FASCIST TUNISIA
Tunisian President Accused Of Racism Over Threat To Ban Sub-Saharan Migrants
By Enyichukwu Enemanna
February 22, 2023
Tunisian rights groups have accused President Kais Saied of spreading hate speech and committing racism against African migrants after the Tunisian leader vowed to ban undocumented sub-Saharan African immigration to his country.
Speaking in a meeting with the National Security Council on Tuesday, President Saied said the influx of sub-Sahara African migrants is targeted at changing Tunisia’s demographic make-up and must be ended.
“The undeclared goal of the successive waves of illegal immigration is to consider Tunisia a purely African country that has no affiliation to the Arab and Islamic nations,” he said.
Saied also accused opposition parties, whom he did not name of settling African migrants in Tunisia in return for money.
Right groups dismissed the comment as racist against African migrants as seen in Europe and other Western countries.
“It is a racist approach just like the campaigns in Europe… the presidential campaign aims to create an imaginary enemy for Tunisians to distract them from their basic problems,” said Ramadan Ben Amor, spokesperson for the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights.
Tunisia is a major transit point for migrants and refugees seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, including growing numbers of both Tunisians and people from other African countries.
Recent social media campaigns in Tunisia have urged authorities to stop African migrants travelling through Tunisia on their way to Europe or settling in the country, as thousands have done.
Tunisian authorities have this month cracked down on migrants, detaining dozens of them.
The president is engaged in an escalating confrontation with critics who accuse him of a coup for shutting down parliament and seizing most powers in 2021, and police have this month detained many leading opposition figures.
Saied has said his actions were legal and necessary to save Tunisia from chaos.
Tunisia president warns of sub-Saharan immigration in 'racist' outburst
Analyst say Kai Saied aims to diverge attention away from arrest campaign against political opponents
President Kais Saied with his supporters in the capital, Tunis, on 26 July 2022
Saied added that there was a need to "put an end to this phenomenon quickly, especially as the uncontrolled immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa continue with violence [and] unacceptable crimes".
In recent years, Tunisia has been a key transit hub for people from other African countries crossing the Mediterranean to enter Europe.
Activists and campaigners have long criticised hate speech directed towards African migrants and refugees in the country, including recent social media campaigns urging authorities to stop those attempting to reach Europe.
"There are two different motivations [behind the outburst]. First is to shift the responsibility of the economic crisis on the shoulder of immigrants," Amine Snoussi, a journalist and analyst who has written three books on Tunisian politics, told Middle East Eye.
"The second interest for Saied is to give the people something that they can feed off while he’s arresting his political opponents."
In recent days, authorities have detained several government critics as part of a crackdown decried as another part of Saied’s ongoing power grab.
"These ideas and policies are perfectly consistent with Saied's scapegoating strategies," tweeted academic and Tunisia analyst Mohamed Dhia Hammami.
"After putting all the blame on his domestic opponents and depicting them as traitors and conspirators, he's now attacking immigrants using the old tropes associating black people with violence and criminality."
Last week, the Association of African Students and Interns in Tunisia released a statement denouncing a "systemic campaign of control and arrests" by security forces targeting black immigrants.
In recent months, the little-known Tunisian Nationalist Party has used social media to spread a baseless conspiracy theory that outside forces were colluding to alter the demographics of Tunisia.
'Great replacement'
Several social media users likened Saied’s comment to the notion of "the great replacement", a conspiracy theory that white people in Europe are being usurped by foreigners, mainly from Africa and the Middle East.
"Kais Saied repeating racist grand replacement-type theories that so many Tunisians have been saying as passing comments for very long," said Shreya Parikh, a researcher on black and Arab identity.
Tunisia arrests two prominent president criticsRead More »
Eric Zemmour, a far-right French political figure who ran for president last year, endorsed Saied’s comments.
"The Maghreb countries themselves are beginning to sound the alarm in the face of the surge in migration… Tunisia wants to take urgent measures to protect its people," Zemmour tweeted. "What are we waiting for to fight against the Great Replacement?"
Zemmour, who received seven percent of votes in the first round of the election, built his political offering around the conspiracy theory and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
"It's really something. Zemmour, who spent two years talking about conspiracies of Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian immigrants, now supporting Kais Saied's theories," Snoussi told MEE.
"It just goes to show that 'post-fascism' is similar whatever the country."
He added that such rhetoric had already resulted in harassment of some immigrants in the south of the country, and would continue to do so.
Black Tunisians make up between 10 and 15 percent of the population.
