Sawssen Maalej : “Tunisia like it never knew ZABA”
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Asma Ghribi-Tunis
She is 35 years old, a wife and a mother of two amazing girls. Theater is her biggest passion and she has been part of several Tunisian TV series, movies and plays. But, even she as an actress and a comedian was not exempt from the evil schemes of the Ben Ali family. Victimized by one of their dirty plots by which they aimed to disperse the attention of the people and prevent them from unveiling their atrocities. Her name is Swanseen Maalej, she is a Tunisan Actress and a role model to many and this is her story.
Sawssen was amongst the first who initiated that Artist Protest of 13th of January. She is optimist for the future and she shared with us her hopes and her fears for Tunisia in her own words.
About the Tunisian Revolution: She said that she never thought that something similar could ever happen.
As an artist, my first interest is the people. What happened is neither a coup d’état or a political game operation nor was it an invasion or a colonization, it was simply the incarnation of the will of free people. We can maybe compare it to the popular revolutions of Argentina and Spain. It is a rebirth of a nation that is not used to freedom and democracy. Therefore, we should not indulge in emotions and forget the real goals of the revolution and the real facts that made Tunisians start immolating themselves. Our country is fragile and its people are not mature enough to make choices. Political awareness cannot be acquired overnight. That is why I chose to observe without taking sides. Apart from that I have always believed that an artist should be unbiased.
On her views for Tunisia:
Of course, as an artist I dream of Tunisia becoming the Singapore of Africa. We have achieved a social miracle in an era when technology and materialism dominated the world and the financial crisis reached its peak. I dream of Tunisia teaching humanity to the whole world. Tunisia was a leader in saying no to tyranny and oppression. I expect it to be an example to all those countries revolting to recover their freedom. I hope that Tunisia will retrieve its strategic role in building bridges between cultures as it never knew Ben Ali
What are her concerns moving forward?
Extremism with its different forms of poverty and hunger, external intervention and internal social conflicts are my major concerns. I fear for my identity, my national heritage, my Arab heritage, my Islam, my francophone heritage, my Berber heritage. I fear for every tiny detail that makes Tunisia Tunisia. I fear for every inch, for every word, for every line that was written in a civilization of 3000 years. I fear that someone will erase it, change it, or replace it with something else that doesn’t look like Tunisia.”
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- The Assault on Patriarchy in Tunisia « Africa is a Country | 25 October 2011
i really liked the article it’s amazing and what i liked the most was the last paragraph good luck for the journalist
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