Tunis | openDemocracy

“Only war makes it possible to mobilize all of today’s technical resources while maintaining the property system.”

- Walter Benjamin, 1936

Final draft of Tunisia’s new constitution released

Sana Ajmi 30 April 2013

After long heated debates, a final draft of Tunisia’s new constitution was released last week by the National Constituent Assembly.

Young Tunisian cigarette vendor dies of self-immolation

Sana Ajmi 20 March 2013

Hundreds joined the young man’s funeral procession in Jendouba and protested against the region’s poverty and economic marginalization.

Tunisia: the backlash in women‘s rights amid the rocky political transition

Meriem Dhaouadi 12 March 2013

The announcement of the long awaited new government in Tunisia coincided with International Women‘s Day. Ironically, only 3 women were appointed in the new cabinet. The exclusion of women from key posts in the government is not a new phenomenon in the history of modern Tunisia.

Harlem Shake Tunisia-style

Mohamed-Salah Omri 12 March 2013

Such a division over bodies stands in dialectical relationship to the division of the body politic in the country. It is a result of a polarized polity and the visible expression of it at the same time.

The Harlem Shake controversy in Tunisia

Sana Ajmi 4 March 2013

The ministry's website was also temporarily hacked and a call went out on social media for the staging of a "mega Harlem Shake" in front of the ministry on Friday.

What’s next for Tunisia? Can democracy be saved?

Sana Ajmi 18 February 2013

Following the assassination, Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali announced that Tunisia is to form a non-partisan government of technocrats to run the country until elections can be held.

Denial runs through Tunisia: you say we absorbed the shock?

Meriem Dhaouadi 18 February 2013

Today, the one thing that devastated me the most is how quickly the president who is supposed to be a human rights defender, not just any president, stepped in to persuade us to get used to the spilling of blood.

The visit of a controversial Muslim to Tunisia sparks debate

Sana Ajmi 4 February 2013

Tunisia is well known for its moderate interpretation of Islam. However during the last couple of years, a more conservative interpretation of Islam, or Salafism, has spread widely throughout Tunisian society.

Tunisia’s political dysfunction rests on a fierce power struggle

Meriem Dhaouadi 4 February 2013

The political players (the ones in government and the opposition) should accelerate their efforts today towards reaching consensus and putting Tunisia above everything else.

Don't hate the revolution, hate the power-play

Meriem Dhaouadi 21 January 2013

Weariness with unfulfilled promises, deteriorating economic conditions and the rising threat of violence was rather visible on the day celebrating the second anniversary of the Tunisian revolution.

In Tunisia, another Sufi shrine is vandalized

Sana Ajmi 21 January 2013

For many opposition parties the government is not doing enough to protect the country from extremism.

Tunisian constitutionalism and the draft constitution of December 2012

Mohamed-Salah Omri 13 January 2013

One may indeed speak of an orderly, leaderless transfer of power in January 2011 specifically because constitutionalism was strong and alive.

Tunisian graffiti artists targeted by law

Sana Ajmi 16 December 2012

Berriche and Bouagila were arrested November 3 for writing on the wall of a university: “the people want rights for the poor” and “the poor are the living-dead in Tunisia.”

The upcoming general strike in Tunisia: a historical perspective

Mohamed-Salah Omri 12 December 2012

The first general strike in Tunisia since 1978 takes place in a much-changed country and against old friends but for rather similar reasons.

Tunisia: economic pressures threaten the regime‘s survival

Meriem Dhaouadi 9 December 2012

A general strike will take place on Thursday, December 13, across Tunisia, a rare call, actually the third to be made by the powerful UGTT since its foundation in 1946.

This week's editor

Niki Seth-Smith is a freelance journalist and co-editor of OurKingdom.

Europe from the bottom up

European Union stars in Paris. Flickr/notarim. Some rights reserved.

A new Europe can only come from the bottom up
Etienne Balibar

A social Europe must be a political Europe
Bo Stråth

As Europe is provincialized: a reply to Etienne Balibar
Sandro Mezzadra

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