The political implications of Jemna’s social activism on State policies are still cloudy. Some State officials, such as Mehdi Ben Gharbia, have not shied away from praising Jemna’s experience on television, saying that it only needs a legal framework. Other officials however, including Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, are solely offering a Socratic answer regarding Jemna: “All I know is that I know nothing.”
On October 14, journalists and women’s association members put their heads and pens together to draft a Declaration of Principles on Media Coverage and Journalistic Practices concerning Violence against Women. The same day, Alaa Chebbi is denounced by activists for “violating press laws” and “normalizing violence against women and little girls […] just to make a buzz.”
Between October 3-4, more than 90 public officials and representatives in international trade, cooperation, and governance convened in Tunis for the MENA-OECD Forum and Ministerial Conference. Participating governments signed the Tunis Declaration affirming their continued commitment to policy reform for “inclusive growth” and integration into the global economy.
Launched on March 19, 2016, CREATISTES is a new online marketplace for all things handmade. Although it is not the country’s first virtual outlet for Tunisian arts and craft products, it is perhaps the first Tunisian version of the widely-popular Etsy (started in Brooklyn in 2005), Dawanda (Berlin, 2006), and Little Majlis (Dubai, 2012).
The Association for the Protection of Jemna’s Oasis remains, since its creation in 2011, illegitimate in the eyes of the State. This month, the Ministry of State Properties and Land Affairs, which leased the land to private operators before 2011, issued a statement threatening to cancel the call for tenders. Jemna’s residents, however, are resisting the government’s sudden intervention.
As students headed back to school on Thursday the 15th, a looming question hung over the heads of many: what will become of the proposed education reforms this academic year? So far one major project, “The School Regains Her Children,” appears to be making progress. On September 8th, an initiative subsidized by UNICEF Tunisia and The Italian cooperation was signed by Minister of Education, Néji Jaloul.
September 6-10, the Human Screen Festival dedicated its fourth edition to themes relating to women’s rights and art as resistance to the traumas of war and terrorism. Organized by the non-profit organization ACTIF, the festival’s most remarkable aspect is its manifestation before a more unconventional audience: prison inmates.
The International Comics Festival of Tazarka incarnates the adage dynamite comes in small packages. For the past twenty years, the small seaside town of Tazarka has hosted Tunisia’s oldest comics festival. August 20-28, artists, children, and the members of the Association Mahmoud Messadi for Creation animated the workshops, discussions, and kite-flying of this year’s event.
In spite of its important publications, events, and initiatives over the past fifty years, Tunisia has never numbered among the world’s prolific comic producers. But did the country’s revolution mark the opening of a new chapter for the “ninth art” in Tunisia?
Under the slogan “a festival for all,” Ezzahra Festival management, including Sadok Ben Mhenni, had organized a concert performed by prisoners. Scheduled for Friday, August 5, the event, which would have been the first of its kind, was canceled by the Interior Ministry for security reasons. Recap of an all but forgotten struggle.
With a distinctively global, historical view of revolutionary and democratic processes, two recent collections of essays by Sada-Carnegie and POMEPS indicate that it is yet early to draw conclusions about the successes and failures of Arab uprisings. For Tunisia, these reflections are particularly resonant as the country’s leadership decides the constituents of a new “unity government” proposed by President Essebsi in June.
For one full week, Kelibia’s youth center and its environs were the setting for back-to-back film screenings, discussions, workshops, and musical performances. On Saturday, August 13, the 31st International Amateur Film Festival of Kelibia (FIFAK) came to a close.
While opposition parties have denounced the appointment of Youssef Chahed as partial and contrary to the idea of a coalition government, some decry the designation as a relapse to the old “all in the family” way of politics. Few, however, have paid much attention to Chahed’s singular professional trajectory prior to his swift ascension to Prime Minister.
For its 52nd annual production, the Carthage International Festival diverged from its regular programming and held an “Urban Session” at L’Agora in La Marsa. In a country where the freedom of speech and self-expression was suppressed for so long, Urban Session’s performances were not lacking subversive undertones. However, the social acceptability of hip hop and urban art by the general public is far from being considered “mainstream”. One swallow doesn’t make a summer.
Ennahdha’s shift towards post-Islamism in the context of the post-revolutionary Tunisia reveals two truths and a lie.
In a letter to Barack Obama on July 27, 121 American analysts and former diplomats called upon the President to make an official visit to Tunisia before the end of his term in January. While some openly request official support for Tunisia, the possible appointment of Youssef Chahed, former employee of the American embassy in Tunis, raises questions around the less overt forms of US engagement with its unique North African partner.
The 31st International Amateur Film Festival of Kelibia (FIFAK) will take place next month, August 7-13. Yesterday morning at the Rio movie theater in Tunis, the Tunisian Federation of Amateur Filmmakers (FTCA), held a press conference to present this year’s edition. Created in 1964, the FIFAK is the continent’s oldest film festival.
Over the long weekend of July 22-25, the campaign Manich Msamah, [I will not pardon] against the economic and financial reconciliation draft law occupied the streets of eleven cities throughout the country. Marches and sit-ins throughout the month of July have multiplied as ARP deputies resume discussions concerning the measure originally submitted to parliament in July 2015.
