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Society Translation : Vanessa Szakal 30 October 2019

Tunisian derja VS classical Arabic, an ongoing rivalry

Tunisian derja and literary Arabic are often perceived as rivalling languages. But the conflict runs deeper than what appears at the surface, a product of cultural, political and historical issues. It is not enough to simply question the use of one language versus another. Instead, we can ask: why use one language at the expense of the other? What drives the decision to use one language and abandon the other? Nawaat set out to find some answers.

[This report falls within the scope of activities carried out by the network of Independent Media on the Arab World. This regional collaboration includes Al-Jumhuriya (Syria), Assafir Al Arabi (Lebanon), Mada Masr (Egypt), Maghreb Emergent (Algeria), Mashallah News (Lebanon), Nawaat (Tunisia), 7iber (Jordan) and Orient XX1 (France).]

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Rights Translation : Vanessa Szakal 10 October 2019

Saloua Smaoui, from cyber-policing to the presidential campaign

Before aspiring to a potential future as first lady, Saloua Smaoui, the wife of presidential candidate Nabil Karoui, was an industrial engineer and, more notably, a leading officer at Microsoft. In this article, we take a glimpse at the lucrative deals made with the hangmen of cyber-dissidents.

La Tunisie ciblée par une campagne de désinformation israélienne

La Tunisie n’est clairement plus épargnée par les campagnes massives de désinformation à l’ère du trollage et des fake news. Objectif : semer la division, défigurer l’espace public et influencer les électeurs potentiels via des campagnes clandestines menées sur les réseaux sociaux.

From Eritrea to Tunisia through Libya: Refugees escaping death

On March 21, 2019, the Medenine refugee shelter closed its doors. Tunisia Red Crescent’s regional committee called for the closure two weeks after the protest movement carried out by a group of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers on March 7. Protesters had left the center and set out on foot towards the Libyan border, calling attention to catastrophic conditions at the center, a facility which houses 210 occupants in spite of a 100-person capacity. It was here where, on March 11, a 15 year-old asylum seeker attempted suicide by cutting his wrists. Nawaat met with some of its residents to uncover the truth about this shelter.

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Higher Education Translation : Vanessa Szakal 19 April 2019

Professors raise red flag against marginalization of Tunisia’s public universities

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.

Interview with A. Guellali about children of Tunisian ISIS fighters in conflict areas

Human Rights Watch has recently criticized the inaction of Tunisian authorities in the attempt to bring home the children of Tunisian ISIS fighters. The NGO says that 200 Tunisian children are currently being held in prisons and camps in Libya, Syria and Iraq. In an interview with Amna Guellali, Human Rights Watch director for Tunisia, we touch on an HRW study concerning the situation of these children today.

Vocational training in Tunisia : the limits of a governmental illusion

From March 4-8, the Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment launched Vocational Training, Private Initiatives and Employment week. Nawaat visited a training center in the suburbs of Tunis where official discourse doesn’t quite reflect reality.

Despite France’s efforts, is French language in Tunisia on its way out?

Held on March 9 at Tunis’ City of Culture, the Forum de la Francophonie marked the beginning of the month of Francophonie which is celebrated by French cultural institutions in Tunisia. The country will host the Summit of Francophonie in August 2020, even as the use of French language is on the decline and questions around language are charged with identity issues.

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Politics Translation : Vanessa Szakal 01 March 2019

Party financing in Tunisia: Violations abound, but what about sanctions?

New elections are around the corner, and the monitoring of party financing has yet to catch up. Between political parties incapable of respecting the law and authorities that struggle to sanction them, the trust of a small segment of citizens still inclined to vote could be easily shaken.

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Politics Translation : Vanessa Szakal 25 February 2019

Marouen Mabrouk, a story of impunity after the revolution

As per the official request of prime minister Youssef Chahed, the name of Marouen Mabrouk was removed from the list of 48 Tunisians sanctioned by the European Union for misappropriation of state funds. Unlike other friends and relatives of deposed president Ben Ali who saw their money frozen by the EU, Mabrouk was able to find himself a new political shield to protect his wealth following the revolution that swept the country in 2011. With help from telecommunications company Orange France, he managed to get Tunisia’s prime minister to unfreeze over seven million euros in assets held in EU countries.

