Death Threat in Tunis, medal in Cannes

Every year at the occasion of the International Film Festival of Cannes, the French minister of culture gives some honorary medal to some distinguished filmmakers, actors, artists…
This year, certainly because of the revolution, it had to be a Tunisian who is going to get it. In fact, the filmmaker Nouri Bouzid was honored last Thursday by the French minister of culture Frederique Mitterrand who made him “Chevalier de la Legion d’honneur”.
Since the 70’s Nouri Bouzid was a political engage artist. He was very active and was in jail for 5 years.
During the 80’s he was one the most important filmmakers in Tunisia and in Africa and he participated many times to Cannes Film Festival.
His last film, Making of Kamikaze (2008) was a big success and is considered right now as the film of the revolution which led to the big change in Tunisia before it spread to other countries in North Africa and in the Middle East.
Death Threat,
Artists fought against dictatorship, now they have to fight against intolerance.
Few weeks ago, Nouri Bouzid received a death threat from the Tunisian Islamists. In a meeting organized by Ennahdha, an Islamist party banned by the former regime for more than 20 years because it is accused of terrorism, a young rapper on the stage mentioned explicitly his name saying that he deserves the death.
The reason of that threat is that Nouri Bouzid is a defender of secularism. This later is not atheism, but considers secularism as a personal issue and should not interfere with politics.
In his last film, he explains that Islam should not be a call for violence. But this is really what he got back, in a physical sense of the term.
Recently, after a debate about the actual context in Tunisia and the political possibilities of transition, he was aggressed in the street by a religious fanatic who hit him on his head with a bottle of glass calling: Allahou Akbar (God is Big).
Nadia Fani is another filmmaker who is facing the same kind of violence. She received on her Facebook page and by phone calls threats of death because of her new documentary No God neither Master.
Screened recently in Tunis, the documentary was made since before the revolution. It is about the ambiguous relationship people have with the religion and takes as example the fact that a lot of people don’t fasten during Ramadan (wholly month in the Islam) but they eat and drink secretly.
Earlier this year, few actresses and TV animators where attacked on Facebook in some rap clips. They were accused of not respecting the religion and insulted publically.
Debates
The revolution was made because of lack of freedom. What one could witness until now is an abuse of it. No freedom is bad but when it turns to chaos it is not that much good.
What is happening is connected to the debates taking place now in Tunisia about kind of society there should be after the fall of the old regime.
One the most complicated discussion is about secularism.
Some people think that it is separation between religion and politics. And everybody is free to have his or her own belief as a personal issue.
Others, think that Tunisia is a Muslim country and must stick to the religion as s source of it constitution.
The problem is coming from the fact that the latters consider the former ones as atheists and then should be punished or even killed.
That’s when the situation turns to violence and to a drama. Let’s hope that it doesn’t go further to a tragedy.

See also : Nation Media Group
http://www.africareview.com/Arts+and+Culture/Death+threats+in+Tunis+a+medal+in+Cannes/-/979194/1163356/-/kifgc9/-/index.html