La Tunisie, l’Algérie, le Maghreb et le monde arabe sont-ils en chemin vers la démocratie ?
20 janvier 2011, 01:14, par Michael
There were a group of poets, who would write odes on how the political and social situation of their locale would change. This bestowed an aura of social importance on the poet.
Aboul-Qacem Echebbi (Abu al-Qasim al-Shabi) was born on February 24, 1909 in Tunisia at a time when the North African country was struggling with numerous trials as a French colony.
In his youth, he channeled his hatred of the inhuman treatment of Arabs in North African countries like Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco and began writing odes condemning social injustice.
The poet’s regretful early death denied the young genius his chance to play a prominent role as seer, and predict his country’s political and social developments. Nevertheless, one of Echebbi’s visions, outlined in an ode penned some 85 years ago, has come to pass.
Echebbi passed away from a wasting heart disease at the age of 25 in 1934, but his poem has survived in the hearts of generations of Arab revolutionaries as a quintessential epic ode.
When the people wants to live,
destiny must surely respond
Darkness will disappear,
chains will certainly break !
The two verses, which are part of the Tunisian national anthem, are followed by a warning in the original ode, entitled the Will to Live.
And does who do not embrace the zest for life
Evaporate in the atmosphere and cease to be.
In his lengthy ode, Echebbi foreshadowed that his country would discard its shackles and end the French colonial rule, but his short life did not permit him a glance of the dawn of independence.
One of the odes’ wonders is that the young Tunisian poet somehow managed to clearly predict the current developments in the country and his poem heralds a time when his nation would no longer be a slave to dictators.
Today, the Mediterranean littoral state has finally managed to forsake one dictatorship which ruled a police state that would not tolerate freedom.
Power has changed many hands through history in the country, which has an area of 163,610 km2. The last foreign rule was that of the French which lasted from 1881 to 1956.
There were a group of poets, who would write odes on how the political and social situation of their locale would change. This bestowed an aura of social importance on the poet.
Aboul-Qacem Echebbi (Abu al-Qasim al-Shabi) was born on February 24, 1909 in Tunisia at a time when the North African country was struggling with numerous trials as a French colony.
In his youth, he channeled his hatred of the inhuman treatment of Arabs in North African countries like Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco and began writing odes condemning social injustice.
The poet’s regretful early death denied the young genius his chance to play a prominent role as seer, and predict his country’s political and social developments. Nevertheless, one of Echebbi’s visions, outlined in an ode penned some 85 years ago, has come to pass.
Echebbi passed away from a wasting heart disease at the age of 25 in 1934, but his poem has survived in the hearts of generations of Arab revolutionaries as a quintessential epic ode.
When the people wants to live,
destiny must surely respond
Darkness will disappear,
chains will certainly break !
The two verses, which are part of the Tunisian national anthem, are followed by a warning in the original ode, entitled the Will to Live.
And does who do not embrace the zest for life
Evaporate in the atmosphere and cease to be.
In his lengthy ode, Echebbi foreshadowed that his country would discard its shackles and end the French colonial rule, but his short life did not permit him a glance of the dawn of independence.
One of the odes’ wonders is that the young Tunisian poet somehow managed to clearly predict the current developments in the country and his poem heralds a time when his nation would no longer be a slave to dictators.
Today, the Mediterranean littoral state has finally managed to forsake one dictatorship which ruled a police state that would not tolerate freedom.
Power has changed many hands through history in the country, which has an area of 163,610 km2. The last foreign rule was that of the French which lasted from 1881 to 1956.