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Politics Translation : Vanessa Szakal 18 February 2019

Investigation: UPS Tunisia to the rescue of Nidaa Tounes

Having endured multiple scissions since coming to power at the end of 2014, Nidaa Tounes is all but in pieces. Today, the party is trying to mend its wounds by absorbing the Free Patriotic Union (UPL) and, seven years after its creation, organizing its first elective congress. To this end, a na-tional conference of regional coordinators was held in Mahdia over the weekend of December 21-23, 2018. The event is telling about the banalization of murky relations between the business world and Nidaa Tounes, whose own treasurer is playing the role of party financer.

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Politics Translation : Vanessa Szakal 31 January 2019

Youth protest campaigns: Shifting stakes, ambiguous party relations

Over the past month, Tunisia’s streets have provided the setting for a number of social movements marked by the new campaign slogan Basta (« enough »). The emergence of this campaign has raised a number of questions around the effectiveness of this form of struggle in achieving its demands and independence from political parties, especially in terms of its ability to preserve a horizontalist organization. Questions frequently raised in the context of youth protest campaigns that have been carried out in Tunisia over the past several years (Fech Nestannew, Manich Msameh, Tamarrod).

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Politics Translation : Vanessa Szakal 21 January 2019

Languages in the public space: 25 years of political instrumentalization

To write signs in Arabic… or not? It didn’t take long for the question to turn into a debate on identity. The story behind the ministerial circular which provided the basis for this decision shows how the political instrumentalization of language is nothing new in Tunisia.

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Rights Translation : Vanessa Szakal 10 January 2019

Eric, Ivorian and illegal in Tunisia

On December 23, 2018, Falikou Coulibaly, president of the Association of Ivorians in Tunisia, was killed during a robbery in Soukra (Greater Tunis). As protests led by the Subsaharian community multiplied across the capital, Nawaat met Eric. Settled in Tunisia since March 2017, the 31 year old Ivorian—like hundreds of his compatriots, has found himself uncapable of regularizing his status. Forced to relinquish his studies, Eric got a job as a construction worker. Racist acts of aggression, a lack of medical care and an exploitative work situation are some of the challenges he faces on a daily basis.

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Economy Translation : Vanessa Szakal 02 January 2019

Finance law 2019: exacerbating debt, perpetuating fiscal injustice

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.

Enquête : Affaire Halq El Menzel, corruption ou mirage communicationnel ?

Déclenchée par le limogeage du ministre de l’Energie et quatre responsables du même ministère, la polémique sur l’affaire Halq El Menzel a duré peu de temps avant de tomber dans l’oubli. Accusant la société TOPIC d’exploiter ce champ pétrolifère sans autorisation depuis 2009, le gouvernement a ensuite révisé sa copie et a fini par résumer l’affaire en une confusion dans l’interprétation des articles du Code des Hydrocarbures. Quant aux soupçons de corruption, ils ont été plus tard présentés comme une simple question de négligence administrative. Ces évolutions ont laissé la société accusée dans une situation ambiguë et le gouvernement dans une position suspecte.

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World Vanessa Szakal 26 November 2018

Interview: Tunisian physicist Nour Raouafi, on NASA’s mission to reach the Sun

Over the past month, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has been breaking space records left and right. On October 29, PSP became the closest and fastest human-made object orbiting the Sun, while October 31 marked its first solar « encounter ». In light of these events, Nawaat speaks with the Project Scientist of the NASA mission to reach our solar system’s star, the Sun. Nour Raouafi, Tunisian solar physicist at John Hopkins University Applied Sciences Lab which built the PSP spacecraft, describes the early phase of this seven-year journey into the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, and also talks about his own trajectory to working on this stellar mission.

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Politics Translation : Vanessa Szakal 14 October 2018

Despite crimes in Yemen, Saudi airforces train in Tunisian skies

Since October 3, Saudi planes have launched into Tunisian skies, where joint military exercises are underway with Tunisian air forces. A statement issued by the Kingdom’s defense ministry describes the exercises as « highlighting the capabilities, professionalism and readiness of the Saudi airforce ». Such capabilities, which the Saudi regime seeks to « refine » with the help of Tunisia, were demonstrated on August 9 of this year when it targeted a school bus in Sana’a, Yemen, killing 29 children. With Saudi-Tunisian joint military exercises underway, Tunisia has provided Saudi Arabia with the airspace it needs to sharpen its knives before shedding more blood in Yemen.