Former Tunisian President Addresses Democratic Decline

Moncef Marzouki, who served as president of Tunisia from 2011-2014, provided the opening keynote at the Arab Center Washington DC's annual conference on Sep 26 at the National Press Club in Washington DC. Currently living in exile in France for fear of persecution at the hands of President Kais Saied's increasingly repressive government, Marzouki addressed his country's descent back into authoritarianism. He expressed befuddlement at the West's persistent lack of support for Tunisian democracy following the country's 2010 revolution. "We Arabs have to rely on ourselves to promote democracy in the region" rather than counting on Western support, he argued. Marzouki said he learned this lesson when he met with French President Francois Hollande shortly after the 2013 military coup in Egypt and the leader made clear that Paris would not explicitly condemn the usurping of Egyptian democracy.