Tunisia's parliament adopted a law criminalising racist speech, incitement to hatred and discrimination in October 2018.
A survey by Arab Barometer last year found Tunisia to be the most conscious in the Middle East and North Africa of racial discrimination and anti-Blackness, with 80 percent agreeing that the former was a problem in the country, and 63 percent agreeing with the latter.
"[Saied] is trying to reshape people's views on racial issues by playing on the rhetoric of security, crime and Arab identity," Hammami told MEE.
"But...the backlash and radical rejection we're seeing now is in line with what the Arab barometer was showing. "
He added that widespread denunciation of the comments online showed that there was a clear awareness about the harms of anti-Black racism in Tunisia.
Tunisia has been engulfed in political and economic crises since July 2021, when Saied unilaterally suspended parliament and dissolved the government in what many have called a "constitutional coup".
He subsequently ruled by decree, before pushing through a new constitution that enshrined his one-man rule.
"We are quickly destroying everything we've built in the last 10 years, from democracy to anti-racism," Snoussi said.
"If I was Black in Tunisia, I'd probably leave and search for a safer country. A country where the president doesn't point at me over economic issues."
Analyst say Kai Saied aims to diverge attention away from arrest campaign against political opponents
President Kais Saied with his supporters in the capital, Tunis, on 26 July 2022
Rayhan Uddin
Published date: 22 February 2023
Tunisian President Kais Saied on Tuesday linked people from sub-Saharan Africa in the country to criminality, in comments that have been widely denounced as racist.
In a statement released on Facebook, following a National Security Council meeting, the president said: "There has been a criminal plan since the beginning of the century to change the demographic structure of Tunisia and there are parties that received large sums of money after 2011 for the settlement of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa.
"The undeclared goal of the successive waves of illegal immigration is to consider Tunisia a purely African country that has no affiliation to the Arab and Islamic nations."
Published date: 22 February 2023
Tunisian President Kais Saied on Tuesday linked people from sub-Saharan Africa in the country to criminality, in comments that have been widely denounced as racist.
In a statement released on Facebook, following a National Security Council meeting, the president said: "There has been a criminal plan since the beginning of the century to change the demographic structure of Tunisia and there are parties that received large sums of money after 2011 for the settlement of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa.
"The undeclared goal of the successive waves of illegal immigration is to consider Tunisia a purely African country that has no affiliation to the Arab and Islamic nations."
'Saied's interest is to give the people something that they can feed off while he’s arresting his political opponents'- Amine Snoussi, analyst
Saied added that there was a need to "put an end to this phenomenon quickly, especially as the uncontrolled immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa continue with violence [and] unacceptable crimes".
In recent years, Tunisia has been a key transit hub for people from other African countries crossing the Mediterranean to enter Europe.
Activists and campaigners have long criticised hate speech directed towards African migrants and refugees in the country, including recent social media campaigns urging authorities to stop those attempting to reach Europe.
"There are two different motivations [behind the outburst]. First is to shift the responsibility of the economic crisis on the shoulder of immigrants," Amine Snoussi, a journalist and analyst who has written three books on Tunisian politics, told Middle East Eye.
"The second interest for Saied is to give the people something that they can feed off while he’s arresting his political opponents."
In recent days, authorities have detained several government critics as part of a crackdown decried as another part of Saied’s ongoing power grab.
"These ideas and policies are perfectly consistent with Saied's scapegoating strategies," tweeted academic and Tunisia analyst Mohamed Dhia Hammami.
"After putting all the blame on his domestic opponents and depicting them as traitors and conspirators, he's now attacking immigrants using the old tropes associating black people with violence and criminality."
Last week, the Association of African Students and Interns in Tunisia released a statement denouncing a "systemic campaign of control and arrests" by security forces targeting black immigrants.
In recent months, the little-known Tunisian Nationalist Party has used social media to spread a baseless conspiracy theory that outside forces were colluding to alter the demographics of Tunisia.
'Great replacement'
Several social media users likened Saied’s comment to the notion of "the great replacement", a conspiracy theory that white people in Europe are being usurped by foreigners, mainly from Africa and the Middle East.
"Kais Saied repeating racist grand replacement-type theories that so many Tunisians have been saying as passing comments for very long," said Shreya Parikh, a researcher on black and Arab identity.
Tunisia arrests two prominent president criticsRead More »
Eric Zemmour, a far-right French political figure who ran for president last year, endorsed Saied’s comments.
