Tunisia’s President Saied is governing in an increasingly authoritarian manner and is agitating against migrants. The population that once triggered the Arab Spring is reacting lethargically because they have very basic needs.
In the souk in Tunis it is usually impossible to get through – tight crowds, babble of voices. The sellers advertise their wares. But no one comes to the stand of fish seller Kamel El Tunsi.
Because his fish currently costs 23 dinars, the equivalent of seven euros per kilo. It’s almost eleven o’clock and he hasn’t sold anything yet. “Nobody can buy at these prices,” he says, “a misery.” Later he will sell the fish at a ridiculous price because he has no other choice.
Fahd Ben Amor has been buying fish, fruit and vegetables here almost every day for years. Rarely has he gotten so little for his money. He calculates how far he can get with his earnings: “I earn nine euros a day, if I bought a kilo of fish, my money would almost be gone.”
economy on the ground
That’s how it is for many people in Tunisia. The country in which the Arab Spring began with protests and revolution was seen as a beacon of hope for democracy. Now the economy is down. This is the main reason why many people are disappointed in politics. And many young Tunisians would like to run away.
Majddedine Badri, 22, lives in Sidi Bouzid in the poor hinterland of Tunisia. He has tried twice to get to the Italian island of Lampedusa in a tugboat. The first boat capsized, he almost drowned, the second didn’t even leave. 2500 euros for nothing. “I want to go there! To work, to build something, above all to help my family. So that we can finally get out of poverty,” says Badri. He wants to take the big risk again.
people are disillusioned
The people seem resigned, and yet there is no outcry from the masses on Tunisia’s streets. “You can feel the tiredness of the people in Tunisia, they are disillusioned, there is a great deal of political weariness,” explains political scientist Rdissi Hammadi.
“And politics isn’t their main concern either. When the Tunisians get up in the morning, they don’t think about how the country is governed, they ask themselves where they can get the basic necessities of life, how much the price has increased and how they deal with everyday life making ends meet.”
More and more power for the President
Politicians apparently have no plan for how the economy can get out of the doldrums. Instead, President Kais Saied is busy expanding his power. 2022 He dissolved Parliament and restricted its rights.
He allowed the people to approve the expansion of his own power in a constitutional referendum. The ousted parliament was re-elected in December, with a turnout of just 11 percent. A people can hardly show their disenchantment with politics more clearly.
There has been a wave of arrests since February: Various Government critics and journalists are now in prison, as is the head of the largest opposition party.
What does all this mean for the state of Tunisian democracy? The political scientist Hammadi finds that the state is becoming more and more authoritarian and restricting freedoms more and more: “We are seeing the beginning of a kind of repressive wave that is hitting new groups again and again.” First it was the politicians, then the journalists. “I have no idea who’s next,” Hammadi said.
hate speech against migrants
People who come from countries south of the Sahara and live in Tunisia are currently not on good terms with the President. In February, Saied spoke of “hordes of illegal migrants” in a speech. The speech continues to make waves to this day.
Since then, even more people want to start the dangerous journey in the port city of Sfax, where illegal boats have always set off for Lampedusa. According to Italian authorities, 24,000 people from Tunisia arrived on the Italian coasts in the first four months, almost as many as in all of 2022.
Many of the migrants from the countries south of the Sahara complain about hostilities in Tunisia. Jakite Awua from Mali has lived in the country for seven years. The first few years were good. After the President’s speech, however, she was flown out of her apartment with her husband and children. A lawyer told her succinctly that nothing could be done about it.
Transit country to Europe
“My children, my husband and I slept on the street for two nights. Life in Tunisia is no longer easy for us,” she says. Many here now live on the streets, trying to get to Europe in smuggled boats.
Hama Hamadi from the aid organization Terre des Hommes tries to help them. But because of the bad economic situation, the Tunisians are also doing badly. Tunisia is therefore one thing above all at the moment: a transit country to Europe.
The country certainly has potential, even beyond the existing tourism industry. Tunisia, as a country with lots of sun and space, could produce renewable energy. But the bureaucratic mills grind slowly and the current political situation does little to motivate investors.
Nevertheless, there is someone in the market in Tunis who firmly believes in a sunny future for Tunisia: lemon seller Hamza Ayari keeps his head above water as a photographer. “Tunisia is not an easy country, but we have a lot of history. Why should I go to Europe? I love Tunisia. We have sea, sun, fish. Tourism should be expanded.” A hopeful voice – but hardly anyone is buying anything at Ayari’s market stall that morning either.