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.
Redeyef: A Town of Hopes Betrayed
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.
A nuisance to democracy: electoral rumors
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.
Report: In Sidi Bouzid, abstention is the voice of the Voiceless
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. For the residents of Bouzaiéne, the democratic transition has not reached Sidi Bouzid. Slogans like «anti-power» and «anti-system» freshly spray-painted onto walls throughout the city liberate the suppressed voices of the Voiceless.
Public opinion and personae non gratae in post-revolution Tunisia: pro-Israel, doublespeak, and fundamentalism unwelcome
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.
Tunisia : The Holy Month of Ramadan – Pockets Empty, Dumpsters Full
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.
Machiavelli’s intelligentsia as model for Tunisian stabilization
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.
We Are Happy From Tunisia – Celebrating Diversity and Solidarity In Spite of Political and Economic Insecurities
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.
Visas, Immigration, Exchange Programs: US Promises and Tunisian Civil Society
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.
Life as a Single Mother in Tunisia
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.
Weekly Political Review: Is There a Future for Tunisia’s Femen, Jews and Jihadists?
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.
Standard & Poor’s cuts Tunisia rating: limited methodology or bad intentions?
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.
Vidéo : sit-in des migrants de Choucha
Dimanche soir une centaine de migrants ont quitté le camp de Choucha pour venir manifester à Tunis. Ils sont arrivés lundi matin et se sont dirigés vers la Place des Droits de l’Homme où ils ont commencé à manifester.
How Tunisian Government maintains the Illegitimacy
In order to perpetuate its grip on power and because it is more than ever weakened, the Islamist party Ennahdha is now dangling before the opposition members, promising their integration soon in a future reshuffled government.
Can Police Torture be History in Tunisia?
The Tunisian Network for a Successful society (TUNESS) – www.tuness.org – has organized with the kind support of Columbia Society of International Law (CSIL) a round table discussion on the topic of police torture in Tunisia on Saturday December 1st, 2012 at Columbia University. Three distinguished guest speakers participated in this event.
Special Report: Unemployment in post-revolutionary Tunisia [Part 2] The public sector, object of desire
The State is the largest employer in the country. Immediately following independence, being hired by the Government was considered the foregone conclusion for a degreed graduate. Some people were even hired before they had actually obtained their degrees.
Special Issue: Unemployment in post-revolutionary Tunisia [Part 1]: Who counts as unemployed?
Karim Mejri, former counselor to Minister of Employment Saïd Aïdi, contributes to the national debate on employment in a nine part series on Nawaat.org. In this first installment, he examines the definition of unemployment and the latest statistics in Tunisia.
Live-in housekeepers: Lives spent in the shadows
It’s the story of a mother with sad eyes, who speaks to you with her hand clenched to her chest, and of her daughter Rachida, twenty-nine, who has now been behind bars for three years. Rachida, employed at the age of 15 as a live-in housekeeper at one of the Trabelsi family dwellings.