Follow Us
From the Editors
Jadaliyya Revamps Arabic Section . . . click here
Jadaliyya Launches Arabian Peninsula Page . . . Click here!
الآن . . . القسم العربي بحلة جديدة
The Culture Page Returns . . . . click here
Jadaliyya launches its new Syria page . . . Click here.
Want to find out about new books? Visit our expanding NEWTON page. Click here.
Call for Photos: Become a Contributing Photographer at Jadaliyya
Internship Opportunities at ASI (Jadaliyya, Arab Studies Journal, FAMA). Click here!
The Jadaliyya Egypt Elections Watch page archives! Click here for comprehensive coverage.
Interested in writing a Review for Jadaliyya? Visit our Call for Reviews here.
Tunisia
Should Tunisia Pay Ben Ali's Debts?
![[An image from a demonstration in Tunis on 25 September 2011 calling for the cancellation of debt. Image by Raid Attac Cadtm Tunisie]](/content_images/3/sm_Fullscreencapture513201211541PM.bmp.jpg "[An image from a demonstration in Tunis on 25 September 2011 calling for the cancellation of debt. Image by Raid Attac Cadtm Tunisie]")
The journalist, uneasy, risked his question: “Do you have any fears that there is perhaps a far left movement coming through these revolutions that perhaps want more closed economies? I mean, there have been a lot of pictures of Guevara.” At a press conference on the Arab Uprisings held in April last year at International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters, then-Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn gave a reassuring nod in that direction. “It is a good question,” he responded. “A good question. There is always this risk, but I am not sure it will materialize.” Strauss-Kahn was probably right to reassure the journalist about Tunisia. Since the fall of President Zine ...
Keep Reading »Internet Censorship, Human Rights, and Democracy in Tunisia: Julian Assange Interviews Moncef Marzouki
![[Moncef Marzouki. Image of screenshot from below video]](/content_images/3/sm_Fullscreencapture532012111712AM.bmp.jpg "[Moncef Marzouki. Image of screenshot from below video]")
In the third episode of The World Tomorrow, broadcasted on Russia Today, Julian Assange interviews Tunisian president, Moncef Marzouki. Marzouki speaks about his experience in prison and exile under the deposed Ben Ali regime. Assange asks Marzouki about matters pertaining to his role in post-Ben Ali Tunisia, the steps being taken towards a democratic transition, internet censorship, human rights, and his position on the situation in Syria.
Keep Reading »اليسار في الزمن الثوري
تحمل الثورات العربية إلى اليسار مزيجاً من التحدي الوجودي والفرصة التاريخية. والفيصل بين الإثنين هو قدرة اليسار على التعلّم من الدروس البليغة التي تحملها العملية الثورية، وبلورة مشروعه ودوره فيها، وتدبّر كيفية الرد على تحدياتها. فلعل في ذلك ما يدفع اليسار إلى مغادرة مندبة النقد الذاتي، كفارة ذنوبه التي لا تنتهي، والاستعاضة عنها بمراجعة للماضي تسهم في فهم أفضل للموقع والدور في الحاضر وتساعد في صياغة إطلالة جديدة على المستقبل. هذا اذا كان بين اليساريين من يريد تجاوز تيارين في أوساطهم: يسار دعم الاستبداد بحجة المسألة الوطنية، ويسار الرهان على التدخل الخارجي سبيلاً إلى تحقيق الديمقراطية. أسهم اليسار، وشبابه خصوصاً، إسهاماً متواضعاً وإن يكن ذا أثر في الانتفاضات. ففي ...
Keep Reading »The Disintegrating Fabric of Tunisian Politics: The Niqab Ban and Tunisian Flag Desecration at Manouba University
![[A Salafi student speaks with a professor at Manouba University, March 7, 2012, after Salafis raised their flag in place of the Tunisian national flag on campus. Image by Yahya/Demotix.]](/content_images/3/sm_1093933.jpg "[A Salafi student speaks with a professor at Manouba University, March 7, 2012, after Salafis raised their flag in place of the Tunisian national flag on campus. Image by Yahya/Demotix.]")
It’s difficult to say how it started. For clarity’s sake, let’s begin on 28 November 2011. Enraged at the university’s enforcement of the niqab ban, a group of Salafists took the Dean of the College of Letters at Manouba University hostage. (Students at Manouba, and at universities around the country, are prohibited by presidential decree from wearing the niqab while in class).[1] Protestors, swelling at times to 200, came to the defense of female studentswishing to wear the niqab to exams.[2] They leafleted the campus with fliers crying, “Sister, What is Preventing You From Wearing the Niqab?” Leftist students, oftentimes members of the ...
