On Sunday, January 22, a group of friends set off to Jbel el Faouara in the hills of Hammamet, where they were threatened by security forces at the service of wealthy businessman Mohamed Ayachi Ajroudi, who is expanding his palace in the foothills, illegally. The following Sunday, residents of Hammamet organized a picnic protest recalling their right to access the green space they love.
Last Thursday, November 17, Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission held the country’s first public hearings with victims of human rights violations carried out under the Bourguiba and Ben Ali regimes. Torture victims—including former political prisoners Sami Brahem and Gilbert Naccache—as well as the families of the disappeared and martyrs of the revolution testified on national television.
La 22ème COP se déroule actuellement à Marrakech, jusqu’au 18 novembre. Ce sommet du climat, qui rassemble des cohortes de négociateurs internationaux, de représentants de firmes multinationales, d’ONG, est l’occasion pour le Makhzen marocain de verdir son image, dans un contexte social tendu. Il confirme aussi la mainmise des intérêts privés sur la question du climat, occultant le débat démocratique sur un modèle de développement obsolète et destructeur qui est à l’origine du changement climatique. Et la Tunisie suit la même tendance.
For its stopover in Tunisia, the Ibn Battuta Odyssey of Alternatives, a mobilization across the Mediterranean which culminates at the COP22 in Marrakech, set up camp in Gabes, although the boats had docked in Bizerte. Three days of exchanges and debates concerning an environmentally- and socially-destructive economic model and potential alternatives drew attention to the deplorable environmental situation in Gabes, and were marked by heightened tension following the death of a STEG worker who was asphyxiated by the fumes of the industrial zone. Report.
In a letter to Barack Obama on July 27, 121 American analysts and former diplomats called upon the President to make an official visit to Tunisia before the end of his term in January. While some openly request official support for Tunisia, the possible appointment of Youssef Chahed, former employee of the American embassy in Tunis, raises questions around the less overt forms of US engagement with its unique North African partner.
La Petrofac n’a pas repris ses activités hier, mercredi 15 juin, comme l’avait annoncé mardi dernier, le ministre de l’Energie et des mines. Ahmed Souissi, le représentant de l’Union des chômeurs diplômés à Kerkennah a expliqué que la reprise est tributaire de la satisfaction des revendications des habitants. Les médias dominants ont largement relayé la réunion ministérielle de samedi dernier au siège du gouvernorat de Sfax, la présentant comme une solution aux problèmes de Kerkennah. Mais selon Ahmed Souissi, les habitants ont boycotté cette réunion. Alors que les autorités focalisent sur la création d’une entreprise de services pour embaucher les chômeurs, les habitants de Kerkennah, exigent la création d’un fonds de développement, la lutte contre la corruption, le départ du directeur de Petrofac et plus de redevabilité des entreprises pétrolières. Au-delà des soubresauts de l’actualité, comment le choc entre néolibéralisme et changement climatique pourrait se révéler calamiteux pour l’archipel et ses habitants ? Enquête.
With each measure of “support” the EU has offered Tunisia—whether in the form of a sizable loan for security reforms, or a free trade agreement for economic growth—particular emphasis has been placed on the recent successes and imperative role of civil society in the country’s path to democracy. But if what Tunisian civil society demands is a shifting of the scales and relations based on reciprocity, is Europe really prepared to listen?
يبدو أن خطة تزويد أوروبا بالطاقة من محطات الطاقة الشمسية في الصحراء قد توقفت، ولكن لا تزال العديد من المشاريع الشمسية الكبيرة في شمال أفريقيا تمضي قدما رغم المخاوف المحلية. الدكتورحمزة حموشان، يسأل: أين كان الخطأ في مشروع ديزرتيك، وهل يمكن للطاقة الشمسية من الصحراء أن تلعب الآن دورا في مستقبل ديمقراطي ومستدام؟
Formerly, it was called the attic of Rome. Nowadays, Tunisia does not manage any more to fill its needs into agri-food sector. The sector suffers, since decades, from a bad management which weakens it. The repercussions of corruption, nepotism and the non-planned privatization carried by the old regime, largely, contributed to this crisis. It is the case of the farms, from Sers to Kef, where farmers have decided to open the files of corruption, reform the sector and create agricultural complexes, like there is, everywhere, in the country.
Picture this as a cryptic phenomenon in the modern history of Tunisia, a script that is currently being written by revolting masses. It is not one about the true start of this modern history in 1837 with Ahmed Bey’s access to power and the initiatives he undertook abolishing slavery, 18 years before the US, modernizing education by establishing the Saint Louis school in 1845, with its all-inclusive philosophy, giving equal access to modern means to Tunisia’s Muslims and Jews equally
Today, we are confronting what we could credibly call a ‘crisis.’ An identity crisis, a socioeconomic crisis, and most of all, a daily, practical crisis.
“One year after its accession to power in December 2011, the coalition, dominated by the Islamist party, has transformed the country, and is currently being contested and defied by a large portion of the population.”
