The recent revelations leaked by Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras have shown the depth of collusion between intelligence services and […]
Weld El 15: Two Years for “Rapped Retaliation”?
Weld El 15, the young rapper, was sentenced to two years of prison for singing “policemen are dogs” (البوليسية كلاب) and convicted for public indecency and cop contempt. Is it that I do not understand the law? Or is it that these laws defy those of logic?
What Is Wrong with Post-Revolution Tunisia?
Back in the days of “Big Brother” and the “Thought Police”, the Tunisian people could not discern what was precisely wrong with politics, society, and economy. All the political, social, and economic ills were subsumed under one major ill: that of “oppression”. Now that Oppression, emblematized in Ben Ali’s figure, is toppled, the once unnoticeable problems are surfacing.
The Arab Awakening in a Changing Climate
Beneath the wave of dissent focused primarily on economic woes and democratic deficits, there lay an extreme food and water crisis, and an inability – or unwillingness – of governments to do something about it…
Amnesty: Last opportunity for Tunisian lawmakers to enshrine human rights for all in Tunisia’s new Constitution
Amnesty International’s analysis of the latest draft of Tunisia’s new Constitution.
Meeting with supporters of Ansar Sharia in Kairouan: between “Islamic revolution” and social injustice
Following a long suspense, the Ansar Charia rally planned for 19 May in Kairouan but banned by the interior ministry finally didn’t take place. But this did nothing to dent the commitment of Salafists to what they call their “Islamic revolution.”
Tunisian blogger faces military court for criticizing hospital staff
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL NEWS STORY 28 May 2013 Tunisian blogger faces military court for criticizing hospital staff The trial of a […]
Ansar Al-Sharia: When Political Immaturity Confronts Governmental Clumsiness
Ansar Al-Sharia Congress: When Political Immaturity Confronts Governmental Clumsiness. The government refused to allow Ansar Al-Sharia to hold their third Congress and Kairouan has become a pseudo-military base ever since.
Weekly Political Review: Recent Terror Attacks in Tunisia ‘Shatter’ Illusions of Stability
Since the beginning of the month, the hunt for al-Qaida-linked militants in Mount Chaambi, a region near the Algerian border, has instilled widespread anxiety and fear among the population. At least 17 soldiers and police have been seriously injured while searching for militants during the past few days. And back in December an encounter with the group costed the life of a young national guardsman.
A Cyber Survey of Tunisian Political/Metaphysical Parties
Two years after the Tunisian Revolution, political parties in Tunisia are still living in political prehistory. It is true that the revolution took our rusty politicians by surprise. They were either in jail, or abroad, or in some fancy Tunisian suburb leading a status quo existence.
Chaambi: This is your bidding Mr. Ghannouchi, and your goods have been returned to you!
In the thick of the Chaambi Mount events, we received four messages which can provide raw material to understand part of what’s going on. The first message came from “Sheikh” Habib Elouze who called on Tunisian citizens who refuse “Shariah” Holy Law to leave the country.
Five NGO’s are denouncing the serious Fauna and Flora breaches in the Tunisian Sahara
In a complaining letter, dating of April 16th 2013, (see below), addressed to the General Director of forests for the regional office for agricultural development in Kebili. Five local NGO’s in Douz-one of them is “Tunisie Ecologie”, lead by Abdel Majid Dabbar-denounce the the serious fauna and flora breaches in the Tunisian Sahara and that by several illegal practices, including poaching of protected species by a definite group coming from Gulf countries.
Tunisia: Freedom of Expression is in Danger. A Call to Defend and Protect It
25 April 2012 Over two years after the Revolution for Freedom and Dignity had broken the shackles that fettered freedom […]
Weekly Political Review: “The invention of democracy”, A Well-informed “Misreading” by Moncef Marzouki
The new book of the President of Tunisia Marzouki, The Invention of Democracy: The Lessons of the Tunisian Experience (L’invention d’une démocratie, les leçons de l’expérience tunisienne), might have little chance to restore faith in the democracy project under the leadership of Troika.
Tunisian Revolution, Feminist De-volution: “Bourgeois Mammary Activism”
Our activists have somehow committed “Feminist plagiarism”, borrowing a foreign concept heedless of its source and unfaithful of its uses, without revision or modification. In this de-volutionary process, our Feminists transfigured revolutionary thought into “mammary thought” and transformed social justice marches into “bourgeois catwalks”.
Response from Standard & Poor’s to an article criticizing our methods
I am writing to set the record straight about an article you recently published about Standard & Poor’s sovereign ratings methodology, and particularly its application to Tunisia, entitled “Standard & Poor’s cuts Tunisia’s rating: limited methodology or bad intentions?”. The article contains numerous factual errors and repeats false allegations against us, several of which I list below.
Weekly Political Review: Protesters Celebrate Martyrs’ Day as the IMF steps to ‘rescue’ Tunisia’s Economy
Tunisia’s Finance Minister Elyes Fakhfakh said last week the government expects to sign a $1.8 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund by May. An IMF team arrived in Tunisia for talks on April 8 before another meeting in Washington later this month, Fakhfakh said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Middle East headquarters in Dubai.
“Conservatism for Specific Purposes”, “Revolutionary Fallacy” or What You Will
In our Tunisian post-revolution context, it has become quite the trend to display signs –or symptoms- of being “revolutionary”. The word has grown into an umbrella epithet for those who are “fashionable”, “educated” and “sophisticated”. It has become synonymous with “taste”, “culture”, and the elusive notion of Leftism that has developed in a generally politically-illiterate country; the all-at-once neoliberal-communist-socialist-nationalist-anarchist ideologically elusive Leftism.