Keep Reading »Time for a 'Bourguibist' Comeback? Essebsi Butters up Tunisians in Monastir
![[Image of rally held in Monastir. Image by Nawaat.]](/content_images/3/sm_IMG-20120324-01132.jpg "[Image of rally held in Monastir. Image by Nawaat.]")
The dome shaped room was a sea of red and white. It smelled of amber musk and sea. The attendees were mostly well over the age of forty, and the buzz of excitement was impossible to miss. You would think you were attending a Michael Jackson concert. What’s the occasion, you ask? Well, to celebrate and adulate the ultimate star of the show, Beji Caid Essebsi – or, as the attendees would proudly tell you, to “unite all political forces as Tunisian above all else,” and to “start a new era in Tunisia’s history.” There was nothing particularly new about the rally, however. Held in Monastir, which in the heart of Tunisia’s coastal region and home to the country’s first ...
Keep Reading »Call to National and European MPs: For an Audit of Tunisia's Debts to the EU
![[Image from CADTM.org]](/content_images/3/sm_auditoftunisiadebt.png "[Image from CADTM.org]")
[The following statement was issued on 16 March 2012 by a diverse group of European parliamentarians calling for an audit of Tunisia's debt to the European Union.] With dictator Ben Ali ousted from power since 14 January 2011, Tunisia bears the burden of a public external debt amounting to $14.4 bn, which is a major obstacle to the development of the Tunisian people since repayment (capital plus interests) drains on an average an annual sum 6 times larger than the health budget. While Tunisia urgently needs all its financial resources to face the current situation, the present governor of the central bank of Tunisia is considering devoting EU 577 million from the ...
Keep Reading »The Uprisings Will be Gendered
![[Protestors in Bahrain; Image From UPI]](/content_images/3/sm_Female-protesters-of-The-Arab-Spring_20.jpg "[Protestors in Bahrain; Image From UPI]")
Women's rights and the regulation of gender and sex norms in the Arab world have long been put under the spotlight by local and international activists in addition to local and international politicians and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). This year, the ongoing uprisings in the Arab world have brought into focus some dominant ways that sexual and bodily rights are framed, gendered, and politicized. These can be grouped under three loose themes, each of which deserves further study: One is the equation of gender with women and/or sexual and gender minorities. Two is the fear of Islamists. Three, is the use of gendered and sexed violence to discourage or discredit ...
Keep Reading »Legal Agenda on Jadaliyya!
![[Legal Agenda logo. Image from legal-agenda.com]](/content_images/3/sm_mufakkira1.jpg "[Legal Agenda logo. Image from legal-agenda.com]")
The Legal Agenda is a critical and multidisciplinary non-governmental organization, based in Lebanon, that monitors and analyzes law and public policy in Lebanon, specifically, and the Arab region, generally. The Legal Agenda publishes a quarterly magazine, organizes regional conferences, commissions studies, and hosts panel and open discussions. In doing so, the organization provides a forum for citizens, experts, and researchers to analyze, critique, and debate local and regional legal developments with an emphasis on public accountability. The Legal Agenda explores the law’s influence on and capacity to empower, marginalized groups, including refugees, prisoners, ...
Keep Reading »Le Kef Is Still on Fire: A Mountaintop View of the Anniversary of the Tunisian Revolution
![[Burnt car on the streets of Le Kef. Image by Laryssa Chomiak and Jillian Schwedler.]](/content_images/3/sm_Chomaik2.jpg "[Burnt car on the streets of Le Kef. Image by Laryssa Chomiak and Jillian Schwedler.]")
Le Kef, Tunisia: On the first anniversary of the Tunisian revolution, international attention largely focused on Avenue Bourguiba in downtown Tunis and on Sidi Bouzid, where the self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi on 17 December 2010 is said to have ignited the Arab Spring. But before the revolution ever reached Tunis, it unfolded in smaller towns throughout the country—spreading from Sidi Bouzid to Bou Zayen, Kassrine, Thala, Ghafsa, Le Kef, and Jendouba—well before the first large scale protest was held in the capital on 8 January 2011. Kasserine and Thala were the first towns to suffer from violent police crackdowns that fueled subsequent protest movements. In ...
Keep Reading »هوَجٌ يخدم الصهيونية
حين دعا نائب رئيس حكومة إسرائيل لهجرة اليهود التوانسة أجابه رئيسهم: لا دخل لأيّ أجنبي في الشؤون التونسية، نحن نحب بلادنا وسنبقى فيها.. أما النّفر الغبي الذي هتف قبل أيام في تونس "قتل اليهود فرض واجب"، فهو يقدّم هديّة مجانية لحكّام إسرائيل. لدى وصول الزعيم في حماس اسماعيل هنية الى تونس، قبل أيام، إختار نفرٌ قليل الخروج عن هتافات التوانسة الثورية الصادقة. فقد ارتفع وعلا هتاف “الشعب يريد تحرير فلسطين” في الاستقبال الشعبي لهنيّة، لكن ذلك النفر السّلفي كما يبدو اختار إعلان جهله من خلال الهتاف العنصريّ “قتل اليهود فرض عين”! في تونس، التي تضم يهودًا بين مواطنيها، أثار هذا الهتاف الغبي قلقًا واستنكارًا. فقال بيرس طرابلسي احد ممثلي الطائفة اليهودية التونسية: “لا ...
