Ben Ali's phone calls illustrate the lesson of history

Tabouna, the Tunisian bread. The protests, which sparked the so-called ‘Arab spring’, were about poverty, joblessness and despair. Photo: Rashmee Roshan Lall  

With impeccable timing, the BBC has released secretly recorded phone calls between Tunisia’s former dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and trusted advisors, 11 years after people power forced him to flee the country.

Ben Ali, who died in exile in Saudi Arabia in September 2019, left Tunisia on January 14, 2011.

The tidal wave of fury that forced him to leave would spread across the Middle East and North Africa in what western news outlets would call “the Arab Spring “. However, the region itself has always been sceptical about the strength, coherence and constancy of the protests.

Even so, it does feel slightly surreal to consider the last few phone calls before a feared ruler was forced out of power. The phone calls, which can be heard in the BBC’s new documentary ‘The Dictator’s Last Calls’ are interesting in that they follow a pre…