A mecca of used books, Dabaghine street has seen its flow of foot traffic subside over the years. Passers-by seem more interested in rolls of fabric and fricassé than books, as vendors look on, hoping to resist the zeitgeist.
Tunisian forests: Going up in flames
Over the past decade, a drastic increase in the number of wildfires has jeopardized the livelihood of nearly one million Tunisians. All of the forests spanning the governorate of Bizerte in the north-most tip of the country, to the governorates of Beja and Kef in the northwest, to still others in the center and northeast—overall more than a third of the country’s total surface area—are impacted by the fires.
Migration: The Wretched of the Borders
The Mediterranean is becoming a graveyard as Europe looks to outsource the management of its borders, dealing out bribes to countries at its southern and eastern gateways. Stripped of their humanity, migrants are reduced to grim statistics. Journalists within the network Independent Media on the Arab World present readers with a series of articles exposing the exorbitant price paid by concerned populations, against their will.
The July 25th Path, Democracy, and Dictatorship in Tunisia
Following one of the world’s most dramatic democratic transitions since the early 1990s, Tunisia’s descent into personalist rule has been equally stark. Although Kais Saied’s accumulation of power bears similarities to executive aggrandizement in other parts of the world, Saied’s regime is atypical in other ways that may be telling of the president’s assets and liabilities as he and his opposition navigate the first presidential elections since the coup.
The Tunisian women who inspire fear in President Kais Saied
They are grassroots activists, journalists and politicians. They face the wrath of a regime which sets out to silence dissenting voices. And, like their male counterparts, these Tunisian women pay the price for their activism.
Sexual harassment in Tunisian universities: Shielded by silence
Sexual innuendos, fondling, inappropriate remarks…For some university students, the academic experience is tinged with this sort of abuse. Sexual harassment in Tunisia’s higher learning institutions is a widespread phenomenon that is both normalized but also “almost taboo.”
Nawaat’s legal representative summoned to answer questions about Journalistic work
Nawaat received a summons this morning, Monday, July 15, 2024, asking its legal representative to appear tomorrow, Tuesday, July 16, before the Criminal Affairs Sub-Department office in Gorjani, Room 125. This office has a reputation for looking into and prosecuting cases involving the electronic content of writers, journalists, opinion makers, and their organizations.
A Decolonial Translation: Omid Tofighian’s Collaborative Approach in Behrouz Boochani’s No Friend but the Mountains
No Friend but the Mountains by Behrouz Boochani reveals the brutality of Australia’s refugee policy and the atrocities of its detention industry. Omid Tofighian’s translation is not just a linguistic task but a collaborative, activist effort. His experimental approach and deep engagement with Boochani highlight the complexities and responsibilities of translating such a powerful narrative.
Timeline: Journalists under fire of Saied regime
More and more journalists are being harassed, prosecuted, and imprisoned. Freedom of the press is at an all-time low in Tunisia. Since July 25 and the promulgation of Decree-law 54, hostility towards journalists has been on the rise.
Houssem Hajlaoui Imprisoned: Collusion Between Police and Prosecutor
The crackdown on free speech in Tunisia continues as another critical voice silenced. Houssem Hajlaoui, a prominent tech activist and web architect, was arrested on May 14th and thrown behind bars in a shocking display of the regime’s intolerance for criticism.
President Saied’s migration alibi paves way for repression
Civil society activists and employees arrested, UN organizations vilified, media outlets—including Nawaat—targeted. Once again, the country’s migration crisis serves as pretext for the ongoing witch hunt led by President Kais Saied to suppress the voices of regime critics.
From dignity to racial purity? Saied’s anti-“African” agenda
In a shocking display of President Kais Saied’s populist politics and anti-migrant crackdown, Tunisian police forcibly dismantled a protest camp of asylum seekers in Tunis early on May 3rd, expelling around 500 black migrants to the Algerian and Libyan borders without food or water. This brutal action underscores the Tunisian government’s increasingly explicit agenda of racial purification targeting sub-Saharan Africans, which human rights groups condemn as blatant anti-Black racism cloaked in anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Between authoritarian crack-down and internal crisis, can Ennahda rise again?
In the months after the 2011 Tunisian uprising, the Islamist party Ennahda emerged from the shadows of repression to win a comfortable victory in the first free elections, dominating in urban Tunis almost as much as it did in rural Tataouine. The party soon became the most important actor in the democratic transition. But now, in the face of a sharp authoritarian reversal, Ennahda faces its most serious crisis in decades.
Happy 20th Anniversary, Nawaat!
Twenty years ago, Nawaat began as a modest platform for Tunisians to voice their dissent against censorship and connect over shared struggles for freedom. Evolving from a simple forum to a comprehensive digital media outlet, it has played a crucial role in disseminating vital information and fostering a community of activists, bloggers, and journalists dedicated to the cause of democracy and transparency in Tunisia.
Kasserine: The Forgotten Cemetery of Spanish Republicans
In the aftermath of General Franco’s victory in Spain’s civil war, an ally of Hitler and Mussolini, nearly half a million Spanish Republicans were compelled to flee their homeland starting in February 1939. This mass exodus, known as the Retirada, saw hundreds of Spanish Marine officers seeking refuge in Bizerte, Tunisia, from May 1939 to June 1940. They found themselves in work camps, particularly near Mount Chaambi in Kasserine, where despite enduring hunger and illness, most remained for 17 years, from 1939 to 1956, with some staying until the early 1980s. Only about 20 of them died there between July 1941 and October 1949, and were laid to rest in a now-forgotten cemetery.
Cannabis users face a new era of repression in Tunisia
Cannabis users in Tunisia are facing a wave of repression that the country “has not seen since the Ben Ali era,” as one activist puts it. And President Kais Saied’s war on drugs serves as pretext for the reemergence of a police state.
Douar Hicher: Awaiting the Revolution of the Hungry
They demand better public transport, medicine for the neighborhood clinic and real solutions for unemployment. The state has turned a deaf ear. Residents of Douar Hicher have issued a warning: “the spark that will ignite the revolution of the hungry is here.”
Smuggling in Tunisia: Fact, Fiction and Future
Smuggling in Tunisia is often presented as a field of mystery and conspiracy. But we actually know a lot about how it works, and that engaging with it effectively requires strengthening rather than alienating border communities.
