Day: February 7, 2017

Memo from Tunisia: Tunis Greets an Ottoman-Era History Long Banished by Its Dictators

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TUNIS — Since their revolution in 2011, Tunisians have tussled among themselves to define their new identity after successive dictatorships. Belatedly, they have started reclaiming their history as well. Dictatorships have a way of manipulating historical narratives. So alongside any of the most pressing issues of the day, the past, too, is in play. The struggle to shape the past, and give it new authenticity, can be witnessed all around the Tunisian capital. Last summer, the Tunisian government restored a statue of Habib Bourguiba, the founder and first president of…

When I met Ismail Hamdani in Tunisia

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Algerian politician and former Prime Minister Ismail Hamdani passed away Monday night at the age of 86. The deceased took office during the reign of the two presidents Lamine Zeroual and President Abdellaziz Bouteflika from 15 December 1998 to 23 December 1999. Hamdani who had held several senior positions in the state, was prime minister during his period. The law on civil peace helped Algeria to exceed its bloody tragedy. I met him in Tunisia few days after he left power and was succeeded by Ahmed Ben Bitour, Financial Minister…

Trump order spurs unity in protest

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About 150 students, faculty, and administrators braved flurries and frigid weather Wednesday afternoon to protest President Donald Trump’s executive order banning immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, as well as his plan to build a wall along the Mexican border. Holding a banner that read “#NoBanNoWall” in English, Spanish, Somali, Farsi, and Arabic, student organizers took turns denouncing the ban and the proposed wall, leading the assembled crowds in chants of “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here” as Department of Public Safety officers looked on. Mustapha Ibrahim, a freshman…

Trade accord in force or more migrants, Morocco warns EU After Polisario appeal blocked implementation

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Morocco has warned that if the EU does not ensure the ”necessary conditions to better guarantee agreements”, and especially a free trade accord hanging in the balance, it will not be able to continue reining in migrant flows towards Europe. The Moroccan agriculture and fisheries ministry has urged Brussels in a statement to ignore attempts to derail the agreement, saying that ”every obstacle represents a direct threat to thousands of jobs in a particularly sensitive sector, as well as a risk of migration flows beginning again that Morocco has put…

How a U.S. team uses Facebook, guerrilla marketing to peel off potential ISIS recruits

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The inside track on Washington politics. Sometime today, a teenager in Tunis will check his smartphone for the latest violent video from the Islamic State. But the images that pop up first will be of a different genre: young Muslims questioning the morality of terrorists who slaughter innocents and enslave girls for sex. “Don’t you kill our own Muslim brothers?” a mop-haired youth asks a terrorist recruiter in one animated video showing up on Arabic Facebook accounts in North Africa. “So much of this, it doesn’t seem right.” The video…

Tunisia: significant increase in job offers in several sectors in 2016

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Job offers have recorded a noticeable increase in the textile and clothing sectors (13.5%), tourism (10.8%), trade (4.6%), transport (41.8%) and administrative services (21.1%), compared with 2015, according to the Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment. The manufacturing sector and the service sector still account for the largest share of job vacancies in January 2017, accounting for 55.6% and 39% of total job offers, respectively. With regard to active employment programs, the number of beneficiaries reached 123,885 in 2016, of which 51.5% received vocational training courses (SIVP), up 14.4% compared…

Family demands ‘truth’ about Tunisian opposition leader’s murder

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Relatives of slain Tunisian opposition figure Chokri Belaid on Monday called for a stalled trial to reveal the “truth” about his murder on the fourth anniversary of his death. Belaid, a fierce critic of the Islamist party then in power, was shot dead aged 48 outside his home in the capital in February 2013. His murder — and the killing of opposition figure Mohamed Brahmi in July the same year — plunged Tunisia into a political crisis and led to the resignation of the government, led at the time by…