Report: International mobilization against pollution in Gabes

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.

After Obama, what’s in store for Tunisia?

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.

Kerkennah : en première ligne du changement climatique et de la résistance à l’industrie fossile

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.

EU “support” for Tunisia: loans and free trade to remedy terrorism

With each measure of “support” the EU has offered Tunisia—whether in the form of a sizable loan for security reforms, or a free trade agreement for economic growth—particular emphasis has been placed on the recent successes and imperative role of civil society in the country’s path to democracy. But if what Tunisian civil society demands is a shifting of the scales and relations based on reciprocity, is Europe really prepared to listen?

ديزيرتيك: الإستيلاء على الطاقة المتجددة؟

يبدو أن خطة تزويد أوروبا بالطاقة من محطات الطاقة الشمسية في الصحراء قد توقفت، ولكن لا تزال العديد من المشاريع الشمسية الكبيرة في شمال أفريقيا تمضي قدما رغم المخاوف المحلية. الدكتورحمزة حموشان، يسأل: أين كان الخطأ في مشروع ديزرتيك، وهل يمكن للطاقة الشمسية من الصحراء أن تلعب الآن دورا في مستقبل ديمقراطي ومستدام؟

Weekly Political Review: Assassination of Chokri Belaid as a Dark Day in the Modern History of Tunisia

Picture this as a cryptic phenomenon in the modern history of Tunisia, a script that is currently being written by revolting masses. It is not one about the true start of this modern history in 1837 with Ahmed Bey’s access to power and the initiatives he undertook abolishing slavery, 18 years before the US, modernizing education by establishing the Saint Louis school in 1845, with its all-inclusive philosophy, giving equal access to modern means to Tunisia’s Muslims and Jews equally

Manifesto: Our Revolution Is Not a Rumor!

Today, a year and a half after Ben Ali’s flight, our fury continues to rumble. Ben Ali’s real and virtual allies in Tunisia and overseas, who were begging partnership in vain in most cases, managed to circumvent, distort, and erase the slogans of the Revolution from the collective memory as they removed the slogans of the Kasbah sit-in, for instance.