Tunis

I am so inspired by this place. Its truly the real thing. These people. Enlightened leaders, regressive followers, Islamist, Progressives, Women leading the way. Its remarkable. This is the true fight. Both sides are armed with thought and action. I met with a journalist and went with this one musician ngo guy to this entrepreneur girl/super activist office and they were looking at the demo of newspaper she was making for the most progressive party here and they were discussing the articles. There were edits through out the full color 5 page paper. She was laughing nervously as he read through the articles, it was as if they are dropping something dangerous onto the world. They argued for half an hour about when the referendum should take place and how much power the constitution writers should have and for how long. Khouraif, the guy, looked at me and said, we have differences in our families, much less on the street. 

They have a citizen bus and citizen coffee shops throughout the country. And the thing about all of these ideas and activities is that they are theirs. They come up with it and do it with their savings.They never even knew their country before this, they weren't allowed to associate publicly particularly in the regions and now they are making networks. People are planning for each political milestone. One woman started educating women about the vote bc she said  "when they passed the law that there should be equal representation bt men and women in the constitutional assembly,"i felt like this was my country." She said over and over again "we are the first" to receive the official badge and training as election monitors. She showed me the badge. She said she carries it with her everywhere because she is so worried she will lose it. She says to me "if the country goes, if my daughters have to move out, at least I can't look at myself and say I didn't mobilize. The television asked me to come give live analysis after the prime minister's first speech. I asked my husband, should I? He said, no, it could be dangerous. I waited. And then I said yes and did it."

I looked at her and you could see that this woman's ego was small, what led her was not ignorance or passion, but thought and principle. There are many people who are plagued with the same need to prove themselves, to make a name, to be a leader. But within them, among them, are people that are chill, that know of a purpose larger than themselves, and so they pursue it with ingenuity and thought. Somehow, though every fight is personal, with the people I met, particularly yesterday, they were whole enough, not to need the fight to fill themselves. 

The aesthetics are nice as well, old ornate white homes and buildings, smoky lounges with mint tea, lots of art deco and long boardwalks with cafes. Public space is important here, people are having conversations together, walking around everywhere. It was a funny dictatorship that's for sure. Some women have gloves on their hands while others can barely pull the jeans off their skin. A breeze is constantly blowing with a temperature not cold and not hot. But most important is the light. I tend to be judgmental about a place by how the light shines on it. The sun beats relentlessly on all white walls during the day and at sunset the light turns the whole town pink. Last night I drove from the city center to the coast for a meeting. As we drove the sun began to set and against turquoise blue water was a pink and violet sky. We dipped into small streets, the bustle of the city continued, and men's robes,girl's t-shirts, and minarets were all colored pink.

I can't say that all of these feelings and sensations are new. I think its the strange mixture here that has compelled me. Maybe I am not shocked, but I am pleased.