On Friday a delegation of American executives, led by General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt, traveled to Tunisia to explore investment opportunities. What’s driving this high profile interest in Tunisia by powerful American executives? I attended the delegation’s press conference at the US Embassy in Tunis to find out, and created the following podcast for TunisiaLive. To listen, click the icon below:
An Inside Look Into Ben Ali’s Trial
On Monday I joined the TunisiaLive team for an inside look at the trial of deposed Tunisian President Ben Ali, whose 23-year authoritarian rule came to an end on January 14. As both a correspondent and as a Tunisian citizen I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to tell a story about this remarkable day.
MIT CoLab Radio: A Libyan in Tunis – One Refugee’s Story
Earlier this year the Tunisian people overthrew their dictator of 23 years and, in doing so, inspired similar protests for democracy across the Middle East and North Africa. These movements are often collectively referred to as “The Arab Spring.” Each country in the region is currently at a different stage in their revolution, and no country has yet succeeded in transforming their revolution into a stable form of government. A few weeks ago I arrived in Tunis to interview those who live in the region and, through their stories, explore that murky period of time between revolutions and institutions.
The story I am sharing today concerns Libya, a nation whose revolution began four months ago and has resulted in some more stable institutions (such as the National Transitional Council in the country’s east), but which by and large has left its community in the throes of a power struggle. This power struggle has spilled into neighboring Tunisia, where rebel forces and those loyal to Muammar Gaddafi battle for control of world opinion. Every day throughout Tunisia, defecting Libyan diplomats denounce the regime, loyal diplomats praise it, and some of Libya’s 40,000 refugees plug in to the Internet to tell their side of the story.
Among these refugees is Kais (whose name he asked me to change for his safety) who has spent the last two months uploading to the Internet videos taken in Libya. Kais is especially interested in highlighting the conflict in his hometown of Tripoli where he claims a silent — and brutal — crackdown on protestors is taking place. I met Kais in a tailor’s shop in downtown Tunis where he was picking up a Libyan rebel flag. He sat down with me for a couple of hours to walk me through the videos he had uploaded to YouTube, and to share his story:
// As published on MIT CoLab Radio.
Revolution Bones
rows of green vine stitched into the ground
an unsteady wind hollows out bones
leaving them ringing a cold fear
the grey undercoat of a Peugeot sedan sparkles in blunt sunlight
as it rides a rail of intention, reaction
through a countryside freeze-dried by revolutionthe countryside
light, blocky, its capillaries stretch to wick up
moisture from the backs of beasts who pass through it
its verdancy sticking to hulking bodies like a fresh pollen
like marrow extracted through centrifugal force
and spread over the smooth elbow of a baguette
forward, another dawn in Tunisia
After Spring, Comes Summer
How does an unemployed youth — disenfranchised under a corrupt dictatorship — find voice and purpose in the months after a popular revolt? What does a community learn about itself – and those around it – as it engages in direct and honest conversation for the first time? How does a government negotiate letting its citizens speak their mind, and create a stable and functioning society?
In the wake of the Arab world’s first successful overthrow of a dictator, and through the personal narratives of strangers I have yet to meet, I’ve arrived in Tunisia to find out. Over the next three months I hope to share a few stories from the wake of the Arab Spring — that hot, foggy space between revolutions and institutions.
Also filed on Twitter under #arabsummer.
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