Since 2014 when the process of decentralization was included in the country’s new constitution, political decisions still do not seem to take the south into consideration. Ongoing protests show that after decades of dictatorship, citizens no longer accept being silenced.
What is certain: the phenomenon of terrorism is here, a deep-seated crisis for which shooting a few terrorists to death is not the solution. As more than 5,000 Tunisians are currently fighting for al Qaeda and the Islamic State, officials and parliament members today are facing the controversial question of how the country will confront “jihadis” coming back home. The answer will be in the State’s actions and will determine whether we decide to be thirty seconds to ISIS, or else to get our act together.
I was curious about how today’s generation thinks about gender roles and I figured that the best way to do so is to leave it for Tunisians (28 students in my case) to answer a one question survey : What are the things that you would like to do, but you can only do them if you were a member of the opposite sex ?
In the town of Jemna, residents have formed an association dedicated to the preservation and cultivation of 185 hectares of reclaimed oases for the production of dates. The Association for the Protection of Jemna’s Oases is composed of 129 workers including farmers and security guards, three supervisors responsible for managing the workers, administration and finances, plus one general supervisor. Nawaat has traveled to meet with the individuals who have taken over the land in the name of Jemna and its residents.
On April 16, Ben Guerdane was the scene of demonstrations following the murder of Mokhtar Zaghdoud by an agent of the National Guard in the isolated zone between the Tunisian-Libyan borders. Protestors expressed their anger in response to a number of similar incidents; since December 2012, twenty-five inhabitants from the region have been killed in such circumstances. Two of these deaths occurred in April.
After two strange and stunned-to-silence days in the capital, Friday morning on Avenue Habib Bourguiba bore much the same eager, pent-up energy as the first sunny day following weeks of grey and rain. It was only Wednesday that twenty tourists and three Tunisians (one policeman and the two assassins) were killed and forty-seven wounded at the Bardo Museum, while close by the Parliamentary Rights and Liberties Commission discussed the new antiterrorism law.
They come from countries as different as France, Sweden and Lebanon, they manage a company for natural cosmetics or work as a photographer, they are 25 or 71. It’s obvious: There is no such thing as the typical expat experience in the city of Tunis. Five people tell their very personal stories.
It’s hard to believe, when you’re in Redeyef, that this town is one of the richest in the whole of Tunisia. It’s also in Redeyef that we see the real meaning of social injustice. Despite the four hundred thousand tons of phosphate mined there every year, the twenty-seven thousand inhabitants of Redeyef have, for decades now, had access to just one school, one poorly equipped hospital, and a deserted youth centre.
This Sunday I endorsed the role of area observers’ supervisor, in charge of eleven voting centers and about as many national observers for the second round of the Tunisian presidential elections. The elections went great, a few minor incidents here and there, nothing to discredit the electoral process. Just like French radio journalist Anthony Bellanger said on RFI this Monday – the Tunisian elections couldn’t be more boring to comment, just like Swiss elections. However throughout the day I kept receiving phone calls warning me about vote buying, influence on electors and so on and so forth.
In Bouzaiéne, one week after the legislative elections, residents are in mourning. Grieving their revolt, they speak only of disappointment. Here, nothing has changed, neither the high rate of unemployment, nor the shortage of water, nor the loss of dignity.
Polemical public figures who provoke protests upon their arrival or an outpouring of public response to their ideologies and work are as telling of the values and issues precious to Tunisian public opinion as they are of the controversial figures themselves.
Ramadan this year began on Sunday, June 29 and articles are rife with discouraging statistics on the inflation and warnings against over-consumption and waste of foodstuffs purchased in over-abundance. With food, water, electricity, and gas prices already on the rise, the expenses associated with the holy month of fasting compound what is an already unbearable economic burden for many Tunisians.
The mobilizing of society through strikes and the historical UGTT social struggles for workplaces and health services is compulsory to the need of progress required in regulating rights, but what about the condition of slums in the aftermath of the 2012 ? The 2014 Constitutional text, by contrast to what stated in the Egyptian one, does not limit or regulate the Salafist-jihadi inclusion in politics or society.
What each country, each city, each community has to offer in this movement is an independently-crafted testament to one’s existence in the contemporary world during a period in history marked by widespread political instability, economic crisis, and desperation for change.
The nature of immigration policy and visa procedures for Tunisians who wish to travel to the United States to take advantage of academic and professional exchange opportunities reflects the degree of authenticity of US rhetoric for cooperation, partnership, and collaboration at the civil society level.
For more than a decade, the Amal Association for families and children has been helping single mothers. In a society where sexual relations outside marriage are forbidden and where pregnancy is a drama, Amal provides support for these women and helps them to lay a foundation for life. To do so, Amal hosts single mothers in a home for about four months, enough to help them get back on their feet.
The debate over nudity and feminism kicked off in Tunisia since Amina posted a photograph of herself with the words “Fuck your morals” written across her chest, to the Femen-Tunisia Facebook page. The reactions were tense and angry. Interestingly, Tunisian self-identified secular activists denounced Amina and her photos.
To assess the relevance of S&P grading, it is critical to understand the limitations of their methodology. In fact, S&P sovereign rating approach consists of analyzing in a forward-looking manner a range of qualitative and quantitative factors to assess the political, economic, external, fiscal and monetary aspects of sovereign creditworthiness.
