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Excerpted from al Jazeera:
There's been much reporting in the past week about a faltering revolution in Tunisia - about looming sectarian battles, confrontation with police, impatience at the speed of change, and derision at what are regarded as show trials of a president in exile.
Its accurate to say Tunisia has not had the best of times recently. The forcible end to demonstrations last Friday worried many, the shooting of a young boy in the central Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid brought back memories of the violence that accompanied the revolution that began there, and the curfew that is in force in many parts is an all too uncomfortable reminder that things are far from normal.
But to look at these specifics misses the big picture of what is happening here. It is just over six months since the former president fled the state - a truly brief period in a country that measures its history in thousands of years. And in this time much has been achieved, not least the creation of a new and vibrant political debate.
More than 90 political
parties say they'll contest the elections in October - they range right
across the spectrum from far right to extreme left- with the majority
elbowing each other in the middle. The sense that people themselves can
make change has not gone away, the belief that the mechanism to do this
lies in a democratic political process is one that is clearly held by
the majority. (FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE)
