ON Oct. 10, the Nobel Peace Prize 2015 was awarded to the National Dialogue Quartet. At first, I thought it was a musical group promoting peace but I later on discovered that this was the collective name of four organizations that made “decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011.”
Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution was equivalent to the Philippines’ Edsa People Power Revolution. The former became the spark that led to the Arab Spring wherein peoples in neighboring countries like Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Jordan made peaceful protests for greater freedom, if not democracy.
When Tunisia became independent from France in 1956, Habib Bourguiba ruled as dictator until he became unfit in 1986, only to be succeeded by Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who initially promised democracy only to become equally corrupt and repressive as his predecessor. The popular protest movement ousted Ben Ali who sought asylum in Saudi Arabia.
Ali and his wife have been convicted for theft and unlawful possession of cash and jewelry, as well as cronyism. Much like the conjugal Marcos dictatorship.
But the newly established government stood on precarious ground as hardline Islamists and secular parties debated on whether sharia should be the main source of legislation. A key opposition leader was assassinated in 2013 and terror attacks resulted in the killing of 60 people in 2015.
The new democratic nation was shaken, if not for the efforts of the National Dialogue Quartet namely the Tunisian General Labor Union, the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Human Rights League and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers.
The Quartet functioned as a mediator among the different political parties and stakeholders, becoming the driving force to advance peaceful democratic development in Tunisia with great moral authority.
The group, said the award body, “was thus instrumental in enabling Tunisia, in the space of a few years, to establish a constitutional system of government guaranteeing fundamental rights for the entire population, irrespective of gender, political conviction or religious belief.”
Democracy is a strange concept for most Arab states with either autocratic rulers or authoritarian leaders. Tunisia is a beacon of freedom and democracy for peoples in that part of the world.
By giving the National Dialogue Quartet recognition, the Nobel Foundation has sent out the message that dialogue is the most effective way to peace and prosperity.