Protests in Tunisia: An Interview with Nadia Marzouki

[Photo from Wikimedia Commons] [Photo from Wikimedia Commons]

Protests in Tunisia: An Interview with Nadia Marzouki

By : Malihe Razazan

Five years after the inspirational uprising in Tunisia that toppled the long dictatorship of Ben Ali, people are back on the streets demanding the fulfilment of the 2011 revolutionary slogan “ jobs, freedom, and national dignity." Last week, at the onset of the 2011 mass uprising, people took to the streets in cities and towns across the country. One protester captured his fellow Tunisians` predicament succinctly: “We have the freedom, but you cannot eat freedom.” There is deja vu between 2011 and now. The same people are in the streets for the same reasons. Official unemployment is at fifteen percent. According to Tunisia’s Higher Education MInistry, university graduates make up thirty percent of the unemployed, but other government statistics have reported that as many as forty percent of Tunisia’s 605,000 jobless hold degrees, with women graduates suffering an even higher rate of employment. Khalil Bendib spoke with Tunisian political scientist Nadia Marzouki about the recent protests and the government’s failure to provide a viable economy for the majority of the Tunisian people..

Yemen at Crossroads: An Interview with Activist Hisham Al-Omeisy

Yemen has grabbed the world`s attention as the country’s political crisis appears to have been deepened with the Saudi-led military intervention. According to The Guardian and other news organizations, the U.S. is providing “logistical and intelligence support” to the Saudi-led coalition against the Houthi forces in Yemen. In the absence of independent on-the-ground reporting by the major media outlets on the turmoil in Yemen, social media platforms are once again providing the much-needed platform for activists in the country to post images, express their views, and raise their concerns about the fate of their country.

Soon after the bombing began, Yemeni activist Hisham Al-Omeisy tweeted what has been echoed by other social media activists in Yemen:

Hisham Al-Omeisy@omeisy  

We are all anti-Houthi but Hadi will forever be remembered as the prez whom allowed foreign forces to bombard own nation #Yemen

Mya@MaysaAlYemen 

I`m against Houthi and I`m 100% against Saleh, but today I am a YEMENI! I`m against any Saudi intervention in my country

Yemen Peace Project@YemenPeaceNews

Any air campaign against San`a will result in bloodshed, zero political progress. US support for KSA is a huge mistake here. #Yemen

On Tuesday, twenty-four hours before the air strikes by Saudi Arabia, in the Yemeni city of Taiz, thousands of people protested the advancement of Houthi forces to the southern city of Aden. Shahram Aghamir spoke with Yemeni activist Hisham Al-Omeisy about the worsening political climate in the country and the popular sentiments towards what was then a possible foreign military assault.