Sitting on a couch and cradling her nine-month old baby, Samah, or “Soso” as her four year-old daughter likes to call her, retold her story through tears. “I am an ordinary girl from a middle-class family,” she said. “I’m not going to lie to you and pretend that I have come from the countryside and […]

“Barakesh has brought this upon herself” goes the popular Arabic saying when somebody inflicts dispensable damage on himself/herself or his/her people. This proverb could apply to the Tunisian government as events have recently erupted and the political scene is fraught with tension. “Barakesh has brought this upon herself” goes the popular Arabic saying when somebody […]

The draft of the preamble to the Tunisian constitution has aroused heated debates, as the committee in charge of drawing it up has declared the “constants of Islam” to be above the basic principles of the Tunisian constitution.  Many have asked if these constants give Sharia preferential status compared to other laws? Tense atmosphere of […]

Fifty year-old Hasan Al-Saaidi protested for justice in Tunisia’s revolution last year and survived being shot by government security forces. Yet like a thousand others like him, who were injured during the uprising last year, his everyday post-revolution life was marred by inglorious hardships: injury, unemployment and financial struggle. Fifty year-old Hasan Al-Saaidi protested for […]

Just opposite Fateh mosque on Hurriya Avenue in Tunis, bearded vendors in traditional Afghan clothing stand in front of their merchandise: Afghan chador—covering for women—Nigella sativa plants—granules said by the Prophet Mohammd to be a cure-all remedy— and copies of the Koran. The scene of indistinguishable women wearing niqab and bearded men clad in long […]

The Confiscation Committee was established to recover the money illegally acquired by Ben Ali and his associates.  Since its establishment after the revolution, the committee has confiscated 268 pieces of real estate, 25,000 movable assets and 168 cars. The number of aggrieved persons is 114, including the deposed president, his wife, his relatives and his […]

Among the unregulated dumps in a popular neighborhood in Ben Arous Governorate, Saleem and Marwan begin their summer vacation by collecting trash.  They spend their days in search of various plastic waste, which has come to supplement their livelihoods.  Both boys live in the same neighborhood and work as a team, then they sell their […]

With Ben Ali gone, a new generation of television has emerged in Tunisia.  The number of channels has more than doubled and new series tackle subjects once considered taboo in the former regime, like corrupt businessmen or badly behaved politicians. “This is the first product of the revolution,” said journalist and critic, Khamis Khayati, adding […]

They come from southern Tunisia and Zaghouan, Siliana, Sidi Bouzid and Ahwaz and head for the northwest lands rich in pastures and water. They travel with their newborns and elders and set up their tents near valleys, springs and dams. They are shepherds, nomads, or as locally called, ‘Ghannama’. Inside their tents, they sleep on […]

Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis has witnessed the most important events in the country, beginning with the French colonization and ending with the demonstrations that overthrew the former President Ben Ali. In the morning of 14 January 2011, the world woke up to the cry of the Tunisian people calling, “Dégagé”—leave in French— in Avenue […]