Tunisian groups win Nobel Peace Prize

BERLIN - The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday bestowed the Nobel Peace Prize on an alliance of four Tunisian civil society groups for their efforts to foster democracy in the nation that gave birth to the Arab Spring.

The quartet of groups, including a labor union with about one million members, has worked to advance democracy in Tunisia, which still struggles with unrest but has made relative strides toward reforms even as other Arab Spring nations face greater violence, instability and the reemergence of dictatorships.

The civil society groups provided a critical bridge for dialogue and political compromises as Tunisia's democracy appeared in danger of collapse following the 2013 assassination of two leftist politicians.

The groups organized a dialogue between Islamists who dominated the government and opposition and secular activists, helping to ease the deep polarization that has torn apart other countries in the wake of the Arab Spring upheavals.

The Tunisian groups, the committee said, made a "decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011" - the name given the uprising that sparked the wider Arab Spring.

"More than anything, the prize is intended as encouragement for the Tunisian people who have laid the groundwork for a national fraternity which the committee hopes will be followed by other countries," the committee said.

The National Dialogue Quartet comprises four key organizations in Tunisian civil society, including the Tunisian General Labor Union; the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts; the Tunisian Human Rights League; and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers.

But the award also seemed to more broadly honor a nation where the Arab Spring began after street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire on Dec. 17, 2010, to protest his helplessness after his wares were confiscated by corrupt local authorities.

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi called the award a sign of hope only a day after a high-profile assassination attempt against a secular politician.

"I know the situation is currently very difficult in Tunisia," he said in a video posted on Facebook. "And despite all the rumors circulating about yesterday's incident [the attempted assassination], we have received happy news. Not everything is dark and grim."

For the winners, too, the Nobel was a stunning acknowledgment of one of the Arab Spring's promising fronts, which is often overshadowed by the hijacked hopes in countries such as Libya, Egypt, and Syria.

Tunisia has been spared the widespread bloodshed that has plagued the rest of the Arab world since uprisings swept the region four years ago.

"I am astonished, so happy. There are calls coming in from all over the world. I can barely believe this is happening," a breathless Ali Zeddini, vice president of the Tunisian Human Rights League, told the Washington Post.

Critics suggested that the Nobel committee had failed to fully acknowledge the extent of the violence still gripping Tunisia.

But the Nobel was widely hailed as a nod toward the ability of Tunisia's political and civil groups to seek dialogue while other Arab Spring neighbors have stumbled back to bloody power struggles or tighter rule.