Dictature 39

Tunisia’s job crisis sparks dissent

Once a fortnight, Leila Khaled, a Tunisian housewife, comes down from Tunis, the capital, to the dusty mining region of Gafsa, to visit her son Muthafer Labidi in jail. The rest of the time, she holds vigil at a Tunis hospital where her husband, Bechir Labidi, a trade union leader, lies ailing and handcuffed in his bed.

Tunisia: Video message to Barack Obama

We all remember what the French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared, in his victory speech, shortly after winning the French presidential election in 2007: “I want to issue a call to everyone in the world who believes in the values of tolerance, freedom, democracy, humanism, to all those who are persecuted by tyranny, by dictatorships […] I want to tell them that it will be France’s pride and its duty to be at their side.

Intellectuals’ responsibility in the collapse of the democratic process in Tunisia

Needless to say, there are in Tunisia, just like everywhere else, many historians, writers, and poets, filmmakers, who have never signed a single petition against torture or corruption, while considering themselves in private as democrats. Should we blame the collapse of the democratic process on them ? May be they have not to be blamed because they are not intellectuals at all.

موجة جديدة من المحاكمات والملاحقات والمضايقات في تونس

يتداخل في المشهد التونسي في الآونة الأخيرة تدخل أجهزة الأمن بكل تفاصيل الحياة اليومية للناس. فبعد أن حاولت السلطة السياسية تقسيم الطبقة السياسية التونسية بين مؤيد مستفيد ومعارض مضطهد، وتمزيق أوصال الأشكال المستقلة للمقاومة المدنية، ها هي اليوم تتعامل مع المجتمع التونسي كمجموعة بشرية غير مطمئنة.

Tunisia Caucus Co-Chair Calls Despot Moderate and Wise

Only a handful of Internet publications and small-circulation opposition papers have attempted to seriously criticize the government or hold it accountable. But journalists writing for these outlets have been placed under surveillance, assaulted by plainclothes police, had their phone and Internet lines cut, and been prevented from leaving the country.

Ben Ali’s dictatorship is creating more Islamists

The deadly clashes in the suburbs of the Tunisian capital between security forces and Islamist gunmen at the end of December and in early January took by surprise those who were under the illusion that an Arab autocrat of Ben Ali’s ilk could learn anything from Ibn Khaldoun. According to official sources, the clashes left 12 gunmen dead and 15 under arrest […].

Islamizing Democracy Or Democratizing Islam ?

As the summer heat rises, it seems, to cause the human folly to follow suit. The guns of August are again at work in many spots in the heart of the so-called Arab world. And the war planners are busy in tweaking its goings and toolings. As it moves from “shock and awe” to more insidious but hopefully -for its planners-moreeffective approach, the so-called […].

Panique, manipulation et valse médiatique

Le mardi 1er novembre 2005 à 23h 26, Decepticus poste sur le forum de Nawaat la transcription de la séquence du journal télévisé consacrée à la grève de la faim. Dans sa minutie, Décepticus poste la source de cette transcription : http://www.infotunisie.com/2005/11/011105-4.html Le lendemain, mercredi 2 novembre 2005, l’intégralité des propos du présent […].

Tunisia: the trial of Zain El-Abedeen Ben Ali “the Arabic Pinochet ” opens the door for torture victims in the Arab World to bring their slaughterers to courts.

Gineva primary court opened a law case filed by the Tunisian Activist Abdul-Nasser Naiet Liman, the ex-prisoner against Zein Al_Abedeen Ben Ali and his ex-minister of interior, Abdullah Al-kallal on Wednesday 9th June 2005.the case opened despite Ben Ali’s being on power till now. باشرت محكمة جنيف الابتدائية نظر دعوي قضائية أقامها الناشط التونسي عبد الناص […].

The Arab condition.

My impression is that many Arabs today feel that what has been taking place in Iraq over the last two months is little short of a catastrophe. My impression is that many Arabs today feel that what has been taking place in Iraq over the last two months is little short of a catastrophe. True, Saddam Hussein’s regime was a despicable one in every way and it […].