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.
Dreams and disillusionment: Tunisian migrants in Italy
Each year, thousands of Tunisians attempt the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in order to reach Italy. But dreams of an Italian promised land fall away as migrants are faced with a harsh reality. Once ashore, Tunisian workers enter into a life of precarity.
Selective Immigration: Tunisia loses its skilled workforce to broader horizons
Nurses, doctors, engineers, university students, restaurateurs…are leaving Tunisia in droves. The country is losing its skilled workforce to Europe and the Gulf countries, with no end to the exodus in sight.
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.
Sierra Leone to Tunisia: The journey of young Lamin
24-year-old Lamin is from Sierra Leone. He has never tried to reach Europe and dreams of building his life in Tunisia, where he wants to start his own business. Although his situation is far from perfect in the absence of a legal work contract, Lamin reports that he takes everything in stride. Portrait.
Taxis in Tunisia: Headed in the wrong direction
Mobile applications for transportation have sprung up as an alternative to standard taxis, but at a much higher cost. While Bolt, In Driver, Yassir and other applications are ostensibly more profitable for drivers, passengers feel they have been left to foot the bill for a worn-down public transportation system. The unchecked liberalization of transportation services in Tunisia is riding on the mediocrity of the sector’s public services.
Tunisia’s Health Minister Fired, Vax Centers Closed After Overwhelming Turnout
As Tunisians celebrated Eid on Tuesday, crowds of people took to the newly opened, walk-in vaccination centers across the country. The centers—offering vaccinations to anyone over 18-years-old for the first time—had been announced only one day earlier for a limited two-day period. But with the limited time frame, limited vaccine supplies, unclear directives from officials, and short notice given to volunteer organizers, many centers were overwhelmed with some witnessing disruptions, overcrowding, clashes, or the total freezing of operations.
Tunisia. Anti-Vax Hospital Workers and Line Jumpers Complicate Vaccine Rollout
As a new wave of Covid-19 infections hits Tunisia, health workers say that the vaccine roll out is beginning to overcome some initial hesitancy and skepticism. Some of this skepticism has been of the vaccine itself -even among health workers- but also of governing institutions and their communication.
Tunisia. As Mental Healthcare Needs Increase, Public Services Fail to Keep Up
In 2019, Tunisia ranked third in the African continent in terms of the number of people suffering from depression, with more than a half million people suffering from this mental illness, according to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics. Mental healthcare professionals say that the need for such healthcare is increasing, yet the public health care system is not adequate to treat all patients.
For the Poor, Tunisia’s Infrastructure can be Deadly
On Monday, November 23, a 21-year old woman died after falling into a stormwater drainage channel in the industrial area of Enfidha in the governorate of Sousse. Her death marks the second time in less than two months that dangerous infrastructure has taken the life of a young person.
Irregular migration: a family undertaking
Migratory waves often coincide with the failure of social movements to achieve their objectives. A recent report notes a spike in clandestine migration that correlates with failed protest movements in the Gafsa mining basin and in Tataouine. « Irregular migration has become a form of collective protest », observes sociologue Khaled Tababi. A form of protest in which women are increasingly taking part.
Confinement: Rush for psychological support, the experience of A7kili Center
Modern decor, open space, young people bustling about. Nothing here would seem to indicate that this is a psychologial care center. And yet the A7kili Center is just this, dedicated to helping individuals in distress. Since the beginning of confinement, the center received about 400 calls a day—sign of a real need for psychological support.
Souk Sidi Boumendil: Survival by deconfinement
A sea of cars fills the street from Bab Alioua to Bab Jazira. Dozens of people carrying plastic bags are on the lookout for available taxis which are few and far between. The closer one gets to Boumendil, the thicker the crowd becomes. In this souk, a hub for contraband, life is returning to normal as Aid draws near. But the threat of Coronavirus hovers all along this street that is teeming with foot traffic.
The sexual life of Tunisians during confinement
With touching and kissing banished from daily life and physical distancing encouraged, Covid-19 has not only taken its toll on social but also intimate relationships. Whether living under the same roof or separated by the restrictions that confinement imposes, couples are forced to navigate all the uncertainties that Coronavirus brings—health-related, psychological and, by extension, sexual.
Covid-19 : Women, violence and confinement. An interview with Yosra Frawes
According to the Minister of Women, Children and the Elderly, Asma Shiri Laabidi, violence against women in Tunisia has increased five-fold since March 2019. Since the start of the confinement period, several associations have red-flagged this trend. With its support centers set up in different regions, the Tunisian Association of Women Democrats (ATFD) warns about the increase both physical and symbolic violence against women. In an interview with Nawaat, ATFD president Yosra Frawes goes into detail.
The imminent threat of Coronavirus in Tunisia
Much like the governments of other countries, the Tunisian government was hesitant in taking drastic measures to stop the spread of the disease. To its credit, it acted faster than some other countries, though some actions such as closing air and maritime routes with Italy should have been taken much sooner. My observations below are based on collecting public data applied to the specific context in Tunisia, and using some of my training as a data scientist and predictive modeler. Below I’ve provided graphics, data, and alternative models in response to some pressing questions.
With Coronavirus in Algeria and Italy, what measures has Tunisia taken?
Since it first surfaced in China in December 2019, the Coronavirus has quickly spread across the globe. Over 90 thousand cases have been reported, resulting in three thousand deaths. In Tunisia, the first case of contamination was identified on March 2nd, a Tunisian national who had arrived by boat from Genoa on February 27. In Italy, the first death caused by the virus was announced on February 22. Since then, 2,502 deaths have been reported. In Algeria, the first case of the virus was announced on February 25, with eight more cases reported since. What is Tunisia doing to prevent the spread of Coronavirus?
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).]