It all started 3 months ago in the Constituent Assembly’s Finance Committee. One Constituent Assembly member, who does not sit on the committee, anonymously confided to me: “It was one of the first things they discussed.”
Politics 166
Time for a “Bourguibist” Comeback? Essebsi Butters up Tunisians in Monastir
The dome shaped room was a sea of red and white. It smelled of amber musk and sea. The attendees were mostly well over the age of 40, and the buzz of excitement was impossible to miss. You would think you were attending a Michael Jackson concert. […]
The observer Ahmed Manaï “The Arab League has buried the observers report on Syria”
As one of 166 observers from the Arab League in Syria, we interviewed Ahmed Manaï, former UN international expert, militant for a democratic Tunisia and author of “Tunisian torture – The Secret Garden General Ben Ali.”
Tunisia’s Zine Ben Ali: So…will the end be gracious or graceless?
Ben Ali and Leila Tabelsi, that they are emptying out what is left in Tunisia’s coffers, that an airbus is fueled, ready and waiting to take off, as are the private jets of members of their two extended families… just in case the protests rocking the country cannot be crushed.
Deconstructing Tunileaks: An Interview with Professor Rob Prince, University of Denver
In order to have an “American” perspective on the Tunileaks affair, Nawaat invited Rob Prince to share his thoughts on the leaked diplomatic cables from the US embassy in Tunisia. Rob Prince is a Lecture of International Studies at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver. Rob served as a Peace Corps Volunteer and Staff Member in Tunis and Sousse. For more insight into Rob Prince thoughts on Tunisia, please listen to his interview with the KGNU Radio – Hemispheres about the human rights situation in our country. In this interview, we asked professor Rob about his first impression after reading the diplomatic cables; the state of the “institutionalized corruption” in the country and the consequence of these leaks on the US-Tunisia relationship; and how the Tunisian civil society, the opposition and the Tunisian online citizen media initiatives can use the leaks in their favor and push for a real change.
Human rights in Tunisia : No to opposition
THE government of Tunisia must do more to uphold human rights and the rule of law and to allow political […]
Interview with Maya Jribi, Leader of the Progressive Democratic Party of Tunisia: “Our Youth Have Neither Hope Nor Future”
“In Tunisia, the youth have lost hope and prospects. The movement of Gafsa is a matter of the whole society.” […]
Borhane Bsaies ou L’avocat du diable
Ecrit et publié sur Nawaat par Hannibal LeCarthaginois : Les critiques de Bsaies ne visent que défendre Ben Ali. S’imposant comme l’avocat du diable cet ex militant étudiant converti en mercenaire dévoile, ou plutôt prétend dévoiler, « l’autre dimension » de la délégation. N’ayant point d’argument pour défendre son président, il préfère contre-attaquer et soustraire toute légitimité […]
Le rapport WIA 2008 de l’Université de Washington sur le blogging dans le monde musulman
L’Université de Washington vient de publier une étude portant, entre autres, sur la nature du contenu du blogging dans les pays à forte majorité musulmane. Cette étude dresse par ailleurs le tableau peu glorieux des persécutions des blogueurs dans ces différents pays.
From Islam as an Identity to Secular Politics
A religious intellectual is more concerned with religious truths than with religion as an identity. The Islam of religious intellectuals is the Islam of truths and the question of an identity is peripheral to this. A religious intellectual must, first and foremost, concern himself with faith, religious experience, differing religious readings and creating […].
Political Islam
The contrasts between different varieties of Islam, and Islamism, are not trivial—either in their teachings or the behaviour they inspire. The western world needs to know about them, if only to know which outcomes and shifts of policy are conceivable, and which are not. But woe betide any western strategist who thinks the problems of the Muslim world can b […].
إضراب جوع – grève de la faim – Hunger strike
وإزاء هذا الوضع قررنا نحن ممثلي الأحزاب السياسية و الهيئات المدنية الممضين أسفله الدخول في إضراب جوع مفتوح بداية من يوم الثلاثاء 18 أكتوبر 2005 Pour exprimer leur refus de l’arbitraire et exiger le respect des droits politiques et humains du peuple tunisien, les signataires de cet appel, représentants d’associations de la société civile et de partis polit […].
The trail of political Islam
Gilles Kepel, one of the world’s foremost experts on the modern Middle East, has written Jihad : the Trail of Political Islam, the first comprehensive attempt to follow the history and spread of Islamist political movements. In a talk given at the Institut Français in London as part of a collaboration between European cultural institutes on the relationshi […].
Existing Political Vessels Cannot Contain the Reform Movement.
Interview with Sai’id Hajjarian. Introdution: Sai’id Hajjarian, a leading theorist of the democratic Islamist New Left, is one of President Khatami’s closest political advisers. In 1998 he ran for the Tehran City Council, receiving the second largest number of votes. Hajjarian is also the official permit holder for the daily Sobh-e Emrooz and serves on […].
“Islam and the State”.
Conversation with Vali Nasr (1). Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley. 10/3/02 1-Background Vali, welcome to Berkeley. Thank you. Tell us a little about your background. Where were you born and raised? I was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. I got my primary and secondary education in Iran, and in England. My family migrated to the United […].
“Islam and State Power in the Middle East and Central Asia”
Conversation with Vitaly Naumkin (1). Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley. 2/19/03 1-Background Welcome, Professor Naumkin. Thank you. Where were you born and raised? I was born and raised in a very interesting place, which is the city of Yekaterinburg. This was a city where the first president of Russia, Mr. Yeltsin, was also born. It w […].
“The Political Imagination of Islam “.
Conversation with Olivier Roy (1). Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley. 4/16/02 1-Background Olivier, welcome to Berkeley. Thank you. Where were you born and raised? I was born in La Rochelle in France, on the Atlantic coast, in ’49. Looking back, how do you think your parents shaped your character? Fortunately, my parents don’t unders […].
Dynamiques identitaires et géopolitiques dans les relations entre le Monde arabe et l’Europe.
Dans les jeux de la géopolitique et des identités collectives, les Arabes sont passés d’une situation de conscience identitaire éclatée et dormante au début du XIXe siècle à l’affirmation d’une identité nationale forte au milieu du XXe siècle, puis à un nouveau reflux qui entraîne une involution de la conscience collective sous le coup des défaites milita […].
