This year’s annual Tunis International Book Fair—the 36th edition and held at the Kram exhibition center from November 11 to 21—was eagerly anticipated since last year’s fair was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions. However, the event was marred by some of the practices and symbolism reminiscent of the authoritarian Ben Ali regime.
“We Can’t Breathe”: Protesting a Toxic Dump in Agareb, Tunisia
In recent years, there has been increasing tension around the use of haphazard landfills as residents nearby these toxic sites protest the serious short and long-term hazards they face.
Cinema for Prisoners Too, as JCC Film Festival Kicks Off
As Tunisia’s biggest annual film festival, the Carthage Cinema Days (JCC) kicked off on Sunday, October 30, the traditionally desperate search for tickets began. But one group of people received their own private film screening: about 150 prisoners from the Oudhna Civil Prison, including 30 female prisoners who were brought in from the Manouba Women’s Prison facility.
Belaid & Brahmi’s Assassinations: Frozen Investigations Warm Up
The assassinations of politicians Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi in 2013 left many unanswered questions and suspicions. In both cases, authorities didn’t immediately explain who the suspected assassins were, and they never clearly detailed to the public the assassins’ potential motives, planning, resources, or organizational support.
In Tunis, Thousands Protest Against President Saied’s decisions
On Sunday, September 26, thousands of people, close to Ennahdha party and its allies, demonstrated in downtown Tunis against President Kais Saied and his latest decision extending his exceptional powers and suspending parts of the constitution. Thousands assembled in front of the National Theater on Habib Bourguiba Avenue from about 10:00 until 16:00 to denounce the recent decisions, which they consider illegitimate, calling it a “coup” and a step back towards dictatorship.
Tunisian Police Violently Disperse Peaceful Demonstrators, Journalists
On September 1, police violently dispersed a peaceful demonstration in downtown Tunis, punching, shoving, and using pepper spray against demonstrators as well as journalists who were there covering the event. Aside from some incidents in front of Parliament on July 26, Wednesday’s police repression was the first documented use of police violence against peaceful demonstrators since President Kais Saied suspended parliament and dismissed the government on July 25.
Fighting Covid Alone: Letter from Kairouan
Late last June, when it was the region hardest hit by Covid-19, Meshkal/Nawaat went to Kairouan. The tragic situation there foreshadowed what the rest of the nation has since been living through: a sharp spike in cases made much worse by a lack of basic State services, personnel, and supplies. Without enough doctors, ambulances, vaccines or vaccination teams, protective gear or nurses, many in Kairouan faced their spike by relying on family for care, exacerbating the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, medical personnel themselves were unable to get vaccines and many worked without receiving salaries promised in their contracts.
Concerns over Press Freedom as Journalists Harassed, Detained
There have been numerous assaults and harassment of journalists by security forces, politicians and officials in recent years–with June alone seeing 18 assaults, and May seeing 13, according to the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT). However, in the days since mass protests began on July 25 and President Kais Saied subsequently announced exceptional measures concentrating powers under him, there has been a spike in such harassment.
Tunisia. The Protesters Who May Have Helped Bring Down Mechichi Government
Sunday’s protests are now better known by the Presidential decisions they seemingly helped prompt: a freezing of Parliament, a dismissal of Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, and the lifting of Parliamentary immunity in what critics of President Kais Saied have called a coup.
Sidi Hassine: After Another Man Dies in Police Encounter, “Who’s Next?” Citizens Ask
The death of 32-year-old Ahmed Ben Moncef Ben Ammar on June 8, allegedly while in police custody, has prompted several days of protests and clashes with police forces in the working class neighborhood of Sidi Hassine. Several people have been wounded, including a 15-year-old who was stripped naked and beaten in a widely-shared video that has prompted outrage. Sidi Hassine is also the neighborhood where 19-year-old Aymen Othman was killed when customs officials opened fire in 2018.
Tunisia. Anti-Vax Hospital Workers and Line Jumpers Complicate Vaccine Rollout
As a new wave of Covid-19 infections hits Tunisia, health workers say that the vaccine roll out is beginning to overcome some initial hesitancy and skepticism. Some of this skepticism has been of the vaccine itself -even among health workers- but also of governing institutions and their communication.
Party Nostalgic for Ben Ali Soars in the Polls
In recent months, private polling indicates a surge in popularity for the Free Destourian Party (or Free Constitutional Party, PDL by its French acronym). In many ways the PDL has fashioned itself as a new iteration of Ben Ali and the former regime’s single ruling Constitutional Rally Party (or RCD), of which PDL president Abir Moussi was once Assistant Secretary General in Charge of Women. But when Meshkal/Nawaat went to the PDL headquarters in the Kheireddine Pacha neighborhood of Tunis on March 12 to ask about the party’s rising popularity, they were met by a round, bald man in a dark navy suit: Moussi’s bodyguard.
Tunisia. As Mental Healthcare Needs Increase, Public Services Fail to Keep Up
In 2019, Tunisia ranked third in the African continent in terms of the number of people suffering from depression, with more than a half million people suffering from this mental illness, according to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics. Mental healthcare professionals say that the need for such healthcare is increasing, yet the public health care system is not adequate to treat all patients.
Families say Police Abused, Abducted Minors in Mass Sweeps as Protests Continue
After more than a week of protests across the nation following a sudden, government-imposed lockdown on the 10th anniversary of the January 14, 2011 revolution, security forces have arrested over 1600 people, 600 of them children, according to Yassine Azaza, a human rights activist and volunteer lawyer on behalf of the Tunisian League of Human Rights (LTDH by its French acronym). Those numbers were given to Nawaat/Meshkal on January 20, 2021, but since then the numbers have increased and human rights activists and organizations said they are struggling to keep track.
As Their Health Deteriorates, Those Injured in Revolution Occupy Government Office
In a government building in downtown Tunis, protesters occupying the space recently confronted the official in charge. “Give me my right or I will set myself on fire,” screamed Akrem Labiadh on January 6, 2021.
Healthcare Workers Protest Amid Strike
Hundreds of healthcare staff and workers, including doctors, nurses, medical students and other staff held a protest march on Tuesday, December 8, which they dubbed a ‘day of rage’ for the Tunisian public health sector. The focus of protesters demands was on public investment in healthcare facilities, equipment and infrastructure following the death of 27-year-old surgical resident, Badr Eddine Aloui. Aloui fell to his death on December 3 from the fifth floor in the Jendouba Regional Hospital due to an elevator dysfunction.
For the Poor, Tunisia’s Infrastructure can be Deadly
On Monday, November 23, a 21-year old woman died after falling into a stormwater drainage channel in the industrial area of Enfidha in the governorate of Sousse. Her death marks the second time in less than two months that dangerous infrastructure has taken the life of a young person.
Mountains, Sea and Toxic Waste: Tabarkans Protest Local Dump
The town of Tabarka, nestled between green mountains and the sea, close to the Algerian border, boasts a natural beauty that has made it a major tourist attraction for decades. In 2017, nearly a quarter of a million tourists visited Tabarka and its nearby mountain villages according to one report. Despite the beauty, the town’s main trash dump had been near one of the main roads entering the town for years until 2015, when it was finally moved. But the new dump location is near a hospital, close to a training school for the hospitality sector, and may be leaking into local water resources. When locals living near the dump protested earlier this year by blocking a national highway, calling on officials to move it elsewhere, several were briefly detainedby police.