Keep Reading »ثورة الجسد
لم يضرم الشاب التونسي، محمد البوعزيزي، النار في نفسه بل أضرمها في جسده. فعندما قام يوم الجمعة ١٧ ديسمبر/كانون الأول عام ٢٠١٠ بسكب الوقود على جسده وإشعاله احتجاجاً على بطش السلطات كان يرسل رسالة واضحة مفادها أن باستطاعة جسده أن يعبر عما تجيش به نفسه بشكل أبلغ من أي شكوى يكتبها وبطريقة أبلغ من أي هتاف يردده. وبالفعل كان من جراء هذا الفعل الدرامي أن سقط نظام من أقوى الأنظمة العربية ومن أشدها قمعاً واستبداداً. الجسد والعسكر إن هذا اليقين ببلاغة الجسد وقدرته على تحدي السلطة رأيناه يتمثل في ...
Keep Reading »New Texts Out Now: Roger Owen, The Rise and Fall of Arab Presidents for Life
Roger Owen, The Rise and Fall of Arab Presidents for Life. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012. Jadaliyya (J): What made you write this book? Roger Owen (RO): I was intrigued by news reports from Algeria in the spring of 2009 stating that President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika of Algeria was going to amend the constitutional term limits in order to allow him become, in effect, president life, as Ben Ali and other Arab republican presidents had done before him. This led me on to consider the whole ...
Keep Reading »Post-Ben Ali Partisan Developments in Tunisia: The Guarantor of Pluralism in a Nascent Democracy
It was early afternoon at the Congress for the Republic (CPR) headquarters in downtown Tunis, known amongst its members as Hezb el Koujina — literally, the Kitchen Party. Mr. Mohammed Abbou, standing in the CPR headquarter's actual koujina (kitchen) was hurriedly eating a sandwich before scuffling off to a meeting with the rest of the party's political bureau. Abbou, currently Tunisia’s Minister of Administrative Reform, was trying his best to swallow bites of his sandwich, while leaving sufficient ...
Keep Reading »Sonia M'Barek: A Musical Innovator Rooted in Tradition
Sonia M’Barek, Proshansky Auditorium, City University of New York Graduate Center, New York, NY, 23 March 2012. In traditional Arabic music, a vocalist is not just referred to as a singer, but is instead spoken of as a mutrib/mutribah. Literally translated, they are the people who bring tarab, or musical ecstasy. As such, the craft of a traditional Arabic vocalist is a demanding one. The singer must possess a pleasing voice, have clear diction, and sing impeccably in tune, all while comfortably ...
Keep Reading »Scandalous Flag Incident at Mannouba University: A Wake-up Call
The March 7th events at the University of Mannouba in Tunis drew my attention this week: could this be a wake-up call? A salafi who is not a student at the university took down the Tunisian flag from the rooftop of the university and replaced it with the salafi black flag – inscribed in Arabic with la ilaha illa Allah Muhammad rasul Allah (“There is no God but God and Muhammad is His prophet”). We Tunisians say this phrase many times a day; when we are surprised for ...
Keep Reading »القضاة التونسيون بين السلطة والجمعية والنقابة
إذا ما أراد المراقب المتعمق في الشؤون القضائية اللبنانية، (والتي تنفرد فيها السلطة السياسية، أو من ينوب عنها في قصر العدل كمجلس القضاء الأعلى، بالكلام عن القضاء وعليه)، بالذهاب إلى تونس اليوم، سيصدم بحيوية المنافسة، واحتدام النقاش العام بين جمعية القضاة التونسيين ونقابتهم. حيث يرى المظاهرات والنقاشات والمؤتمرات والمقابلات الصحفية والعلمية واللجان المشتركة والمواقع الالكترونية، ويلاحظ إن القاضي يتقاسم المنابر مع المحامي والصحفي والناشط والسياسي. ولكن الصورة طبعا ليست بهذا الصفاء الجميل، إذ هناك من يعترض ...
