Civil society activists and employees arrested, UN organizations vilified, media outlets—including Nawaat—targeted. Once again, the country’s migration crisis serves as pretext for the ongoing witch hunt led by President Kais Saied to suppress the voices of regime critics.
What do the designation of a new prime minister and the public admonition of national television’s CEO have in common? Both highlight President Kais Saied’s new priority to « cleanse » the administration. Envisioned as a means to further consolidate the regime’s grip on power, the planned purge may in fact undermine the fragile web of alliances that is holding it together.
A number of NGOs have expressed indignation at the recent humanitarian crisis involving migrants driven out of Sfax, and the government is not impressed. Associations openly critical of authorities are blaring on the president’s radar, as acts of intimidation targeting certain organizations portend an open war against civil society’s dissenting voices.
An open letter from 379 researchers and members of civil society from the Global South and the Global North against the “Memorandum of Understanding on a Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership between the European Union (EU) and Tunisia” and against the EU’s border externalisation policies.
The religious tendencies of immigrants in Tunisia have become an object of politicization. President Kais Saied accuses Christian immigrants of threatening the country’s Muslim identity. Protestants have taken to worshiping in rented hotel conference rooms, where they can practice their religion–though not without fear for their safety. And the government stands by.
One year after Kais Saied’s dismissal of 57 judges, Tunisia’s judiciary has never been less independent. Working under pressure and fearing retaliation from the executive power, Tunisian judges have never fared worse. Not even under the Ben Ali regime, according to a representative of the profession.
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.
