French journalist and radio and TV host Arlette Chabot presented on Saturday afternoon her book of interviews with President of the Republic Béji Caïd Essebsi.
Entitled “Tunisia: Democracy in Land of Islam,” the book is a compilation of interviews started in October 2015. It is meant for foreign readers and comes as a plea in favour of Tunisia and its distinctiveness in the Arab world, Chabot said.
“It is a book where we get to know Tunisia and Tunisians,” she indicated. This determined people decided its own fate and toppled a regime after a rule of about a quarter century.
“Tunisia: Democracy in Land of Islam” is a documentation of milestone events in a country that has become a model to be followed in the Arab region, the journalist emphasised.
Béji Caïd Essebsi spoke about Islam, terrorist threats, international challenges, ties between Tunis and Paris, the Tunisian exception and particularly his project: a successful democracy in a land of Islam. He urged western countries, in this vein, to support Tunisia and take stock of common challenges, mainly the fight against terrorism and backing a nascent democracy.
The President of the Republic also recounted his political career after and before the Revolution and how he sought to be a witness and an observer of the development experienced by Tunisia. He likewise said he is a builder of consensus who would rather engage in dialogue than opt for confrontation.
In the prologue, Caïd Essebsi highlighted that the “shockwave that followed the Tunisian Revolution shattered the racist culturalist premise that doomed Arab societies to eastern despotism, in view of the alleged incompatibility between Islam and democracy. The success of Tunisia’s democratic transition is the most eloquent refutation of such stereotypes.”
Six chapters and a preface were written by Béji Caïd Essebsi along with a foreword by Arlette Chabot which sheds light on the birth of democracy in Tunisia and the revolutionary adventure.
The book, published by Pion, was released last December 1 and presented the following day in Paris with attendance of President Caïd Essebsi. This is “an unprecedented and strong testimony,” said the French publisher.
TAP
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