The day after the attack on the American Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, last Friday, Oregon State University student Laura Harris found herself wearing a headscarf on her way to school on Saturday in Tunisia.
Harris was afraid that she would be targeted as an American studying abroad in a country that was being rocked with violence and protests against an American film, "The Innocence of Muslims," that showed images of the Prophet Muhammad, and which denigrated the religion of Islam — both highly offensive to Muslims. But Harris found that her attempt to blend in by wearing a headscarf made her stick out that much more.
"[I] realized I was being silly and drawing more strange looks wearing it," Harris said in an interview conducted via email.
Since the Jasmine Revolution, Tunisia has been convulsing with the excitement and first gasps of a democratic society. From the protests that toppled the Ben Ali regime to the elections that brought the Islamist party Ennahda to form Tunisia's first democratically elected government, the former French colony with its western outlook and melange of history and cultures has struggled to define just what democracy means to them.
It was this political experiment, as well as a desire to visit the Arab world and practice her French, that drew Harris to apply for a study abroad program in Tunisia.
But when the situation on the ground changed after protesters — reportedly Salafists, a conservative Islamist movement — at the American Embassy overran its walls. According to reports by the Associated Press, two Tunisians were killed in the protest and 40 were injured while no Americans were harmed. Since then, the State Department has recommended that all Americans leave Tunisia. Harris and the other students with her are being relocated temporarily to Toulouse, France.
While the protests and attacks have changed security postures at American diplomatic missions throughout the Middle East and have perhaps affected future American relations in the region, Harris says that ordinary Tunisians haven't changed the way they have treated her.
"People are concerned for us as Americans, curious, and they have more material to make jokes," Harris said. "The newspapers here talk about the shame Tunisia has for the acts of the Salafists on Friday. I think many people are surprised and dismayed because this is not the Tunisia they dreamed of post-revolution."
This disillusionment with Salafists and their effect on discussions of the shape of democracy in post-revolution Tunisia has led many Tunisians to question the merits and benefits of the revolution, according to Harris.
"I am hearing from many Tunisians that they would rather have the former, somewhat benevolent, dictator Ben Ali in power than to have an Islamist government any more conservative than it already is," Harris said.
The role of Islam in Tunisia's fledgling democracy is a difficult one that the country is still trying to figure out. But what Harris describes as the "powerful and persevering voice" of the Salafis continues to influence the conversation, regardless of how large their numbers actually are. It has also led Harris to question her own ideas about democracy as she learned them growing up in Oregon.
"Coming to Tunisia, I did not think my ideals of free speech and democratic, autonomous, people-powered governance would start to feel less universal," Harris said.
Even though Harris is leaving Tunisia for now, she has enjoyed her time there. She describes the food as delicious, the weather warm, the people friendly and the changes the country is going through as fascinating. She has also been impressed with their progressive health and education system, and says in spite of the protests, the United States is generally well regarded.
But what will become of Tunisia, its experiment in democracy and the Salafists who have their own vision of democracy remains a matter of conjecture for the time being.
"The Salafis are… eliciting dislike from many Muslims and/or Tunisians," Harris said. "It seems the dictatorship may have been theoretically undesirable, but what will the democratic majority become?...[We] are watching the aftermath of a revolution."