Keep Reading »The International Symposium on the Arab Spring Through the Eyes of Arab Novelists: Testimonies and Readings
In the grim depths of winter, the Arabic novel keeps the sun of the Tunisian Revolution shining. Although the sun of the Tunisian Revolution and the Arab Spring is still playing hide and seek, it is imperative that artists, writers, and poets find a venue to discuss the cultural and artistic sides of the revolution. On 18 and 19 January 2012, an international symposium on the “Arab Spring Through the Eyes of Arab Novelists” took center stage at the Ibn Rachiq Culture House in Tunis. The symposium ...
Keep Reading »القيمة الأخلاقية للثورة العربية
عام ٢٠١١ كان عام الثورات العربية بدون أدنى شك. ويبدو أن عام ٢٠١٢ سيكون هو الآخر عام الثورات العربية، جديدها وقديمها. فالعديد من الثورات التي تفجرت في العام المنصرم مازالت متقدة تشتعل، والبعض منها هدأ قليلاً ثم عاد للانتفاض أو هو موشكٌ على الثوران مجدداً إما لإدراك ثواره أن ثورتهم لم تكتمل أو لاكتشافهم أن ثورتهم قد سرقت منهم وأن السارقين هم أنفسهم من كانوا قد ادعوا بأنهم حماة الوطن أودعاة الثورة أو مؤججيها الأصليين. والبعض مازال في المخاض الأول ويمكن له أن يفجر ثورته في أية لحظة ضد أي من الأنظمة ...
Keep Reading »A Postcard from Tunis: One Year Later
Tunis - Saturday, 14 January 2012. This morning I woke up at 8:00 in the Majestic Hotel on Avenue de Paris just off Avenue Bourguiba in the center of Tunis. It was quiet from the time I awoke until the time I left the hotel after breakfast at 10:30. I thought how unusual it was, given that today is the first anniversary of the Tunisian revolution and the day President Zin al-Abdin Ben Ali fled the country, "like a coward," as a few of my skeptical Tunisian friends like to put it. I ...
Keep Reading »Tunisian Film Festival in Hollywood, 10-12 January 2012
Today is the opening of the first Tunisian Film Festival in Hollywood. It is first and foremost a commemoration of the Tunisian revolution, which surprised and shook the world, ushering in insurrections and revolts whose reverberations were heard from Cairo to New York. Secondly, it is also an opportunity to bring together Tunisians in the United States and Tunisia around a common project of exchange and dialogue with American audiences in the mecca of the film industry, Hollywood. The festival opens on ...
Keep Reading »Infomous
.jpg){kind=small}
Hot on Facebook
"It’s unacceptable to call them military trials, it’s unacceptable to call them anything else than what they really are: an oppressive tool, the most important tool [SCAF is] using, to scare people and to terrorize people."click me | أنقرني email quote to a friend
.jpg){kind=small}
From Jadaliyya Reports
Top Jadaliyya Tags
Jadalicious / جدلشس
- هشام صفي الدين: الإستبداد والثورة عودة الكواكبي
- The Idiot's Guide to Fighting Dictatorship in Syria While Opposing Military Intervention
- "We Will Not Recognize Criminal Israel," Says Brotherhood Leader
- الأزمة المعيشية الفلسطينية بين الإستهلاك والمديونية الأسرية والأمولة
- Revolutionary Contagion: Morocco and a Plea for Specificity
Noteworthy
Twitter Updates
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
Latest Entries
View All Entries »- Artistic Depictions of Arab Women: An Interview with Artist Lalla Essaydi
- The Andalus Test: Reflections on the Attempt to Publish Arabic Literature in Hebrew
- New Texts Out Now: Past Is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine
- Critical Perspectives on EBRD "Transition" Investment Priorities in Egypt (Video)
- Arabian Peninsula Media Roundup (May 15)
- عين على المخيم
- سروة ونكبة...
- فضيحة بوعلام صنصال تدغدغ الوجدان الاسرائيلي
- Haera: Right of Return March (In both Arabic and English)
- Last Week on Jadaliyya (May 7-13)
- Egypt Media Roundup (May 14)
- Shock-and-Awe Nation Building: Iraq's Neo-Liberal Reconstruction
- Saudi Feminism: Between Mama Amreeka and Baba Abdullah
- Sanctions Against Iran: A Duplicitous "Alternative" to War
- Algeria's 10 May 2012 Elections: Preliminary Analysis
- Should Tunisia Pay Ben Ali's Debts?
- Penetrated Opposition and Failure of Consensus in Syria: Interview with Haytham Manna`(Part 4 of 4)
- عن الوضع الحالي في سوريا: مقابلة مع هيثم مناع الجزء الرابع
- ثورة الجسد
- المسألة الكردية في سورية: مقاربة عامة
Archive
©2010-2012 by the Arab Studies Institute. All Rights Reserved. info@jadaliyya.com
site by concepcion design