"The Maghreb countries themselves are beginning to sound the alarm in the face of the surge in migration… Tunisia wants to take urgent measures to protect its people," Zemmour tweeted. "What are we waiting for to fight against the Great Replacement?"
Zemmour, who received seven percent of votes in the first round of the election, built his political offering around the conspiracy theory and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
"It's really something. Zemmour, who spent two years talking about conspiracies of Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian immigrants, now supporting Kais Saied's theories," Snoussi told MEE.
"It just goes to show that 'post-fascism' is similar whatever the country."
He added that such rhetoric had already resulted in harassment of some immigrants in the south of the country, and would continue to do so.
Black Tunisians make up between 10 and 15 percent of the population.
Tunisia's parliament adopted a law criminalising racist speech, incitement to hatred and discrimination in October 2018.
A survey by Arab Barometer last year found Tunisia to be the most conscious in the Middle East and North Africa of racial discrimination and anti-Blackness, with 80 percent agreeing that the former was a problem in the country, and 63 percent agreeing with the latter.
"But...the backlash and radical rejection we're seeing now is in line with what the Arab barometer was showing. "
He added that widespread denunciation of the comments online showed that there was a clear awareness about the harms of anti-Black racism in Tunisia.
Tunisia has been engulfed in political and economic crises since July 2021, when Saied unilaterally suspended parliament and dissolved the government in what many have called a "constitutional coup".
He subsequently ruled by decree, before pushing through a new constitution that enshrined his one-man rule.
"We are quickly destroying everything we've built in the last 10 years, from democracy to anti-racism," Snoussi said.
"If I was Black in Tunisia, I'd probably leave and search for a safer country. A country where the president doesn't point at me over economic issues."
Saied echoes social media calls to end illegal Sub-Saharan migration
Tunisia is a major transit point for illegal migrants and refugees seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.
Wednesday 22/02/2023
Migrants from sub-Saharan Africa gather in an olive grove near Sfax in central Tunisia, before attempting to clandestinely depart for Italy in makeshift boats. (AFP)
TUNIS-
Tunisia's President Kais Saied has denounced undocumented sub-Saharan African immigration to his country, saying in comments on Tuesday criticised by rights groups, that it was aimed at changing Tunisia's demographic make-up.
Speaking in a meeting with the National Security Council in comments the presidency later published online, Saied said the influx of irregular migrants to Tunisia “is not normal” and must quickly be ended.
He said “there is a criminal arrangement” involving huge sums of money after 2011 to “change the demographic make-up of Tunisia”
"The undeclared goal of the successive waves of illegal immigration is to consider Tunisia a purely African country that has no affiliation to the Arab and Islamic nations," he said.
Saied added ”Tunisia is proud of its African affiliation” but needs “to quickly put an end to this phenomenon, especially since the large groups of irregular immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa are still continuing with the violence, crimes and unacceptable practices this phenomenon entails, in addition to its being illegal”.
Tunisian rights groups, which had this week already condemned what they called “hate speech” directed at African migrants, rejected Saied's comments.
"The presidential campaign aims to create an imaginary enemy for Tunisians to distract them from their basic problems," said Ramadan Ben Amor, spokesman for the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights.
Tunisia is a major transit point for migrants and refugees seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, including growing numbers of both Tunisians and people from other African countries.
Recent social media campaigns in Tunisia have urged authorities to stop African migrants travelling through Tunisia on their way to Europe or settling in the country, as thousands have done.
Some suspect European countries of working to settle Sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia.
The president is engaged in a growing confrontation with critics who accuse him of authoritarian practices after shutting down parliament and seizing most powers in July 2021. Police have this month detained a number of political activists accused of involvement in a “state security” threats including an attempt at the life of the president.
Tunisia is a major transit point for illegal migrants and refugees seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.
Wednesday 22/02/2023
Migrants from sub-Saharan Africa gather in an olive grove near Sfax in central Tunisia, before attempting to clandestinely depart for Italy in makeshift boats. (AFP)
TUNIS-
Tunisia's President Kais Saied has denounced undocumented sub-Saharan African immigration to his country, saying in comments on Tuesday criticised by rights groups, that it was aimed at changing Tunisia's demographic make-up.
Speaking in a meeting with the National Security Council in comments the presidency later published online, Saied said the influx of irregular migrants to Tunisia “is not normal” and must quickly be ended.
He said “there is a criminal arrangement” involving huge sums of money after 2011 to “change the demographic make-up of Tunisia”
"The undeclared goal of the successive waves of illegal immigration is to consider Tunisia a purely African country that has no affiliation to the Arab and Islamic nations," he said.
