The Tunisian Ba'ath Movement ( ''Hereket El-Ba'ath Et-Tunsi''; French: ''Mouvement Baath tunisien'') is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. It is the Tunisian regional branch of the Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party.

History

The first Ba'athist branch in Tunisia, then under the unified Ba'ath Party, was established in 1955; however, the Ba'ath Party was outlawed under Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Following the Tunisian Revolution, the ''Tunisian Ba'ath Movement'' was established at its First Congress on 3–5 June 2011 and legally registered on 22 January 2011. However, Ba'athists have been active in underground politics since the 1950s. The Ba'ath Movement marked the fifth anniversary of the

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

. Omar Othman Belhadj, Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Ba'ath Movement, said "Hussein's execution was symbolic, they did not kill a person but rather the ideas he represented and fought for. Hussein was killed for being against colonization and for being a defender of Arab unity and independence of Arab countries." He further noted that he did not support killing

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...

, saying that Gaddafi had a

right to a fair trial A fair trial is a trial which is "conducted fairly, justly, and with procedural regularity by an impartial judge". Various rights associated with a fair trial are explicitly proclaimed in Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, th ...

like anyone else. Omar once told a journalist, "the Syrian regime has turned against the Ba'ath and is no longer Ba'athist one". The party does not support Syria's expulsion from the

Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...

, and asserts that foreign nations should play a neutral role in the Syrian Civil War. On 4 February 2012, the Executive Committee of the Ba'ath Movement released a communiqué condemning the provisional Tunisian government's expulsion of the Syrian ambassador. The Ba'ath Movement expressed solidarity with the Syrian protesters, and condemned the shooting of unarmed demonstrators. The committee predicted that the Syrian ambassador's expulsion would militarise the conflict, mobilising Arab opinion against the government and leading to military intervention. After the revolution, the Arab Democratic Vanguard Party emerged as second "Iraqi" Baathist Party in Tunisia. Its membership is younger and its political position more at the left of the Baath Movement. It's headed by Kheireddine Souabni and Ahmed Seddik. Both parties are members of the Popular Front, a communist-dominated front.

References

{{Tunisian political parties 1988 establishments in Tunisia Arab nationalism in Tunisia Ba'athist parties

Political parties established in 1988 Popular Front (Tunisia) Socialist parties in Tunisia Tunisian revolution