The controversy between the owner of matter and the owner of thought in the Arab world



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Dr. Ahmed Al-Qadidi

This is an eternal and eternal matter that changes with the changing times, but it remains the same. By it I mean the natural aspirations of man for the best, more freedom and dignity, and the clash of these aspirations with the rights of the state and the need to take public affairs into account, which renews the collision between the intellectual and the state, and results in complaints and compulsions. Prisons will be opened and deterrence and repression laws enacted. And I, thank God, wrote that I would oppose the monopoly and personalism regime with Bourguiba, and then he took on some responsibilities from me, so I tried to serve my principles in the heart of his party because we had no parties. the colonial outside and the customer inside have understood what we are doing with Prime Minister Mohamed Mazzali, may God have mercy on him, they have repudiated us. Our children were missing and our patience, but we have not denied the principle of understanding the argument between the owner of matter and the owner of thought! The contradictions, tension, intensity and violence that the Arab world is experiencing are perhaps the result of a collision between the individual aspiration for freedom and the attachment of controls by the authorities. And I was and still is an enemy of prepackaged ideologies and extremist ideas, whatever their slogans and starting points, because in my opinion they obscure truth, reduce reality, lead to ruin, destroy virtue and eliminate reason. Today, those who look at Arab conditions realize that the repercussions of extremist ideologies and the despotic slogans to which we have long been attached are what have led us to positions of weakness and defeat. And this position was not new to me. An article was published in French in the Parisian magazine Jean Afrique in September 1969, that is half a century ago, entitled Intellectual and Power, and contains the same principles that I defend yesterday, today and tomorrow, and before most of them were born. Those young people who today want to teach me and my generation lessons in patriotism, love for Tunisia, knowledge of history and consideration for it. I do not claim to have a monopoly on truth, nor do I invite others to follow my methodology, nor refuse any advice, opinion or objection, and I am ready to change an idea or modify a proposal if it convinces me to turn to me that I am wrong. But where is the mistake when I participate in a television program for dialogue on some of the problems between the national government and the factions of civil society that aspire to open more spaces for expression and opinion? Although I disagree with some of them in the convulsive tone and offensive speech, and perhaps some people will remember that I was when I attended A talk show on the Al-Mustaqilla channel in the summer of 2001, and one of the interlocutors left the literature of the debate and offended the insulting words of the state characters, reacting and threatening to leave the program, which brought me indignation and insults at this interference. Furthermore, the message of every sincere intellectual is the call for more freedom, just as the message of every authority holder is to combine freedoms with the rights of security, that is, between the aspirations of the individual and the rights of the group. This eternal balance will exist forever between the owner of matter and the owner of thought, but it differs in application and implementation from one system to another according to the degree of maturity, awareness and democratic heritage and according to the composition of cultural societies , ethnic and sectarian, their historical heritage and their geographical location, that is what we call peculiarities. Each society in its march towards reform, good governance and the activation of popular participation.

Countries like the one that the Maghreb or the Gulf united by the Cooperation Council, praise God, are made up of homogeneous peoples, and this homogeneity has won their people kindness, moderation and good living, and these countries have been pioneers in the social and educational field, which protected them from shocks and obstacles. But the claim that talking about developing or modifying certain achievements and gains is a betrayal of the homeland and that free opinion is incompatible with loyalty to the homeland is a false and misleading claim that does not benefit the state, does not serve its interests and does not damage the future because it is in the guise of loyalty but closes the doors Dialogue sows hatred and hatred and prevents the formation of hearts around the state which remains the state of all Tunisians, regardless of their differences, as long as they respect the law and do not offend others. The civil war in Libya and what has diverted some Gulf states towards aggression and blockade may be the consequences of the fragility of the state and the interference of foreigners with suspicious interests in determining the fate of the states. And in all phases of my life, which are refreshing and difficult, both in the power phase and in the exile phase, I wanted to pursue moderation and the confidence that truth is an unrecognizable goal and that the difference of opinion between people is not a curse but rather a mercy and that national harmony among all people is the guarantor. For civil peace and true security. I wrote in the newspapers and in my diary book that President Ben Ali saved the country in 1987 from what we feared from the evils of chaos and the collapse of the state. I personally said these words to President Ben Ali when he received me at the Palace of Carthage on February 9, 2000, and I have no other opinion than this until Today. I ask Almighty God that the relations between the educated and the authority prevail in mutual respect, which is not dear to those elites who govern and those elites who do not rule. Because every Arab country is a family and will remain a family until God inherits the land and the one upon it, which is the best of heirs.

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