Wars in the name of democracy and freedom have been waged all over the world to the end of taking over natural resources, mainly oil, coal and gas. Even terrorism seems to be motivated by the same interests. In 2016, members of the terrorist group ISIS in Lybia conducted attacks on military forces of the nearby city of Misrata and began to move toward Sidra, Lybia’s biggest oil port and its largest refinery, Ras Lanuf. In Irak in 2014, ISIS took control of a strategic oilfield in Alas, Tekrit.
Among the dilemmas Tunisia has been suffering is financial corruption which destroyed economy, burdened the people, widened the gap -under dictatorship- between the Haves and the Have-nots and accelerated the revolt against the mafia and the symbols of corruption in the country. The slogans of the revolution included promoting equitable development, establishing justice to the oppressed and putting the thieves on trial. Five years have passed since the dictator –Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali- fled the country(January 14, 2011), yet the politicians’s viewpoints concerning the corruption dossier are still split: a sharp debate over the economic reconciliation bill, submitted by the President Beji Caied Essebsi (March 20, 2015) and consented by the Council of Ministers (July 14, 2015), took place.
On October 9, 2015, the Nobel Prize Committee announced the Tunisian Quartet as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the associated award, the equivalent of 972 thousand US dollars. The Quartet will receive the prize in the Norwegian capital of Oslo on December 10, 2015.
Every time I attend what seems to be a sophisticated intellectual social event and mention unresolved women issues and the need for a feminist revolution in Tunisia, it backfires on me with what I view as inconsiderate prejudices. Some educated members of civil society think that what Tunisian women have accomplished today is more than enough and that demanding any more rights might lead to turning women into better citizens than men. If this is the case with educated individuals, imagine how it is with those in remote and marginalized areas.
“I WILL COME TO TUNISIA THIS SUMMER” a terrorist ‘détournement’ (twist) of a campaign most probably started by the Tunisian tourism authorities as an answer to the negative effects of the Bardo Museum attack in Tunis on March the 18th this year. A campaign that had quiet a success in social media. In “Je Suis Charlie” style people had themselves photographed with a handwritten statement pledging to come this summer to Tunisia. In response ISIS issued the same statement but now illustrated with a Kalazhnikov and a pistol…
I just can’t understand all this hatred and this reject of the LGBT community in Tunisia. Undoubtedly, as a heterosexual, I don’t share the same affinities and sexual orientations with the members of this community, but I can’t accept the insulting and degrading remarks directed at this minority.
Right after the news of the terrorist attack on the Bardo museum in Tunis, last Wednesday, some Tunisians (mainly on Facebook and Twitter) had the most disgusting reaction I have ever witnessed. Statuses like “Poor Tunisia! No tourism this year!”, “We’re doomed, nobody is coming this summer” invaded my feed and the first few were more than enough to make my blood boil (which wasn’t difficult in the first place, since I was already enraged by the news).
These pictures do not comply with most Western media esthetical editorial codes, so I did not see them reappear on television or in news papers…nevertheless they had struck my eye … these poorly dressed men with their worn out guns and the reversed rain of bullets that had smashed them down… the one with the red cloak jacket was covered with sandy debris that had spat from the impacted walls in a corner where he had been driven in…
Media coverage of the MENA region is plagued by blanket statements and superficial analysis. International news outlets reserve even the right to name events. The so-called Arab Spring is an example of a de facto forced label. I will proceed to call the events bundled as such, rightfully and as their proponents overwhelmingly agree: Arab Revolutions. To the matter at hand: Tunisia’s ongoing general elections are hailed as the sole success-story of the Arab revolutions. Democratic transitions are complicated and that statement is a gross Orientalist over-simplification.
The model has three major steps to get the final forecast. First, we try to aggregate all available surveys and opinion polls, which will be weighted according to the credibility of the survey. Then we distribute the undecided votes among the various presidential candidates. There have been 45 presidential polls since elections in October 2011 with the majority of studies conducted by 3C surveys Sigma Council Emhord Consulting and the International Republican Institute. The evaluation criteria surveys are: (1) the sample size or number of respondents, (2) the date of the survey, and (3) the reliability of the organization or institution that led the survey.
Now, three years after the uprising, Tunisian democracy is showing first signs of maturity, openness and equality, which can be observed in multiple elements on the political spectrum: coalition government (progressive and secular, despite having Islamist nationalistic majority) government voluntarily stepping down to give place to technocratic care-taker cabinet leading the way to the next elections
From July 25th onwards, socio-political forces have been seeking to transform Tunisia from a post-revolutionary to a “re-revolutionary” country. Complications have risen as “terrorist operations” seem to multiply, not by coincidence. It would be presumptuous to force a final analysis on the situation, since a lot of details remain mysterious; however, let us try to look at the “story” from different angles and perspectives.
A post-revolutionary context is supposed to be one of “pluralism” where different political, intellectual, and social tendencies co-exist and compete at the same time. However, in Tunisia, we seem to confuse “pluralism” with “bipolarism”.
More than two years after the “revolution”, this very elite is still lagging behind; complaining about the absence of an “intellectual revolution” while no revolution whatsoever has yet occurred in our intellectuals’ minds.
The deposition of former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi: call it what you like – a popular uprising, a military coup, a continuation of the “Arab Spring”, or a hammer blow to democratic reform efforts. Whatever it was, Tunisia is certainly not immune to it.
A would-be political alliance between the Popular Front and the Union for Tunisia is looming ahead, emblematized in a significantly-symbolic “encounter” between representatives of each party. The Popular Front, uniting the elusive Left, and the Union for Tunisia, monopolized by a dubious party whose conservative tendencies are economically obvious
Weld El 15, the young rapper, was sentenced to two years of prison for singing “policemen are dogs” (البوليسية كلاب) and convicted for public indecency and cop contempt. Is it that I do not understand the law? Or is it that these laws defy those of logic?
Back in the days of “Big Brother” and the “Thought Police”, the Tunisian people could not discern what was precisely wrong with politics, society, and economy. All the political, social, and economic ills were subsumed under one major ill: that of “oppression”. Now that Oppression, emblematized in Ben Ali’s figure, is toppled, the once unnoticeable problems are surfacing.
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