A
ny hope of the Arab world embrac-
ing democracy has long focused on
its most populous country, Egypt.
Yet despite a burst of freedom after the 2011
Arab Spring, Egypt has again dashed those
hopes in a sham election designed to keep
military strongman Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in
power. The one opposition figure allowed
to run in the March 26-28 election barely
campaigned. Only about 40 percent of vot-
ers, who were largely ordered to go to the
polls, cast a ballot. The mirage of democracy
was easy to see through.
To be sure, Mr. Sisi remains popular for
ousting the other extreme on the political
spectrum from his own secular authoritar-
ianism. In 2013, he led a coup against the
Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi,
who was duly elected but quickly started
coercing democratic opponents.
The Middle East can’t seem to shake its
three governing models: nationalist dicta-
tors, radical Islamists, and reigning mon-
archs. But notice this. All three have some-
thing in common, the denial of the liberty
of conscience. All three believe it is their
sole right to determine which, if any, of its
opponents can participate in governance.
To really track progress in Arab poli-
tics, it is far better to focus on Tunisia. For
three years after ousting a dictator in the
Arab Spring, Tunisians held a debate while
crafting a constitution. The most difficult
part was defining liberty of conscience. No
Arab constitution until then included such
a phrase.
Many Islamists in Tunisia as well as the
elite remnants of the former dictatorship
opposed the notion of individual freedom in
faith, speech, and other areas of life. None-
theless, the idea was enshrined in the 2014
Constitution. And it has begun to sink into
the thinking of this North African nation.
On May 6, Tunisia will hold its first mu-
nicipal elections since the Arab Spring. The
campaign has yet to officially start. Yet the
enthusiasm is hard to miss. In the one Arab
country that most firmly embraces individ-
ual rights, more than 57,000 people have
signed up to run for offices in 350 cities
and towns. By law, political parties must
include candidates from three groups: wom-
en, youth, and people with disabilities. As a
result, nearly 50 percent of those running
are women, while more than 50 percent are
under the age of 35. One in 10 has a disabil-ity. But what really surprised observers was
the high number of independents. That is
viewed as a sign of disgust among youth
toward traditional parties as well as frus-
tration over a stagnant economy.
Such a breadth of representation speaks
to Tunisians’ understanding of the liberty
of conscience. “Religion should not divide
the society,” says Rachid Ghannouchi, head
of the moderate Islamist party.
After the local elections, the central gov-
ernment is expected to take up a bill that
would grant more powers to municipalities.
Tunisia could be about to see a new flour-
ishing of its democracy, which would serve
even more as an example for the region. rTHE MONITOR’S VIEW
O
ne way to get the attention of a com-
pany is to knock $90 billion off its
market value. That’s what investors
did to Facebook after news broke in March
that the social network had allowed the mis-
use of personal data from millions of users.
Many investors dumped their Facebook
stock on prospects the company might soon
be regulated and lose much of its business.
At the same time, however, many equity
firms that specialize in ethical investing,
such as BetaShares, also dropped the stock.
As the giant of “surveillance capitalism,”
Facebook had met its match with another
force: social capitalism.
Facebook is under scrutiny on many
fronts for its breaches of privacy. From Con-
gress to the European Union to the Federal
Trade Commission, Facebook must answer
for breaking the trust of its more than 2 bil-
lion consumers. And millions of Facebook
users have weighed whether to delete or
deactivate their accounts.Putting money where one’s conscience is
But regulation of big data collectors such
as Facebook may be far off. And consum-
er boycotts can be fleeting. That is not the
case with many of today’s investors who put
their money where their conscience is. Theyexpect long-term profits based on whether
a company is operating under select social
and environmental criteria, such as privacy
standards, a reduced carbon footprint, and
gender fairness on corporate boards.
In fact, meeting such criteria is consid-
ered a “sustainable” way to do business. The
market pressure on Facebook from “sustain-
ability funds” probably helped in pushing
chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg
to speed up plans to simplify privacy con-
trols and better safeguard the governance of
personal data. Facebook users will be able
to more easily choose not to reveal certain
traits that can mark them for advertisers,
foreign hackers, or political campaigns.
Not all investors agree on the criteria for
sustainability, often called “environmental,
social, and governance,” or ESG. Should
a company, for example, be punished for
creating a genetically modified crop seed
that can prevent famine but might alter
natural crops?
Still, ethical investing is now a looming
presence over companies. And many “im-
pact investors” are beating the market in
profits. They are also challenging the idea
that companies must be predatory and ex-
ploitative to earn money. Facebook may be
learning that lesson very fast. rUnliking Facebook
The Arab nation that
embraces liberty of conscience
THE BREADTH OF CANDIDATES RUNNING
FOR OFFICE – WOMEN AND YOUTH –
SPEAKS TO TUNISIA’S UNDERSTANDING
OF INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS.Founded in 1908 by Mary Baker EddyEDITOR: Mark Sappenfield
CHIEF EDITORIAL WRITER: Clayton Jones“First the blade, then the ear,
then the full grain in the ear.”A JEWISH CANDIDATE IN TUNISIA’S ISLAMIST PARTY REUTERS