Transition 189
سياسة Zakiyya Hadiji 29 مارس 2017

حكيم بن حمودة : فاتح الأبواب المفتوحة

التحديات كبيرة والملفات عصية ومدة الخطة سنة واحدة. ومع ذلك تمكن حكيم بن حمودة من مشاهدة بعض الأفلام خلال أيام قرطاج السنمائية، وأدى، حسب تعبيره، مناسك الحج السنوية لمهرجان قليبية لسينما الهواة لكنه أرجأ، لضيق الوقت، مشاهدة ”جمل البروطة“ أو ”القرط“ إلى ما بعد انتهاء المهمة. وما إن سلمت حكومة المهدي جمعة المشعل الى حكومة الحبيب الصيد يوم 6 فيفري 2015 حتى تسنى لحكيم بن حمودة مرافقة كاميرا الوثائقي وهي تتوغل بالديب زوم، deep zoom، في أعماق بؤس شباب تونس الذي تجاهلته مشاريع التنمية. حينها قال : ”إنه شهادة صادمة حول التهميش وصوت من أصوات الانتفاضات القادمة“.

Politics Vanessa Szakal 16 October 2014

American IRI and NDI Observation Delegations for Tunisia’s 2014 Elections

In Tunisia, public opinion has often questioned the authenticity of foreign initiatives to facilitate the country’s transition to democracy, based largely on skepticism of, for instance, the US’ silence/complicity in (a lack of truly democratic) political processes that kept Ben Ali in power for over two decades. Shortly after the President’s fled the country in January 2011, questions posed during a press conference at the US Embassy in Tunis on 21 February expressed as much; one Tunisian journalist explicitly asked, «How can we trust you?»

Politics Vanessa Szakal 14 September 2014

Circumventing Political Exclusion – RCD After the Revolution and in the Coming Elections

What Euchi demonstrates in The Disappointment of the Revolution is the falling short of an effective transitional justice process, a degredation of standards since 2011 that has witnessed the successive criminalization of former regime officials to their pardoning, to the concession of their right to engage in politics. Those who were initially seen as “enemies” of the state have gradually come to be recognized as political equals, now rivals now allies as per the momentary needs of political parties vying for electoral ground.

Politics Vanessa Szakal 17 August 2014

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Tunisia and Israel, Tunisia and the US

As much as Tunisia’s initial, post-independence, political transition was influenced by the extent and nature of economic support from the West, the success of the country’s waning post-revolution «democratic transition» is significantly impacted by the same US and EU powers. A misnomer that diminishes the scope and complexity of international alliances and enmities that it encompasses, the Arab-Israeli conflict bears greatly upon Tunisia’s relations with Western democracies, the primary prospective investors and financial backers of political transition in Tunisia for the past half century.

Environment Vanessa Szakal 02 June 2014

Citizens Expand on the Ministry of Tourism’s Social Media Campaign…through SelfiePoubella

The aptness of the SelfiePoubella campaign is largely in the irony of its approach, in its twisting of the conventionally individualistic focus of the Selfie in general and especially in the context of the Minister of Tourism’s fetish for self-portraits that have propagated and diffused across the media landscape with as much efficiency as the garbage that has cluttered the Tunisian landscape.

Politics Vanessa Szakal 02 May 2014

Revitalizing Tourism? The ‘Start-up Democracy Team’ Spins a New Image for Tunisia

What does foreign media make of the Ministry of Tourism’s recent decision to regulate the entry of Jews carrying Israel passports into the country? How will a national debate that encompasses questions of ethnicity, religion, secularism, history, and international relations influence potential tourists to Tunisia? For better or worse, the Djerba controversy and Karboulmania that have overcome Tunisia have yet to titillate the international community; if they have penetrated foreign media, the effects on potential tourists appear yet negligible, and reports are charged with neither the spit nor flame of online articles and commentaries from Tunisian journalists and readers alike.

Economy Vanessa Szakal 18 April 2014

Agricultural Dialogue on the Outskirts of Tunisia’s National Dialogue

Will continuing threats of strikes, milk siphoned across borders and spilled onto streets, and official demands for reforms within the dairy industry inspire more interest in prioritizing the needs of a suffering agricultural sector? Until now, articles and current issues of agricultural significance prompt little public response in comparison to other highly mediatized and provocative and agriculturally-relevant issues such as immigration, smuggling of contraband, border tensions, unemployment, international economic cooperation and trade.

Politics Vanessa Szakal 13 April 2014

Weekly Political Review – Twisted and Tangled in the Hands of Politicians: National Holidays and Economic Recovery in Tunisia

Whereas abroad, «it is whispered in the halls of Washington that Mehdi Jomâa’s profile pleased [Americans] because it is that of a ‘pragmatic businessman,’» his discourse addressed to Tunisians pertaining to the country’s delicate economic situation has «stirred gossip and accusations of exaggeration and conspiracy theories.»

Media Vanessa Szakal 13 April 2014

Jomâa and Barack Open the Strategic Dialogue – American Media on the Tunisia-US Partnership

Perusing the articles available in American media on Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa’s visit to Washington, one is faced with the gradation of quality and specificity and attention to detail that exists among different news sources…one is reminded that The Washington Post is a reliable outlet for fluffy pieces about the US’ benevolent role in the so called developing world, for sweeping generalizations about terrorism, the Arab Spring, democracy, etc. Unsurprisingly, most US news sources follow in this line of reporting.

Politics Vanessa Szakal 07 April 2014

Weekly Political Review – The Ebb and Flow of Democratic Transition in Tunisia

With Article 15 on the table for debate, peaking intensity of conflicts in Medenine over the closure of Ras Jedid, and Jomâa’s glowing reflections about his visit to Washington, and widespread public cynism about the volatility and apparent inefficiency of politics and politicians, the past week in politics in Tunisia captures the give-and-take, all-but-constant process that is ‘democratic transition’.