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Tunisia: Bourguiba 10th Death Anniversary Remembered

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Tunisia, Governance, History

Tunisians remembered the 10th anniversary of the death of their country's first president – Habib Bourguiba [1]. He was a Tunisian lawyer, statesman and the founder of the Tunisian Republic, which he ruled from July 25, 1957 until November 7, 1987.

After the proclamation of the Tunisian Republic in July 25, 1957, Bourguiba introduced many laws related to education, women rights and family planning, among a few, that have played a crucial role in creating changes in the Tunisian society. Bourguiba remained a president until November 7, 1987 when his prime minister impeached him, on the grounds of his old age and his health problems. Bourguiba died on April 6, 2000, and Tunisian Internet users remembered his anniversary.

On Facebook, an event [2] with 10,425 confirmed guests has been created and bloggers wrote some posts on the occasion.

Illusions [3] remarked:

اليوم 6 افريل 2010، يصادف مرور 10 سنوات عن وفاة شخصية دخلت تاريخ تونس و العالم من الباب الكبير. شخصية، و إن لم تكن معصومة من بعض الأخطاء، كغيرها من البشر، إلا أنها و منذ بداياتها كان لها ثقل على مسار البلاد التي اعشقها، بداية في مسيرة الحركة الوطنية ثم في بناء أسس الدولة المستقلة.
Today, April 6, marks the 10th anniversary of the death of a person who marked both the history of Tunisia and that of the world. A person, who like any human being, committed some errors but who had, since his beginnings had a great weight in the evolution of the country that I love so much, starting from his role in the National Movement then in the establishment of the foundation of an independent country .

Arabasta [4] talked about the influence of Bourguiba's thoughts and achievements. In fact , he talked about a doctrine he entitled “Bourguibisme”:

Si j'ai parlé de Bourguibisme, c'est d'abord parce que je crois que ce qu'a fait Bourguiba (malgré ses nombreuses erreurs) peut être qualifié de “doctrine” ou de mode de pensée, on ne peut pas en dire autant pour tout les leaders du monde entier.

If I am talking about Bourguibism, it is first of all because I believe that what Bourguiba had done (despite his numerous mistakes) what can be described as ”doctrine” or a thinking mode. In fact we cannot say the same for all the leaders of the world.

The majority of Tunisians agree that Habib Bourguiba had made some mistakes, but they also agree that he had been a great man who left a mark on the Tunisian history.