Myriam Marzouki’s recent intervention on the European channel ARTE did not go unnoticed. Guest of the program 28 minutes, the Franco-Tunisian director delivered a harsh reading of the political situation and freedoms in Tunisia, during a debate devoted to the legacy of the 2011 revolution. A speech which raises questions about the border between artistic commitment and political interference.
Known above all for her theatrical work, Myriam Marzouki spoke officially as an artist, coming to present a creation inspired by the recent history of Tunisia. However, his speech went far beyond the cultural framework. She spoke of a shrinking of public freedoms, affirmed that the political opposition was today muzzled and painted a dark picture of the Tunisian political climate, in front of a European audience. “We have returned to the Ben Ali years,” she even denounced.
This posture raises questions all the more as Myriam Marzouki is not a neutral speaker in the Tunisian debate. She is the daughter of Moncef Marzouki, former President of the Republic and central figure of the post-2011 transition, now an opponent of the power in place. Therefore, her position on a foreign channel can hardly be dissociated from this political heritage, even if she implicitly denies it.
Internationalize a sensitive political debate?
The question is not so much that of the right to criticism, legitimate in any democracy, as that of the place and framework of this criticism. Speaking on a European stage, in front of an audience unfamiliar with Tunisian internal complexities, contributes to internationalizing a sensitive political debate. This raises the question of how Tunisia is viewed from the outside, often summarized through the prism of freedoms and democratic setbacks, to the detriment of more nuanced analyses.
Some observers believe that this type of discourse contributes to a form of moral overhang, where Tunisia is constantly judged from abroad, without sufficient consideration of its economic, social and institutional constraints. Others see a continuity between artistic commitment and political activism, assumed but rarely questioned in the European media space.
