More and more, Tunisian youth are turning away from politics to focus on their personal trajectories. With the outlook grim for national salvation, young people are seeking out their own paths to individual salvation. What is the situation of these youth? What do they imagine for their future? Report.
As youth flock to Europe, a village in Djerba fades away
As Serbia expulses dozens of Tunisians from Belgrade, thousands of others are making their way towards Europe along the Balkan route. « I can count on one hand the number of them who are still here », says a sixty-something-year-old resident of a small village in the center of Djerba. Report.
Project 1008: It takes courage to fight the current
One of the most beautiful lines ever spat in hip-hop comes from a song called « Last Supper » by D Smoke, in which he says “every kid needs a hero, I’m trying to be uncle Stan Lee.” In this context, Stan Lee represents the idea that no matter where you come from, you can make it if you put your mind to it, even when you live in a small hood in the capital of one of the tiniest countries in the world.
“Ten”, a new short movie produced by Nawaat
Ten years after Tunisia’s revolution, a group of young activists set out to sea, on a route used for irregular migration. As they sail along they discuss some of the most important issues they have confronted over the past decade.
Youth Culture: War Zone Brings Tunisian Hip Hop Artists Together for Friendly Fire
On June 18th nearly 50 Tunisian hip hop artists came together for the country’s first multi-talent event, “War Zone”.
6th Youth Forum in Gafsa: France-Tunisia Cooperation and its Discontents
Chartered buses from l’Institut Français headed towards Gafsa to assemble at the 6th Youth Forum, which each year, celebrates decentralized cooperation between France and Tunisia. Behind the “support” of civil society appears to be the dissemination of a doctrine; one which claims that what will help boost start-ups is a solution for mass unemployment and marginalization. In light of some “success stories”, how many are left behind?
US State Department – Working for or Against a Pluralistic and Free Media in Tunisia?
The agitation that a democratic model allows represents a prompt for open, substantial discussion, create space for questions to form and answers to be formulated, for awareness to shift and public opinion to fluctuate and controversy to take its course … For over a decade, Nawaat has been a platform many of whose contributors are quick to question, criticize, and call out the Tunisian and foreign governments for hypocrisy, complicity, exploit, corruption…the very symptoms of defective governance that were renounced by youth and activists and journalists of the so-called Arab Spring, the same individuals whom Western democracies and international agencies have so effusively commended for their courage and commitment to changing the status quo. And so inevitably it feels like something of a betrayal when requests for more specific information and questions regarding political motives are consistently held at bay, excluded from discussions, or, most conveniently, ignored.
The Tunisian Youth Parliament: An Evaluative Reading
The idea is to have the Tunisian youth act as delegates in a model of the Parliament, as is the case with the European Youth Parliament and other parliamentary youth representations. I had the chance to participate in the event after I got accepted among sixty young Tunisians. This article is my personal evaluation of the event as a whole, beyond the outward show of harmony.
Informal work, or evidence of the state’s incompetence
The problem is that the informal field is theoretical and is difficult to define. “The informal sector encompasses all employment activity that is executed with out registration, accounting, or paying taxes or dues. Such activity is beyond the state’s control and regulation.