“There’s really no such thing as the ‘voiceless’. There are only the deliberately silenced, or preferably unheard”, Arundhati Roy
Presidential elections: How candidates are playing the « Tunisian woman » card
The 2019 presidential campaign began on Monday, September 2, 2019. Between those who have it, those who want to have it, and those who are preventedfrom having it, the fight over power has just started. Like every election, candidates are playing the « Tunisian woman » card and pitting us, Tunisian women, against each other, instrumentalizing the question of equality. Pretending to be the liberators or protectors of the “Tunisian woman” isa tradition which stems from a long history of State-feminism that was key throughout many phases of Tunisian history. Now, however, such discourse is void. We thought that Tunisian women killed the father in 2011 and should not seek to replace him with a new one, and that no candidate should pretend to father us. The time for nostalgia is over.
This article is co-authored by Samah Krichah and Ikram Ben Said.
Tunisia targeted with Facebook disinformation campaign by Israel-based company
Since the Russian interference with the 2016 US presidential elections, there have been numerous conversations, strategy building and commitments on a global scale involving policy makers, civil society and leading tech companies like Facebook to fight disinformation. In the era of “troll armies” and “fake news”, we are witnessing more and more the power of clandestine influence campaigns on social media to fuel divisions, disfigure the public spaces and influence voters. Tunisia is not exempted.
Egyptian day laborers in Jordan : Anything to make a living
Sometimes settled in Jordan for decades, the 200,000 Egyptian workers struggle every day to find work that will give them enough to survive… until the next day.
Syrian students in the maze of German universities
Seven hundred thousand Syrian refugees live in Germany, more than half of whom are under 25 years of age, according to the German Office for University Exchanges. What do they face when they seek to enter university, those whose studies have been interrupted by the revolution and war?
The Ababda Tribe in Egypt: On the desert that suffocates its residents
Arabian Desert, in eastern Egypt. The Abaddeh have suffered the upheavals of climate change, “modernity” and state policies. In recent decades, they have become foreigners in their own countries.
Tunisia: Illegal migration and brain-drain, two sides of the same coin
While the media tend never to establish any connection between “irregular immigration” and the “brain drain”, the motives behind these two types of emigration are far more similar than we are led to believe.
Irregular migration: In Tunisian territorial waters, the army kills
In 2011 and 2017, two shipwrecks off the Tunisian coast involved units of the Tunisian navy. On both occasions, vessels carrying migrants to Italy were sunk. The first following a collision, the second having capsized at the end of a chase.
From Eritrea to Tunisia through Libya: Refugees escaping death
On March 21, 2019, the Medenine refugee shelter closed its doors. Tunisia Red Crescent’s regional committee called for the closure two weeks after the protest movement carried out by a group of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers on March 7. Protesters had left the center and set out on foot towards the Libyan border, calling attention to catastrophic conditions at the center, a facility which houses 210 occupants in spite of a 100-person capacity. It was here where, on March 11, a 15 year-old asylum seeker attempted suicide by cutting his wrists. Nawaat met with some of its residents to uncover the truth about this shelter.
Professors raise red flag against marginalization of Tunisia’s public universities
Since March 25, 2019, more than 140 university professors have held an open sit-in before the Ministry of Higher Education. The demonstration is the latest development in the course of a two-year mounting crisis involving the Tunisian University Professors and Researchers Union (IJABA) and concerned Ministry. With a warning to the government about the possibility of losing out on an entire academic year, the protest movement is drawing attention to the precarious future of Tunisia’s public universities. As they demand sector reforms, professors are shedding light on the deterioration of the institutions that serve as the country’s incubators of thought and knowledge.
Interview with A. Guellali about children of Tunisian ISIS fighters in conflict areas
Human Rights Watch has recently criticized the inaction of Tunisian authorities in the attempt to bring home the children of Tunisian ISIS fighters. The NGO says that 200 Tunisian children are currently being held in prisons and camps in Libya, Syria and Iraq. In an interview with Amna Guellali, Human Rights Watch director for Tunisia, we touch on an HRW study concerning the situation of these children today.
Vocational training in Tunisia : the limits of a governmental illusion
From March 4-8, the Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment launched Vocational Training, Private Initiatives and Employment week. Nawaat visited a training center in the suburbs of Tunis where official discourse doesn’t quite reflect reality.
Despite France’s efforts, is French language in Tunisia on its way out?
Held on March 9 at Tunis’ City of Culture, the Forum de la Francophonie marked the beginning of the month of Francophonie which is celebrated by French cultural institutions in Tunisia. The country will host the Summit of Francophonie in August 2020, even as the use of French language is on the decline and questions around language are charged with identity issues.
Party financing in Tunisia: Violations abound, but what about sanctions?
New elections are around the corner, and the monitoring of party financing has yet to catch up. Between political parties incapable of respecting the law and authorities that struggle to sanction them, the trust of a small segment of citizens still inclined to vote could be easily shaken.
Marouen Mabrouk, a story of impunity after the revolution
As per the official request of prime minister Youssef Chahed, the name of Marouen Mabrouk was removed from the list of 48 Tunisians sanctioned by the European Union for misappropriation of state funds. Unlike other friends and relatives of deposed president Ben Ali who saw their money frozen by the EU, Mabrouk was able to find himself a new political shield to protect his wealth following the revolution that swept the country in 2011. With help from telecommunications company Orange France, he managed to get Tunisia’s prime minister to unfreeze over seven million euros in assets held in EU countries.
SNJT, a model for export to the Arab world?
“The answer is Tunisia.” That’s what Egyptians say when they talk about a solution to their political crisis and their hopes for democracy at home. It is not only about the possibility of exporting the so-called Tunisian political exception to the Arab region. It also expresses a desire to tap into the dynamism of the professional syndicates, trade unions, and civil society organizations that make up the political landscape in Tunisia and have come to exercise the power of oversight and consultation with the authorities. The National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (Syndicat National des Journalistes Tunisiens, or SNJT) is one of these professional syndicates with growing weight and influence.
Investigation: UPS Tunisia to the rescue of Nidaa Tounes
Having endured multiple scissions since coming to power at the end of 2014, Nidaa Tounes is all but in pieces. Today, the party is trying to mend its wounds by absorbing the Free Patriotic Union (UPL) and, seven years after its creation, organizing its first elective congress. To this end, a na-tional conference of regional coordinators was held in Mahdia over the weekend of December 21-23, 2018. The event is telling about the banalization of murky relations between the business world and Nidaa Tounes, whose own treasurer is playing the role of party financer.
Revolution in the Time of Neoliberalism, an interview with Asef Bayat
Author of “Life as Politics : How ordinary people change the Middle East” (2009), Asef Bayat is a sociology professor at the University of Illinois. His latest book “Revolutions without Revolutionnaries” (2017), questions the revolutionnary nature of the Arab Revolutions. He was invited by the Forum Tunisien des Droits Economiques et Sociaux (FTDES) to discuss the possibility of a revolution in a neoliberal context during a conference last month in Tunis. Nawaat met with Bayat to discuss the future of revolutions in a world taken hostage by a dying neoliberal order.
