Judiciary officials are under fire from President Kais Saied. Saied does not mince his words when it comes to the country’s magistrates, reproaching them for complicity with all kinds of corrupt individuals. Accused of promoting impunity, magistrates have defended themselves by pointing to political interference in their domain. It’s open war on a battlefield where needed reforms have been blocked.
On the 25th of July, Tunisia witnessed a major shake-up of the political landscape. Western “experts” could have predicted that. They were able to believe what they actually saw and heard. In their well-entrenched imaginary, something was decidedly wrong with this picture. The complexity was too much to handle for minds trained to see Tunisia, and the region as a whole, as easily knowable if not already known. No wonder many of them have rushed to cry foul.
When the Tunisian Republic was proclaimed on 25 July 1957, with Habib Bourguiba elected its first constituent president, long before the adoption of the constitution in 1959, the intention and spirit of the leaders were to give birth to a republican political system conferring the mandate of the head of state to the “Supreme Combatant” who had become the near-exclusive holder of power in the country. The First Republic rose up against the monarchy, and would henceforth be the regime of the new independent state. However, the people who had, according to Bourguiba, “reached a sufficient degree of maturity to assume the management of their own affairs” would first have to be guided in their choices by their zaïm-turned-raïs; liberator of the country and father of the nation. Democracy would have to wait.
Located in the south of Tataouine, the Nawara oil field was inaugurated by former prime minister Youssef Chahed on February 5. According to Chahed, the field was alloted a 3.5 billion dinar budget and promises a production of 2.7 million m3 of gas, 7,000 barrels of petroleum and 3,200 barrels of liquefied petroleum gas per day. This is enough to reduce Tunisia’s energy deficit, an estimated 435.5 million dinars, or 44.9% of the 20% commercial deficit. And yet this project that Chahed described as « historic » flies in the face of the country’s international commitments.
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.
Another hot summer in Tunisia gave way to teachers’ strikes in the fall, while winter follows suit with plans for a general strike on January 17. In this context, on December 10 the government adopted the Finance Law of 2019, a package of measures that perpetuate fiscal injustice, aiming to handle the country’s growing deficit by reaching into the pockets of those most impacted by economic crisis. Ahead of the 2019 elections, the new public budget was passed amidst a rejection rate of 30% in parliament, suscitating a new wave of popular and political rejection in the most recent test put to the government of prime minister Youssef Chahed.
On Sunday, January 22, a group of friends set off to Jbel el Faouara in the hills of Hammamet, where they were threatened by security forces at the service of wealthy businessman Mohamed Ayachi Ajroudi, who is expanding his palace in the foothills, illegally. The following Sunday, residents of Hammamet organized a picnic protest recalling their right to access the green space they love.
Last Thursday, November 17, Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission held the country’s first public hearings with victims of human rights violations carried out under the Bourguiba and Ben Ali regimes. Torture victims—including former political prisoners Sami Brahem and Gilbert Naccache—as well as the families of the disappeared and martyrs of the revolution testified on national television.
La 22ème COP se déroule actuellement à Marrakech, jusqu’au 18 novembre. Ce sommet du climat, qui rassemble des cohortes de négociateurs internationaux, de représentants de firmes multinationales, d’ONG, est l’occasion pour le Makhzen marocain de verdir son image, dans un contexte social tendu. Il confirme aussi la mainmise des intérêts privés sur la question du climat, occultant le débat démocratique sur un modèle de développement obsolète et destructeur qui est à l’origine du changement climatique. Et la Tunisie suit la même tendance.
For its stopover in Tunisia, the Ibn Battuta Odyssey of Alternatives, a mobilization across the Mediterranean which culminates at the COP22 in Marrakech, set up camp in Gabes, although the boats had docked in Bizerte. Three days of exchanges and debates concerning an environmentally- and socially-destructive economic model and potential alternatives drew attention to the deplorable environmental situation in Gabes, and were marked by heightened tension following the death of a STEG worker who was asphyxiated by the fumes of the industrial zone. Report.
In a letter to Barack Obama on July 27, 121 American analysts and former diplomats called upon the President to make an official visit to Tunisia before the end of his term in January. While some openly request official support for Tunisia, the possible appointment of Youssef Chahed, former employee of the American embassy in Tunis, raises questions around the less overt forms of US engagement with its unique North African partner.
La Petrofac n’a pas repris ses activités hier, mercredi 15 juin, comme l’avait annoncé mardi dernier, le ministre de l’Energie et des mines. Ahmed Souissi, le représentant de l’Union des chômeurs diplômés à Kerkennah a expliqué que la reprise est tributaire de la satisfaction des revendications des habitants. Les médias dominants ont largement relayé la réunion ministérielle de samedi dernier au siège du gouvernorat de Sfax, la présentant comme une solution aux problèmes de Kerkennah. Mais selon Ahmed Souissi, les habitants ont boycotté cette réunion. Alors que les autorités focalisent sur la création d’une entreprise de services pour embaucher les chômeurs, les habitants de Kerkennah, exigent la création d’un fonds de développement, la lutte contre la corruption, le départ du directeur de Petrofac et plus de redevabilité des entreprises pétrolières. Au-delà des soubresauts de l’actualité, comment le choc entre néolibéralisme et changement climatique pourrait se révéler calamiteux pour l’archipel et ses habitants ? Enquête.
