Politics Vanessa Szakal 19 October 2015

Unique, but not exceptional: transitional justice in Tunisia

Tunisia’s decision to undertake its own transitional justice process, largely encouraged and supported by the international community, was formalized nearly two years after the departure of long-time president Zine El-Abedine Ben Ali. How the country’s path to reconciliation will be measured in a global context and how its work will impact Tunisians remains very much uncertain. In the meantime, the growing library of precedent cases offers lessons and examples for Tunisia’s truth-seeking body as it works to carry out its mission in the face of political, structural, and strategic challenges.

Media Vanessa Szakal 10 October 2015

Tunisia’s Quartet Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize … and the world responds

Amidst the flurry of headlines and articles to have surfaced since yesterday’s announcement, reports indicate a range of reactions, from unabashed praise to skepticism. On the #NobelPeacePrize Twitter feed, the more skeptical and tactfully sarcastic comments posted by Tunisian netizens certainly constitute the more colorful—and necessarily critical—category of responses to the Nobel Peace Prize designation for 2015.

Blogs Nada Mrabet 07 October 2015

Tunisia: Arcane Future of Gender Equality

Every time I attend what seems to be a sophisticated intellectual social event and mention unresolved women issues and the need for a feminist revolution in Tunisia, it backfires on me with what I view as inconsiderate prejudices. Some educated members of civil society think that what Tunisian women have accomplished today is more than enough and that demanding any more rights might lead to turning women into better citizens than men. If this is the case with educated individuals, imagine how it is with those in remote and marginalized areas.

Networks Dhouha Ben Youssef 01 September 2015

Terrorism and ICT: Keeping alive old surveillance practices in Tunisia

On the surface, the counterterrorism law of 25 July 2015 appears to introduce innovative measures to address crimes associated with new technologies. A number of these provisions, however, contain flaws including vague definitions, the privilege of immunity granted to investigators, threats to fundamental rights to privacy and access to information, and the exclusion of the National Authority for the Protection of Personal Information from the special commission in the fight against terrorism.

Economy Vanessa Szakal 22 August 2015

Debt, Farmers, and Farming Companies in Tunisia: laying ground for security and stability through agricultural reform

If important steps have been taken to improve management and optimize exploitation of State-owned agricultural lands and alleviate the debts of tenants who lease these properties, adopted measures are yet limited and incomplete … Working at the very heart of a sector upon which depends the country’s food security and, to a certain extent, the economy, Tunisian farmers have yet to gain substantial financial backing, adequate legal support, and due political recognition. Moving onward from a year of climatic fluctuations and political violence which have had devastating effects upon the sector, government officials and decision-makers will do well to recognize and invest in agriculture as the base from which sovereignty, security, and stability can grow.

Politics Vanessa Szakal 02 August 2015

Between Tunisia and Libya: a wall and duty-free zone for border and economic security

Informal commerce is not limited to one category of merchandise, one geographic region, one demographic; trafficked items include weapons, food products, and gasoline and circulate the country via markets in Ben Guerdane, Kasserine, Sfax, Tunis; smugglers range from merchants of little means to prominent businessmen who are comparatively economically resilient and more likely to withstand trade restrictions imposed at the borders. For many smugglers of lesser means, survival depends upon their ability to navigate a political vision and legal framework which serve neither to sustain nor protect them.

Networks Dhouha Ben Youssef 01 August 2015

Hacking Team : the company that spied on you during the Tunisian revolution!

Classified by Reporters Without Borders among “The Enemies of Internet,” Hacking Team is an Italian company specializing in software, surveillance systems, and decryption. On 6 July 2015, company servers were hacked, rendering public 400 Gb of information. One item to have emerged is a table showing the company’s past and current clients where we find listed for Tunisia the ATI, Tunisian Internet Agency. According to the leaked information, ATI benefited from Hacking Team services via a contract for a “demo” system in 2011—in the midst of the country’s revolution.

Politics Vanessa Szakal 21 July 2015

Tunisia and the Wall: government solidifies its vision of “national unity”… through exclusion

…Everyone, it seemed, was talking about the wall, a trench-lined sand barricade that is to stretch some 200 kilometers along Tunisia’s border with Libya. In the capital, a world away from the country’s borders, conversations are based on hear-say, rumors, and speculation. Approbation, uncertainty, suspicion…the sentiments provoked are varied, though many remain simply baffled at the belated unveiling and precipitous construction of the government’s latest counterterrorism mechanism, a wall between Tunisia and its neighbor to the south-east.

Networks Yosr Jouini 20 July 2015

Tunisia: A new campaign for a better internet

Complaining about expensive prices and bad services is definitely the most repeated talk anyone would hear in Tunisia and the internet is no longer excluded. In fact, internet is not only a tool to gather people for a cause, organize boycott campaigns or even protests. Internet and more precisely slow internet and its cost became the subject of the protest today.

Society Vanessa Szakal 11 July 2015

In Jemna, locals manage oases to reap the fruits of their labor

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.

Media Vanessa Szakal 10 July 2015

Tunisia in the Media: foreign reporting and national discourse on the Sousse attack

In the minutes and hours following attack transpired the ungracious diffusion on Instagram and Twitter of victims lying lifeless between beach chairs and parasols; dramatized headlines announcing the “beach resort massacre” and innumerable variations recounting the scene … But after the initial shock of and Western media’s knee-jerk reaction to one of three attacks which occurred on June 26, mainstream news reports on terrorism in the country are relatively more substantial and worth contemplating than was the case several months ago.

Blogs Tjebbe van Tijen 02 July 2015

“I WILL COME TO TUNISIA THIS SUMMER” a too simple social-media slogan turned around by terrorists

“I WILL COME TO TUNISIA THIS SUMMER” a terrorist ‘détournement’ (twist) of a campaign most probably started by the Tunisian tourism authorities as an answer to the negative effects of the Bardo Museum attack in Tunis on March the 18th this year. A campaign that had quiet a success in social media. In “Je Suis Charlie” style people had themselves photographed with a handwritten statement pledging to come this summer to Tunisia. In response ISIS issued the same statement but now illustrated with a Kalazhnikov and a pistol…

Politics Vanessa Szakal 16 June 2015

‘Where’s our Oil?’ : the (continued) confusion of politics and resource management in Tunisia

“Winou el pétrole?”—Where is the oil? began to draw the attention of the media since the end of May when citizens hit the street with signs, and has gained considerable visibility since last week when demonstrations in the capital and the south of the country turned into violent confrontations between protesters and security forces. Furthermore, doubts regarding the movement’s beginning as a spontaneous social media campaign and uncertainty about the authenticity of its objectives have stirred controversy and warranted the response of the political figure and government officials.