Ten years after Tunisia’s revolution, a group of young activists set out to sea, on a route used for irregular migration. As they sail along they discuss some of the most important issues they have confronted over the past decade.
An outsider’s look at the January 2018 protests in Tunisia
Nawaat addressed two questions to five foreign researchers who have written extensively about Tunisia’s politics and are familiar with the country’s particularities and complexities. It is a humble attempt by Nawaat to provide our readers with an outsider look that goes beyond Tunisia’s mainstream narrative, the polarized discourse and recurrent repression that accompanies every social movement.
Chelsea Manning and the Arab Spring
After Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison Chelsea Manning said in her statement that “Sometimes you have to pay a heavy price to live in a free society.” I don’t know if she knows that she helped us, in this part of the world, to move toward that noble goal. Closing a cell door on a prisoner with a free mind has opened a thousand and one doors for a free society.
Timeline: Threats to Freedom of Expression in Post-revolution Tunisia
Outdated press and penal codes continue threatening artists, bloggers, whistleblowers, critics and media figures, while the judicial system suffers from a restrictive and repressive legislation and has yet to be reformed. So, how long is this trend expected to have an impact on Tunisia’s Freedom of expression?
Tunisia arrests young rapper after online protest song
Anis Mrabti, (aka Volcanis le Roi), a 27 year old Tunisian Rapper has been arrested on Wednesday january 25, 2012 around 2 pm at his home in El Mourouj neighborhood in Tunis. According to his parents, 6 allegedly plain-clothes police officers broke into the house without showing their police badges or any warrant and asked the young Anis, who was at that time behind his computer, if he was the rapper behind the song “Shay Ma Tbaddel” (Nothing has Changed). When he confirmed, they took him and confiscated his computer and MP3 players without giving any further details to Anis’ parents who were choked by this brutal arrest.
Les cyber-activistes arabes face à la liberté sur Internet made in USA
Cet article se concentre sur le cyber-activisme de base dans le monde arabe et les risques encourus d’une collision inévitable avec la politique étrangère et les intérêts US. Il résume l’essentiel des discussions que j’ai eues, ces deux dernières années, avec de multiples acteurs engagés dans la défense de la liberté d’expression sur Internet et dans l’utilisation de la technologie pour le changement social et politique. Bien que le sujet principal demeure l’activisme numérique arabe, j’y ai inclus les problématiques et inquiétudes similaires soulevées par des activistes et défenseurs de la liberté d’expression sur Internet issus d’autres parties du monde comme la Chine, la Thaïlande et l’Iran.
Gatecrashing ‘netroots’ activism
Will US government led initiatives compromise net activists who seek greater freedoms within authoritarian societies? Whether its co-option or jumping […]
The Internet Freedom Fallacy and the Arab Digital activism
This article focuses on grassroots digital activism in the Arab world and the risks of what seems to be an inevitable collusion with U.S foreign policy and interests. It sums up the most important elements of the conversation I have been having for the last 2 years with many actors involved in defending online free speech and the use of technology for social and political change.
Censorship in Tunisia, a nightmare! A video clip about the ban of Flickr in Tunisia.
This video mashup is about the ban of Flickr, the popular and one of the best online photo-sharing website, in […]
Anti-censorship movement in Tunisia: creativity, courage and hope!
Far from being exaggerated, the Tunisian anti-censorhip movement is one of the best innovative in the world and has been adopting creative approaches and tactics from its early beginning to its current stage.
Tunisia: flickr, video-sharing websites, blogs aggregators and critial blogs are not welcome
Tunisia is carrying out one of the most massive wave of online censorship targeting major social websites, video-sharing websites, blogs […]
Tunisia: Prominent Activist Arrested For Environmental Video Report Published Online
On October 20th, 2009, Zouhaïer Makhlouf, a Tunisia Human rights activist and correspondent of Assabil Online website has been arrested for publishing a video report online about the environmental pollution in Nabeul (Dar Chaabane El Fehri), a coastal town in northeastern Tunisia. […]
Tunisia: Facebook user jailed for spreading rumors liable to disrupt public order
On Saturday, July 4, 2009, The 8th Criminal Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Tunis has condemned a Tunisian professor, Dr Khedija Arfaoui, to eight months in prison for spreading rumors, on the social networking website Facebook, liable to disrupt public order.
Tunisia: Blogger’s home raided, laptop and CDs robbed
The house of the Tunisian journalist and blogger Zied el-Heni has been raided last night (April 10, 2009). In a […]
Video Interview: Aljazeera’s Web-inspired business strategy
I first met Mohamed Nanabhay, the 29-year-old South African, during the 3rd Annual Aljazeera Forum in Doha, Qatar, in 2007. Mohamed is a prominent blogger, a friend and a colleague from Global Voices covering Qatar where he is based. Mohamed is the former Aljazeera head of New Media and the mastermind of the Aljazeera’s successful invasion of the Web.
Interview with Robert Guerra about the Freedom on the Net Index
A new report on Internet freedom was launched by Freedom House, an organization which monitors freedom around the world. The “Freedom on the Net” study surveyed 15 countries on the basis of two key components: access to Web and mobile technology and the free flow of information through it. The report covered events that took place in the years 2007 and 2008, identifying new emerging threats to Internet freedom.
North Africa: are political websites more likely to get hacked?
Political opposition websites in North African countries, particularly in Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania, are becoming a primary target of hackers. This new phenomenon of defacing opposition and dissident websites emerged first in Tunisia, where at least 14 websites and blogs were targeted between 2007 and 2008, and seems to be spreading across the region as a result of the attempt to muzzle free […]
Tunisia: Video message to Barack Obama
We all remember what the French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared, in his victory speech, shortly after winning the French presidential election in 2007: “I want to issue a call to everyone in the world who believes in the values of tolerance, freedom, democracy, humanism, to all those who are persecuted by tyranny, by dictatorships […] I want to tell them that it will be France’s pride and its duty to be at their side.