Sunday, May 27, 2012

The Tunisian Culture


      A culture is “the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning”. This is the definition of culture taken from this site:
http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/courses/122/module1/culture.html
Now, what do we know about the Tunisian culture? I mean the real Tunisian culture; the one practised before the Era of Bourguiba.
      Allow me to answer this question. We do not know anything about it. Why? It is because it is under reconstruction. It is under mutation. Our culture has been affected by a strange virus ever since the Era of Bourguiba. We know nothing about our original culture. Yet, there are other people interested in it and studying it. These people may even be some secret agents sent from other countries longing for Tunisia, to study our culture. This mission would be easily done especially when the target country is a third world country; so ignorant of many issues, so narrow minded, so behind. I am sorry. But it is. Wearing fashioned clothes, speaking foreign languages instead of our native tongue, knowing every single detail about Hollywoodian stars, going to the beaches and swimming almost naked, and having parties with alcoholic drinks; all of these things do not make us neither hip, nor developed. It only makes us hypnotized by a forceful power. I am not going to call these people the “Free Masons” or “Mossad”, but I am going to call them the “Anonymous”.
Some would say: “Tunisia is a small country, with almost no rich natural resources. Why would this “Anonymous” want to intellectually invade Tunisia by vanishing its original culture and transplant whatever culture they want for us? “. Tunisia may be a small country, but it is great with its people. And let me inform you my friends that there are some recent researches saying that in “Bou Hajla” (Kairouan) there is some fine amount of Petrol. Here is a link proving this information:  
http://www.dualexen.com/documents/news/2011/DXE-2011-03-24.pdf
The cultural invasion I was talking about earlier is hidden under the name of Secularity. Secularity, as mentioned in Wikipedia, “is the state of being separate from religion “. It is based on the belief of liberating women, bringing to an end the practising of religion, the loyalty of the secular country to godless countries, the spread of betrayal in marriages, the increase of the numbers of children of adultery, the promotion of homosexuality, the neglecting of the Arabic language and the Islamic education, the limitation of the concept of culture in music, singing, and immoral films… So, in order to prevent such path and peter it out, we have to show the naked truth of the secular thoughts, show how serious and dangerous Secularity is, and most importantly to respond to it.
The “Anonymous” and those who are influenced by them try to uproot that culture that holds within it fake freedoms. As you know, this transplantation did not just happen after the “Revolution of the 14th of January”. It started to appear ever since the Era of Bourguiba; “The Supreme Free mason of Tunisia”. In fact, the “Anonymous” is well known for its appearance after every historical change such as: independences, revolutions, rise- ups… They take advantage of every opportunity they get to spread their poison. Let’s take “Cactus” as an example. “Cactus” is the company that used to sponsor the TV shows of TV7 like “Sofiane Show” and the series of “Maktoob”. These two shows have been refused and criticized by most of the Tunisian people saying that they do not depict the Tunisian Culture and that it gives a wrong and scandalous picture about Tunisia and Tunisians. As if “Cactus” is trying to transplant a way of thinking, that is not originally ours, through Media. And now, it has its own TV “Altounisia” taken care of by its well known agent “Sami Fehri”. What kind of idiots they think we are? All of this means that our brains, our religion, our culture, and even the quality time one spends with his family are being manipulated, ruined, disillusioned, and taken away from us. We are being brain washed. They make us believe that freedom is: to wear indecent and almost naked clothes, not to pray, not to fast, to eat and drink during the holly month of Ramadan in public, for a Muslim woman to wear a short dress and put tons of make- up in the presence of an Elder (Sheikh), to disrespect the old and badly influence the young, and to disregard one’s teacher claiming that it is freedom of speech. If this is freedom, then I surely do not want it, because this is not about how to be free, this is about how to be disrespectful. “Secularity” is what we should be fighting now. It is like a lethal venom that takes down every single principle our ancestors lived on and believed in. we have to protect the Tunisian Culture, not only for the sake of our ancestors, but also for the sake of our children. When I mention the phrase “Tunisian Culture” I don’t mean “Makroodh”, “traditional carpets”, “Traditional clothing”… I actually mean our roots, our ways of thinking, and our ways of living. I also mean the spirit of Tunisia itself that helps us survive as Tunisians, not as a fragile “Made in China” imitation of the foreign cultures. We surely do not know exactly who this “Anonymous” is. Nevertheless, we absolutely can fight it, refuse it, and be aware of it.
      Conclusively, we have to stick to our morality, values, traditions, and religion. We have to learn more about our Tunisian culture. And if one do not like this latter, then one should leave Tunisia. Our culture, is it that weak? Is it that not important? No! It is not! Our culture is who we are. Our culture is our identity. We lose it, we lose ourselves, we lose Tunisia.

                                                                                                           Written by Nada Mrabet

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