More protests in Tunisia: Workers rejection of "same old faces" as major Trade Union rejects the new government.

The events unfolding in Tunisia are a stark reminder to the ruling classes of the Arab world and the advanced capitalist countries that when the working class moves in to struggle it is a force to be reckoned with. Tunisia’s main trade Union group, the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) has refused to recognize the new government that has been announced as a result of the upsrining. The decision was made in an “extraordinary meeting near Tunis” according to Al Jazeera.

Four ministers connected to the Unions have resigned and a fifth is considering it as of this morning; the situation is such that the masses of Tunisia will not tolerate a new government that includes any members of the former party of Ben Ali, the RCD. It appears the prediction of the death of the Tunisian uprising by some pessimistic capitalist journals may be premature.

It is becoming clearer as information comes out that the ruling elite, supported by the US, based itself on the internal security forces, the police and militia and it was these forces responsible for the killing of demonstrators. These forces, according to the Wall Street Journal, had seven times more troops than the military. But the military, which is a classic confirmation of why soldiers are different from the police, entered the scene and at times fought the police that were attacking workers. The military refused to fire on protestors.

“The reason why Ben Ali fell so quickly is undoubtedly linked to the fact that the first ring around him decided to withdraw its support,” The Wall Street Journal concludes. The important lesson for us as workers and especially American workers, is that the driving force behind it all is the movement of workers, and middle class supporters in to struggle.

According to reports this morning, Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed El Baradei claims regime change is now imminent in Cairo; whether this is so remains to be seen. A third man has set himself on fire and protesters in Mauritania and Algeria have followed suit. It was a similar action that sparked off the uprising in Tunisia after suffering years of torture, abuse, unemployment and lack of basic democratic rights under the Ben Ali regime.

Opposition parties are returning to Tunisia as the constitution calls for elections within 60 days. We on this blog support the call for open and free elections to a constituent assembly. The emphasis is needed for the strengthening and extension of the community committees that have been formed to protect workers and their families against the police and for these committees to elect representatives to a Constituent Assemblies along with the trade unions and workers’ political organizations. In this way the old Tunisian constitution can be thrown out and a new one developed that serves the interests of workers and the middle class and not the corrupt Tunisian ruling class and global capitalism.

This process can only work if these committees and the Tunisian masses reach out and link up with workers in the rest of the Arab world, it is only in this way that the intervention of the imperialist countries and global capital can be driven back through a federation of socialist sates in the region.

As we explained in an earlier blog:
“The main factor that is missing in the world situation today is an international movement of the working class with a clear objective to end capitalism and establish a democratic socialist world. Build an international trade union movement; build an international federation of working peoples' parties. In this way we can provide an alternative to the crisis ridden capitalist system which does not work.”

We on this blog are in general agreement with the statements on the Tunisian situation here.