Although Amel Karboul has been tasked with reviving the country’s struggling tourism sector, she is better-known for her frequent selfies—taken in restroom mirrors, on football fields, at dinner tables and any other place where she can pull out her smart phone.  Her instagram page, with over 10,000 followers, shows the 40-year-old tourism minister smiling her way through Tunisia’s political scene.

Although Amel Karboul has been tasked with reviving the country’s struggling tourism sector, she is better-known for her frequent selfies—taken in restroom mirrors, on football fields, at dinner tables and any other place where she can pull out her smart phone.  Her instagram page, with over 10,000 followers, shows the 40-year-old tourism minister smiling her way through Tunisia’s political scene.

Karboul’s latest selfie, however, aimed at attracting Arab and European tourists, in a campaign called ‘Welcome to Tunisia’ has been criticized for overlooking the country’s serious problems.

Her biggest critic has been journalist Shaker Besbas, who took a counter selfie to bring attention to the nation’s sanitation problems.

Using the same weapon

Besbas aimed a camera at himself while standing amid piles of rubbish in the streets of al-Tadamun, one of Tunis’ biggest neighbourhoods. Subsequently, his selfie was widely circulated and received over 15,000 followers on his Facebook page.

“Tourism minister Amal Karboul should see this selfie in order to realize the size of the garbage problem in Tunisia,” said Besbas. “Garbage is everywhere and I don’t think tourists will come to a polluted country.”   

Besbas called on other Facebook users to take selfies in areas piling over with rubbish to highlight the reality of the trash problem in Tunisia and launched a counter campaign called ‘Clean Tunisia’.

“Officials need to wake up and pay attention to these areas where people complain about the bad smells coming from the garbage and the increase in the numbers of poisonous insects,“ said Besbas.

Starting a movement

Suleiman ibn Yusuf, a journalist at the Environment Ministry and an environmental activist, applauded Besbas’ initiative. “There is also a need for further follow-up work and efforts to achieve the aims of the campaign of cleaning the country and supporting tourism in all fields.” 

Besbas believes the ‘Clean Tunisia’ initiative excited many ordinary citizens, journalists and civil society activists because it did not target a specific person and it also did not question the patriotism of those who took selfies with garbage. 

“The main aim is to shake the citizen, embarrass the government and to make everybody aware of the importance of environmental protection and of the importance of fighting pollution as a priority, which comes before the promotion of tourism,” Besbas said.   

Civic duties

As a journalist, Besbas believes it is his duty to be close to people and to feel their daily living concerns. “The trivial selfie technique has become a serious attempt to encourage citizens to perform their civic duties,” he said. 

Besbas thinks the obsession with taking meaningless photos could become a noble movement with noble aims while drawing the attention of the government about serious issues in need of reform. “This is not against Karboul’s efforts and her selfie picture on social networking sites, but on the contrary,” said Besbas. “This will help her draw a clear approach to serving the Tunisian tourism sector.”