The Arab awakening
It seems that in the middle of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, Louis XVI has asked one of the butlers, "What's going on? A revolt? "." No, sire - the answer would be. This is not a revolt. It 'a revolution. " I do not know if such a dialogue has also played a key role Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarak, Muammar Gaddafi and Ali Abdullah Saleh, the four Arab dictator whose heads have already rolled when, a year ago, began the earthquake that goes under the name of "Arab Spring." What is certain is that the upheavals in the course, whether or not true revolutions, from top to bottom are reshaping the geopolitical map of North Africa and the Middle East. And the first pieces of the puzzle are already on the table. 
Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, albeit in different ways - and different degrees of resistance expressed by the old regimes - have already seen change their policy and institutional framework. More or less deep transformations are also underway in Kuwait, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Bahrain and even in Saudi Arabia, under the pressure of a square that today more than ever is especially rich in enzymes and determined in pursuing the goals it is given . A creeping civil war has finally invested Syria and has delegitimized the authority of the Assad family, now in free fall. In practice, what is failing - piece by piece - is the division of powers emerged at the end of World War II, on the basis of the interests and covenants made by the former colonial powers. And the new map of the region will eventually promote a new balance and new geopolitical data which have to deal with.
The first is the advent of a new political Islam in ways that will all be studied. The victory in the elections before Ennhada in Tunisia, then the PJD in Morocco, and finally the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt are the unmistakable signal that the Arab world of the near future will be built around all "Islam, ie with explicit references to tradition and the religion of the overwhelming majority of the population. E 'in many ways a conservative choice, but this was widely expected, after which for fifty years had succeeded secularist and authoritarian regimes, which had relegated religion to the private sphere, sometimes mortifying. Comfort, however, the fact that the reference model for these Islamist parties is Recip Erdogan of Turkey, namely a Muslim country but modern, not at all fundamentalist. Instead groped for a comparison with the 'Italy, these parties have much in common with the old Christian Democrats, a party whose values could not be shared, but they were still compatible with individual freedom and the exercise of democracy. It 's the case, therefore, to abandon the stereotypes and prejudices. Why Islam that is emerging today in these countries is not reducible to the veil for women and the beards of men.
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Qaundo say about Syria's "deligittimato the authority of the Assad family" mean to foreign countries, or in the country? I ask this because so far it seems to me the same script Libyan, with every reason to suspect that this gives.
No, careful, it is not the same script in Libya. The rebellion against Assad is real and the people, though now even opponents are armed. Read the correspondence of Lorenzo Trombetta (on the site SiriaLibano) or the newly released book by Antonella Appiano.
In a time when religious extremism is trying to steal the inheritance of the "Arab spring", I would like the novel-truth of Ilaria Guidantoni, "Tunis, taxi one-way" (NO REPLY Publisher), which has the merit to bring us back to the phase richer in turmoil and expectations in the country where it all started: Tunisia summer-autumn 2011.
The author, through the literary device of a protagonist's alter-ego, Sophie - who presents himself as European journalist who wants to write a report to recount the revolution and find out why - it moves through the streets of Tunis on board taxi to find out what happened after the flight of former President Ben Ali and which phase the country is going through conflicting pressure to reform, expectations of change but also fears and uncertainties about future developments. Taxi drivers, a group particularly sensitive to political changes, are the first partners of the protagonist during the regime of Ben Ali, were government spies, which in fact had to be very cautious and avoid exposure; during the days of street protests and against the escape of the former president, have all become revolutionaries and, once the party's pro-moderate Islamist Ennahda has won a majority in elections last October, have all become pro-government. They are the real litmus test of political change, which "accompany" Sophie to explore the post-revolutionary Tunisia and meeting with its characters: students, bloggers, politicians, but also representatives of civil society such as booksellers, artists and ordinary citizens with their enthusiasm and at the same time with the uncertainty and confusion that inevitably crop up in a time of upheaval so sudden and radical.
From the interviews of the protagonist, Italian-French educated and a little 'disillusioned with the people I met in Tunis reveals the contrast between the fatigue of the Old Continent, where people seem inexorably dormant and addicted to the status quo with respect to the youth of a country , which is savoring for the first time in its history the heady scent of freedom and change and that, even if partly frightened by the unknowns of the future, had the courage to complain loudly of their rights and their demands, first of all of greater dignity, and this is justly proud.
Of course, next to the central political argument, the book offers many other ideas, being a trip to all intents and purposes in everyday life, to discover places, traditions, stories, flavors of a country that we will discover incredibly close, not only geographically , Italy.
In addition to telling Tunisia in a time of change and discovery of one's identity, Ilaria Guidantoni through the pages of this book, also makes an invitation to rediscover the common roots of the Mediterranean as a place where, since ancient times, different cultures have coexisted influencing and enriching each other and look at each side by the other as a land of opportunities, discussion and exchange. Moreover, it will be just that they will try to do Sophie, living to the full the opportunities of the trip as an opportunity for change and leaving open, in an open ending - the reader will be pleased to complete with their own imagination - the decision or less to return to Paris.
I decided to publish this comment though, speaking very frankly, has the air of being a "hustler." And I'm very sorry. Because I know Ilaria, the author of the book of which you speak, and there was no need to enhance it in a manner so shameless. Me too "TUNIS: TAXI ONE WAY" is not sorry. But from here to turn it into the book of the century - as does the zealous Adele - well, it takes.
OLD IRONS is an open blog and anyone can realize perusing the comments authorize. There would be nothing wrong to report books, articles or insights that can enlarge and stimulate debate on the issues that stretch. But no tricks, please, let us hold out the door.
But, seriously, how do you leave the "tricks" out the door of a journalist?
I assure you that I have not ever made ...