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.
On 31 May 2017, the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) and the families of persons who went missing while making the illegal crossing over to Italy held a press conference to denounce a blackout of the investigation into the cases of those lost at sea. Families expressed their resentment around the procrastination of successive governments since 2008, indifference which has compelled the families to organize protests and hunger strikes in the hopes of pressuring the government to make headway into investigations. In this context, FTDES President Abderrahman Hedhili expressed his support for all protests carried out by the families of the missing migrants.
“Give us the truth : where are the children?” On the rainy morning of November 9, a few dozen middle-age and elderly women and men occupy the stairs before closed doors of the Ministry of Social Affairs in Tunis. Grey sky and cold air accentuate the solemnity of the gathering, yet another demonstration by the families of Tunisians who disappeared while crossing the Mediterranean to the shores of Italy.
It’s hard to believe, when you’re in Redeyef, that this town is one of the richest in the whole of Tunisia. It’s also in Redeyef that we see the real meaning of social injustice. Despite the four hundred thousand tons of phosphate mined there every year, the twenty-seven thousand inhabitants of Redeyef have, for decades now, had access to just one school, one poorly equipped hospital, and a deserted youth centre.
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