

[Author]

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