Commonwealth and Foreign
ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS IN TUNIS
By ELIZABETH MONROE
ON April 9th serious rioting in Tunis caused the death of a French policeman, and led to the proclamation of martial law. On the 12th a significant article appeared in the Italian Press. The Roman paper Tevere warned France that "Communist riots in Tunisia . . . threaten the Mediterranean exactly as the disorders in Red Spain threaten to upset the Mediterranean equilibrium." The Tevere went on to remind its readers that Italy was directly interested in the maintenance of order in Tunisia on account of the large numbers of Italians living in the territory.
The Italian Press, which needs a butt for its adverse criticism in order to offset the superlatives which it applies to Fascism, has at the moment cast the French for that role. The Tevere article reflects an opinion widely held in Italy ; the perpetual news of strikes and Cabinet crises in Paris is causing many Italians to talk of France as a dying nation, and to picture the day when they will share in the division of her heritage.
These two items of news—the riots on the one hand, the Tevere article on the other—at once provoke a leading question : Do the disturbances betoken a state of affairs in Tunisia which Italy could exploit to her advantage ?
The slogans which inspired the Tunisian rioters prove at a glance that the causes of unrest are nothing new. "II nous faut un gouvernement national et un parlement ! " "Le pouvoir aux Tunisiens ! " "A bas les privileges I" The phrases, and the emotions which they convey, are almost identical with those which stirred the Egyptians and Syrians to riot until they secured their respective treaties. Nor are the sentiments new to Tunisia. They have been dis- played for the last decade by the Tunisian independence party—which is called the Destour, meaning " constitution " —and are simply a manifestation of the great independence movement which has stirred the Moslem world in every territory (except Algeria) from Morocco to the Persian Gulf.
Of France's three North African territories, Tunisia is the easiest to handle in that its population is the smallest, the most compact, and the most easily subdued by a display of might. On the other hand, it is the most obstreperous for reasons which do not apply in Algeria or Morocco.
In the first place, it faces east. Contrary to the deduction which a student might draw from a map, it belongs to the eastern, not the western, Mediterranean. Its people scarcely heed developments in Algiers, but are deeply interested in news from Egypt. They read the Egyptian Press ; they pick up Cairo on their wireless-sets, and they feel many reverberations of eastern unrest which do not yet penetrate to Algeria and Morocco. The town of Tunis possesses a relatively large educated class which is nearly as cultivated as its counterpart in Cairo, and which is aware that it is far readier for self-government than is Syria or Iraq. The Tunisians therefore clamour for a "Treaty," though they realise that France is less likely to grant this privilege to them than to Syria because of the greater strategic importance which she attaches to their territory. They know that she cannot afford to loose her hold on.her great base at Biserta.
The effect of this Eastern influence is increased by local characteristics. " Le Marocain, c'est un lion ; l'Algerien, c'est un homme ; le Tunisien, c'est une femme," says the proverb, and the Tunisian displays his femininity chiefly in his virulent tongue. He devotes his lively intelligence to grumbling, at which he is a past master. He seldom puts forward a constructive idea, but his brain seems to thrive on discontent.
Moreover, his grievances are not all unfounded. Most Frenchmen will admit that Tunisia is the blackest spot in their imperial administration, and that their greatest mistake there has been the education of the Tunisian to a level that qualifies him for government posts, while simultaneously filling most of those posts with Frenchmen. What is more, the Frenchman always gets higher pay for equal work, even when that work is only driving a tram or delivering the letters. That is why the Tunisian, who has been educated in the same school 23 his French neighbour, and has passed the same examinations, cries "A bas les privileges" in his newspapers, and on the sandwich-boards which he parades during demonstrations.
Nor has his temper been improved by the French custom of awarding colonial governorships in recognition of party merit, and by the consequent reversals of policy which follow every general election in France. In the last three years he has witnessed a violent swing from the iron-handed rule of M. Peyrouton (a nominee of the French Right, who banned the Destour's newspapers and exiled its leaders to the Sahara) to the sweet reasonableness of M. Guillon (an ex-prefect of Lille, appointed by the Front Populaire, who bustles round the territory haranguing illiterate Arab strikers as if their mentality were that of the workers of his home town). No wonder the Tunisian is puzzled and disturbed.
Naturally, the presence of 95,000 Italians in Tunisia does not simplify France's political problem. On the other hand, it does not complicate her dealings with the Moslems. On balance, it probably cases them. For though Frenchmen often accuse Italian agitators of stirring the Moslem crowd, there is another side to the medal. The Moslems may hate French rule, but they hate Italian rule still more. They advocate self-government, but—except when they lose their heads, as they seem to be doing at present—they advocate it within the French Empire. Sensibly enough, they realise that they are too weak t3 stand alone, and they think French " protection " a lesser evil than its alternative, " protection " by Italy.
They will never make common cause with the Italians against France—and this for two reasons. The first is that they have received- more sympathetic treatment under the French Left than the French Right, and therefore hold decidedly Left Wing views. The Destour is hand in glove with a Tunisian C.G.T. They hate Fascism and are under no illusions as to its nature, for they see it paraded before their eyes by their Italian co-citizens. The second reason is equally potent : they are well informed upon events in Libya. They know that Italy rules her colony with a stern hand, and they have not forgotten the methods which she used to quell Cyrenaica. In a tram in Tunis last spring an excited group was discussing politics. Suddenly their babel of Arabic was interrupted by a shout of " Vive la France." I asked why the shouter was so enthusiastic. "Oh," was the reply, "he's just back from a business trip to Libya."
The Tunisian rioters are at the moment offering Rome an opening, but their lapse is the result of thoughtlessness, not perfidy. Recently the Destour leaders split on the question of the use of violence in order to wring concessions from France, and the present street scenes are the work of a hothead faction, whose members would be the first to wring their hands if Italy were to turn their antics to good account.
The Tevere accusation is not wholly unfounded, for some Destouriens certainly say they are Communists. At the same time, Western party labels are almost meaningless among the North African Moslems. Their Communism, Fascism, or any other " -ism " is only a mask. The moment any question of native rights arises, that mask is torn aside, and they become Arabs and Followers of the Prophet, united against the Occident—whether France, or Italy, or both.
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