By Scott Carpenter
When Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali extended his term in 2004 for another five years, making him effectively president-for-life, Mohsen Marzouk realized that for change to occur not only in Tunisia but also in other North African police states, it would be necessary to mesh internal Tunisian networks with ideas and activists from outside the country.
Born in July 1965 and raised in a poor, working-class neighborhood in Sfax, Marzouk has long been politically active. When he was thirteen, he joined a student movement aimed at challenging the rigid control of the governing party. At fourteen, authorities expelled him from his high school for his "political activities."
At his parents' urging, Marzouk ultimately reentered and finished high school in Sfax before entering the University of Tunis. There he became involved in student politics and ultimately became one of the student movement's national leaders. In his final year, 1987, Tunisia's secret police arrested him for political activities. He was held for a number of days somewhere in the Ministry of Interior headquarters complex where he was interrogated and tortured. Authorities later transferred him to a forced labor camp in the southern desert of Tunisia where he spent a year doing "military service." Read more ...
When Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali extended his term in 2004 for another five years, making him effectively president-for-life, Mohsen Marzouk realized that for change to occur not only in Tunisia but also in other North African police states, it would be necessary to mesh internal Tunisian networks with ideas and activists from outside the country.
Born in July 1965 and raised in a poor, working-class neighborhood in Sfax, Marzouk has long been politically active. When he was thirteen, he joined a student movement aimed at challenging the rigid control of the governing party. At fourteen, authorities expelled him from his high school for his "political activities."
At his parents' urging, Marzouk ultimately reentered and finished high school in Sfax before entering the University of Tunis. There he became involved in student politics and ultimately became one of the student movement's national leaders. In his final year, 1987, Tunisia's secret police arrested him for political activities. He was held for a number of days somewhere in the Ministry of Interior headquarters complex where he was interrogated and tortured. Authorities later transferred him to a forced labor camp in the southern desert of Tunisia where he spent a year doing "military service." Read more ...
Source: Middle East Quarterly
Posts
