Meanings of the human rights concept: Tunisian activism in the 1970s

Abstract

This article explores human rights activism in an authoritarian context of the Global South in the 1970s through the case of Tunisia, a decade considered by scholarship as the starting point for international human rights norm diffusion, including in the Arab region. It describes how two Tunisian solidarity groups and the Tunisian Human Rights League—considered the first independent human rights organization in the Arab World—used the concept. These organizations are considered catalyzers of the spread of human rights culture in Tunisia. The article argues that the use of human rights and references to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights did not entail that international human rights norms were a core concern. Other justice principles and ideologies prevailed in the 1970s. The article further showcases the complexity of human rights processes in the Global South. Understanding the 1970s necessitates exploring the groups that made use of the concept, the political spaces in which they operated, and the idea environments in which human rights became a part.

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to the Carlsberg Foundation for financial support of field work in Tunisia, and to Roskilde University, and its research group on Global Political Sociology, for hosting my research. My gratitude also goes to Dr. Stéphanie Lagoutte and two anonymous readers for their constructive comments and, not the least, to friends and colleagues in Tunisia who consented to share their experience as political and human rights activists with me.

Disclosure statement

No conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 When translating the names of organizations into English, I use French acronyms, as these are the best known in the Tunisian context. Names of persons are written with French transliterations used in Tunisia.

2 Comité tunisien d’information et de défense des victimes de la répression.

3 The main references about this period are Bougerra (2019), Chammari (1975), and Temimi (2008).

4 Next to written information about the CISDHT and the prisoners, I build my information on interviews with Hechmi Ben Frej, Aziz Krichen, Khemais Chammari, Alya Chammari, Noureddine Hmila, Hichem Skik and Francoise Valensi, and a conversation with Hsan Ouardani, all former political prisoners or active in solidarity work. My informants do not recall having had the Tehran Conference in mind when including human rights in the name of the CISDHT. In France, establishing ad hoc committees referring to human rights was common. Seven such committees for example were created between 1954 and 1956 in relation to the Algerian war (Berchadsky, 1994, p. 20).

5 I borrow the term from the works of Tilly (2006) and Tarrow (2011).

6 The Tunisian state’s view on the trial was published in Parti Socialiste Destourien (PSD; 1968) and Government of Tunisia (1968).

7 AI professionalized its presence at the United Nations in 1977 and the mandate started broadening and diversifying in a significant way in 1991 (Clark, 2001; Hopgood, 2006).

8 ʿAāmal Tūnsī (The Tunisian Worker).

9 Information about student activism and AT stems from different issues of the journals Perspectives and AT as well as GEAST (1989) and Krichen (2021). It also stems from interviews with Sihem Ben Sedrine, Taher Chegrouche, Mohamed Chérif Ferjani, Hamma Hamami, Ahmed Karaoud, Aziz Krichen, Raoudha Gharbi, Mohamed Khennisi, Habib Marsit, Omar Mestiri, Sadok Ben Mhenni, and Mustapha Tlili, and a conversation with Nejib Chebbi, all former active members of AT.

10 The largest trials against AT took place in 1974, the so-called trial of the 202, and in 1975, the trial of the 101

11 A main reference in this regard was Lenin’s “What to Do” (Lenin, 1902).

12 See Lacroix and Pranchère (2012) for a discussion of Marx and the question of democracy. Other key texts are Lenin (1920) and Chinese Communist Party (1963).

13 For example, Sihem Ben Sedrine, Khémaîs Chammari, Frej Fenniche, the late Tarek Ben Hiba, and Noureddine Hmila.

14 This part is largely based on interviews with Taher Belkhodja (former minister of the interior), Souhayr Belhassen (journalist at Jeune Afrique and close observer of the political scene in the late 1970s), Mustapha Ben Jaafar, Hamouda Ben Slama (both founders of the LTDH), and Khémaïs Chammari (a key figure in the CTIDVR and the LTDH).

15 This part is based on interviews with persons listed in note 9. Several memoires regarding prison experience are also available: for example, Bel Hadj (2010), Ben Mhenni (2017), Ferjani (2015), Karoud (2017), and Naccache (2009).

16 For the Lenin–Kautsky debate on Marx’s view on the dictatorship of the proletariat, see Lenin (1918) and Kautsky (1918).

17 See Ferjani (1982).

18 A third, less influential strand adhered to the official Chinese policy of the Three Worlds prioritizing support for Third World regimes against US and Soviet imperialism, whatever their nature. This political line made it acceptable to make alliances with the Tunisian political apparatus.

19 See Baīān al-taāsīssiya li-l- ḥizb al-ʿamāl al-shīuʿaiya 1986 (Founding declaration of the Tunisian Communist Workers’ Party), in Arfaoui (2016).

20 The group would not be legally registered by the Tunisian authorities until 1989.

21 Khémaïs Chammari and Mohamed Charfi.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Carlsbergfondet.

Notes on contributors

Marc Schade-Poulsen

Marc Schade-Poulsen is a visiting researcher at Roskilde University, Denmark, and holds a PhD in social anthropology with a specific interest in North Africa as well as human rights. He is a board member of the Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders. Before returning to academia, he served for two decades as the executive director of EuroMed Rights: Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network. He is also the author of Music and Men in Algeria: The Social Significance of Raï, Texas University Press, 1999.