Exposing Islamist Tunisia

It has been amusing to see Rached Ghannouchi caught in a moment of pure honesty, forgetting the well-tended script he has had has to recite for months now before credulous Western audiences. What a relief it must be to let it all hang out. A secret video was leaked last week, probably recorded in February or March, showing the En-Nahda founder having an informal mentoring session with members of different Tunisian Islamic associations. He outlines his strategy for the slow consolidation of Islamist power, recounting the free advice he’s dispensed to En-Nahda’s supposed extremist rivals, the Salafists, here depicted as overzealous kindred who show a lot of potential. “Do not rush things. I tell the Salafist youth,” he says. “We all went through the same and we suffered. Now you want to have a TV, radio, schools and invite the preachers. Why are you rushing things?” The real threat to the country’s post-Ben Ali future, Ghannouchi explains, is the electoral victory of the secularists.