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8 Reasons Tunisia Is Not Egypt (And Vice-Versa)

Two revolutions, two months apart, that launched the Arab Spring. Three years later, the respective quests for democracy in Tunisia and Egypt are in very different places.

8 Reasons Tunisia Is Not Egypt (And Vice-Versa)
TUNIS – What came to be called the Arab Spring began in December 2010 after a young vegetable seller in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid set himself on fire in protests. The anti-regime protests soon spread to the capital, and not long afterward across North Africa to Egypt, the largest and most influential country in the Arab world. In two months, the long-ruling dictators of both countries had been deposed, and democracy movements appeared on their way to victory.
Much has happened since in Egypt and Tunisia, and elsewhere in the region, even as a full-fledged war continues to rage in Syria. But this past week has also seen two starkly different pictures in Tunisia and Egypt that are worth noting.
In Cairo, the military-led government has pushed through a new Constitution, and looks more ready than ever to assert its full control of the country after deposing popularly elected Mohammed Morsi in July. Meanwhile, Tunisia is again celebrating – and being celebrated as a democratic example for the region – after the passage by Parliament of a new Constitution, reached after hard-won political compromise amongst all major components of civil society.
The respective quests for democracy in Tunisia and Egypt are indeed in very different places, and here are some basic reasons why:
1. Tunisia's military is comparatively weak and not a dominant force on the political scene. Egypt's army is everywhere.
2. Tunisian television, unlike Egyptian TV, does not broadcast sycophantic clips of the army hard at work.

3. Tunisia's new government of technocrats was achieved after Islamists agreed to give up power, rather than have it wrested away from them by men in uniform.
4. Tunisia's constitution, produced by an elected Assembly, does not name Sharia law and guarantees gender equality before the law (women's rights were also inserted into the new, recently approved Egyptian constitution that was de facto imposed by Egypt's military-backed government)
5. Tunisia's main Islamist Party has not been declared a terrorist organization by the state unlike what has happened with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
[rebelmouse-image 27087766 alt="""" original_size="640x426" expand=1]
Members of Tunisia's main Islamist party Ennahda take part in approval of constitution (Ennahda)
6. The post-revolutionary Tunisian Islamists never had the same clout as Egyptian Islamists — Tunisian Islamists, with only about 40% of the seats in the parliament, were required to compromise and work with non-Islamist allies.
7. The new Tunisian constitution was not pushed through by Islamists against the wishes of a significant portion of the population, as happened under Morsi in Egypt last year.
[rebelmouse-image 27087767 alt="""" original_size="500x375" expand=1]
St. Mark Church, Cairo Bakar88
8. Unlike Egypt, Tunisia is not home to significant groups of religious minorities. Almost all Tunisians are officially registered as Muslims, and almost all of those Sunni. Egypt's Christian minority has been a target of pro-Brotherhood, anti-army Egyptians, who blame Christians for their leaders' prominent support of the summertime coup. This has led to widely publicized violence, including the burning of churches, fanning the flames of anger and distrust across society.
(cover image: Tunisia's President of the Republic Moncef Marzouki after having signed the new constitution - photo Chokri Mahjoub/ZUMA)

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Society

Meet Thiago Brennand, Brazil's Answer To Andrew Tate

Here's the Brazilian media spectacle of brazen masculinity, white privilege — and, finally, an arrest.

Man smoking a cigar

Thiago Brennand, Brazilian businessman smoking a cigar.

Jessica Santos

SÂO PAULO — Behold Thiago Brennand: Brazil's own rich white guy boasting an arsenal of 67 guns, accused of attacking a woman in public — and he's now become a very public spectacle. For a foreign reader it can recall the saga of Andrew Tate

First, Brennand's story in brief. The Brazilian businessman made headlines in 2022 when a video surfaced that showed him assaulting a model, Helena Gomes, inside a São Paulo gym.

After Gomes filed a complaint, at least 11 other women came forward to the São Paulo Public Prosecutor's Office to report that they had been assaulted by Brennand. In September, Brazilian police issued a warrant for his arrest – but the businessman fled to the United Arab Emirates, where he was briefly detained before posting bail and being released the following day.

In March, Brazil issued a new arrest warrant for Brennand. He spent eight months living in the UAE before the country approved Brazil’s extradition request. He was flown back on April 29 to São Paulo, where he was jailed and will be tried for rape – the first of several charges he faces.

Prior to the 2022 incident, Brennand was also investigated in 2020 for assaulting his son, but the case was closed after his son retracted the accusation. Brennand has been involved in other aggression incidents as well, including at equestrian clubs.

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