The UGTT has deserted the street, and its once vociferous leaders are opting for discretion. According to a high official within the organization, the return to restricted freedoms and pressure on political parties, organizations and associations are signs of real danger.
With a generation of young fathers more involved in raising their children, is Tunisia’s father figure being redefined? The answer is not clear. While the concept of “head of household” may be changing, equality between parents remains a (very) long way off.
For a long time, La Goulette seemed to be a symbol of diversity and co-existence. Some recall with nostalgia bohemian beach-goers and the intermingling of communities. But such postcard images reflect the past. Today, different populations have entered onto the scene, and the picture is one tainted by poverty.
A mecca of used books, Dabaghine street has seen its flow of foot traffic subside over the years. Passers-by seem more interested in rolls of fabric and fricassé than books, as vendors look on, hoping to resist the zeitgeist.
Over the past decade, a drastic increase in the number of wildfires has jeopardized the livelihood of nearly one million Tunisians. All of the forests spanning the governorate of Bizerte in the north-most tip of the country, to the governorates of Beja and Kef in the northwest, to still others in the center and northeast—overall more than a third of the country’s total surface area—are impacted by the fires.
The Mediterranean is becoming a graveyard as Europe looks to outsource the management of its borders, dealing out bribes to countries at its southern and eastern gateways. Stripped of their humanity, migrants are reduced to grim statistics. Journalists within the network Independent Media on the Arab World present readers with a series of articles exposing the exorbitant price paid by concerned populations, against their will.
They are grassroots activists, journalists and politicians. They face the wrath of a regime which sets out to silence dissenting voices. And, like their male counterparts, these Tunisian women pay the price for their activism.
Sexual innuendos, fondling, inappropriate remarks…For some university students, the academic experience is tinged with this sort of abuse. Sexual harassment in Tunisia’s higher learning institutions is a widespread phenomenon that is both normalized but also “almost taboo.”
More and more journalists are being harassed, prosecuted, and imprisoned. Freedom of the press is at an all-time low in Tunisia. Since July 25 and the promulgation of Decree-law 54, hostility towards journalists has been on the rise.
Civil society activists and employees arrested, UN organizations vilified, media outlets—including Nawaat—targeted. Once again, the country’s migration crisis serves as pretext for the ongoing witch hunt led by President Kais Saied to suppress the voices of regime critics.
In the aftermath of General Franco’s victory in Spain’s civil war, an ally of Hitler and Mussolini, nearly half a million Spanish Republicans were compelled to flee their homeland starting in February 1939. This mass exodus, known as the Retirada, saw hundreds of Spanish Marine officers seeking refuge in Bizerte, Tunisia, from May 1939 to June 1940. They found themselves in work camps, particularly near Mount Chaambi in Kasserine, where despite enduring hunger and illness, most remained for 17 years, from 1939 to 1956, with some staying until the early 1980s. Only about 20 of them died there between July 1941 and October 1949, and were laid to rest in a now-forgotten cemetery.
Cannabis users in Tunisia are facing a wave of repression that the country “has not seen since the Ben Ali era,” as one activist puts it. And President Kais Saied’s war on drugs serves as pretext for the reemergence of a police state.
They demand better public transport, medicine for the neighborhood clinic and real solutions for unemployment. The state has turned a deaf ear. Residents of Douar Hicher have issued a warning: “the spark that will ignite the revolution of the hungry is here.”
Kais Saied is particularly generous when it comes to spouting off vague accusations. Ever loyal to his habitual fallback, conspiracy theories, the Tunisian president is quick to point a finger at certain “parties” without naming them, to throw verbal jabs and employ sarcasm as captured in videos diffused on social media. With all this verbal jousting, who has time to respect the rule of law anyway?
“Even dogs deserve a more decent life,” says a young Sudanese man, one of thousands who have arrived in Tunisia in the past months. In Tunis’ northern suburb of Lac 1, a makeshift camp has sprung up, a sprawl of sheet metal tents, tarps and used blankets spread across the ground. The contrast with the neighborhood’s ostentatious architecture is glaring.
Every year, Nawaat—one of Tunisia’s rare independent media outlets, which publishes both a webzine and paper magazine—hosts its festival in the capital. The original theme chosen for this year’s edition was feminism, however, current events in Palestine pushed Nawaat’s editing team to expand the scope of the event in tribute to the spirit of resistance.
“I regret the day I threw a rock at a police officer,” says a resident of Mellassine. 13 years after the revolution, public resentment toward the police is no less palpable in a neighborhood rife with drug trafficking, crime and misery. For many young men and women here, the only apparent escape route from their daily struggle is one heading overseas.
Fleeing persecution in their countries of origin, LGBT migrants set off in the hopes of finding safety elsewhere. During their journey across country borders, they are exposed to extreme violence, and sexual abuse in particular. Their ordeal continues when they arrive in Tunisia, where they are confronted with other forms of abuse. For these individuals, the future does not lie in Tunisia. But their safe passage to another country requires the support of the UNHCR.
