President Bollinger looking down upon baldness

Yesterday morning, Mehdi Jomaa, former Prime Minister of the Republic of Tunisia, gave a lecture through the World Leaders Forum event series. We sent Maghreb maniac Mason Amelotte to Low Rotunda to report on the lecture.

The morning began the same way most World Leaders Forum events do: with overbearing security guards scattered throughout Low Library and a coat check that assured I felt like a child for not wearing my finest Emenegildo Zegna suit. After taking my rightful seat in the very last row, however, my deflated feelings were relieved as the woman who checked me in at the entrance kindly asked me to “move forward a row because there were too many chairs.” (Why am I even forced to register for these things then?)

At precisely 11:00AM, President Bollinger came out alongside Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Tunisia, His Excellency Mehdi Jomaa, followed by both of their wives and a delegation of Tunisian officials. PrezBo described how it was his honor to be introducing Former Prime Minister Jomaa as a speaker in the World Leaders Forum event series before going on to give a brief account of Tunisia’s history over the course of the past four years. With all that said, President Bollinger opened the stage to His Excellency Mehdi Jomaa, who would speak on “Leading Tunisia’s Democracy Start-up.”

The Former Prime Minister was greeted with a round of applause, to which he responded by first wishing the audience a good morning. He boasted the fact that this was his fourth interaction with Columbia, though he simultaneously exuded a sense of humility as he described how lucky he was to be speaking here. He explained to the audience how during his lecture, he hoped to answer the questions “What makes Tunisia’s newly formed democracy difficult?” and “What impact will Tunisia have on its surrounding region in the future?”

In answering his first question, Jomaa covered a variety of topics. He made sure to emphasize that transitioning to a democracy cannot happen in days, weeks, or even months; rather, its a process that requires time. He later mentioned how the political structures in place were not yet used to countering threats to security and acts of terrorism.

In answering his second question, Jomaa emphasized that despite these setbacks, it is women who have played a large role in catalyzing the democracy start-up. He touted the fact that women made up 60% of the students currently enrolled in Tunisian universities. This statistic gave way to a theme of “inclusiveness” that Jomaa would later bring up in each question he answered during the Q&A session (taking a page out of PrezBo’s infamous “Global Centers” book, perhaps?).

The former prime minister concluded his lecture by stressing the importance of open dialogue. According to Jomaa, “the only way to grow today and to solve conflicts is to take an inclusive approach” unless of course that means including the homosexuals. By establishing a system that both builds off of Tunisia’s longstanding tradition and constitution and includes a vision for the future, Jomaa believes that Tunisia now has the power to serve as a goal for other countries surrounding it.

Jomaa then proceeded to answer three questions from President Bollinger, which included “What would you advise other leaders seeking freedom?” “What is Tunisia doing to build a solid education system?” and “How has global communication changed the face of terrorism?” For each question, Jomaa mentioned how inclusiveness in a democratic system has the potential to transform how people interact politically.

The former prime minister then accepted questions from audience members. In answering whether or not he saw Tunisia as becoming arbiter of peace to the Israel-Palestine conflict, Jomaa emphasized that while Tunisia should not serve as a direct model, they can instead act as a symbol of hope for the people in areas of conflict. Similarly, in answering a typical Columbia social-justice warrior question about how Tunisia was acting as a breeding ground for ISIS, Jomaa assured the audience that Tunisia is actually a haven for almost 1/3 of the displaced Libyan population, and, while Tunisia does not play a head-on role in confronting ISIS “because they respect the choices of other countries,” the democratic successes in the country “inspire others to follow.”