Saied added ”Tunisia is proud of its African affiliation” but needs “to quickly put an end to this phenomenon, especially since the large groups of irregular immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa are still continuing with the violence, crimes and unacceptable practices this phenomenon entails, in addition to its being illegal”.
Tunisian rights groups, which had this week already condemned what they called “hate speech” directed at African migrants, rejected Saied's comments.
"The presidential campaign aims to create an imaginary enemy for Tunisians to distract them from their basic problems," said Ramadan Ben Amor, spokesman for the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights.
Tunisia is a major transit point for migrants and refugees seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, including growing numbers of both Tunisians and people from other African countries.
Recent social media campaigns in Tunisia have urged authorities to stop African migrants travelling through Tunisia on their way to Europe or settling in the country, as thousands have done.
Some suspect European countries of working to settle Sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia.
The president is engaged in a growing confrontation with critics who accuse him of authoritarian practices after shutting down parliament and seizing most powers in July 2021. Police have this month detained a number of political activists accused of involvement in a “state security” threats including an attempt at the life of the president.
Tunisia’s Saied says migration aimed at changing demography
Rights activists criticise the president’s comments, say they are intended to ‘create an imaginary enemy’.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
Rights activists criticise the president’s comments, say they are intended to ‘create an imaginary enemy’.
Kais Saied won SIEZED Tunisia's presidency in 2019
[File; Muhammad Hamed/Reuters]
Published On 22 Feb 2023
President Kais Saied has alleged that undocumented immigration from sub-Saharan African countries is aimed at changing Tunisia’s demographic composition, drawing criticism from human rights activists.
His comments during a meeting of the National Security Council on Tuesday followed the arrests of dozens of migrants this month in a crackdown.
“The undeclared goal of the successive waves of illegal immigration is to consider Tunisia a purely African country that has no affiliation to the Arab and Islamic nations,” Saied said, adding that the influx of irregular migrants must quickly be ended.
He added that unnamed parties had over the past decade settled African migrants in Tunisia in return for money, according to comments published by the presidency online.
Activists, who had this week already condemned what they call hate speech directed at African migrants, said the president’s comments were racist.
“It is a racist approach just like the campaigns in Europe,” Romdhane Ben Amor, spokesperson for the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
“The presidential campaign aims to create an imaginary enemy for Tunisians to distract them from their basic problems.”
Heavily indebted Tunisia is in the grip of a long-running economic crisis, with thousands of trade unionists last week protesting across the country over worsening economic woes and the arrest of a top union official.
The president is also engaged in an escalating confrontation with critics who accuse him of a coup for shutting down parliament and seizing most powers in 2021, and police have this month detained many leading opposition figures.
Saied has said his actions were legal and necessary to save Tunisia from chaos.
Tunisia is a major transit point for migrants and refugees seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, including growing numbers of both Tunisians and people from other African countries.
Black Tunisians have a long history in the country, making up 10 percent to 15 percent of the population, and rights groups have said the country has not done enough to address racism.
President Kais Saied has alleged that undocumented immigration from sub-Saharan African countries is aimed at changing Tunisia’s demographic composition, drawing criticism from human rights activists.
His comments during a meeting of the National Security Council on Tuesday followed the arrests of dozens of migrants this month in a crackdown.
“The undeclared goal of the successive waves of illegal immigration is to consider Tunisia a purely African country that has no affiliation to the Arab and Islamic nations,” Saied said, adding that the influx of irregular migrants must quickly be ended.
He added that unnamed parties had over the past decade settled African migrants in Tunisia in return for money, according to comments published by the presidency online.
Activists, who had this week already condemned what they call hate speech directed at African migrants, said the president’s comments were racist.
“It is a racist approach just like the campaigns in Europe,” Romdhane Ben Amor, spokesperson for the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
“The presidential campaign aims to create an imaginary enemy for Tunisians to distract them from their basic problems.”
Heavily indebted Tunisia is in the grip of a long-running economic crisis, with thousands of trade unionists last week protesting across the country over worsening economic woes and the arrest of a top union official.
The president is also engaged in an escalating confrontation with critics who accuse him of a coup for shutting down parliament and seizing most powers in 2021, and police have this month detained many leading opposition figures.
Saied has said his actions were legal and necessary to save Tunisia from chaos.
Tunisia is a major transit point for migrants and refugees seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, including growing numbers of both Tunisians and people from other African countries.
Black Tunisians have a long history in the country, making up 10 percent to 15 percent of the population, and rights groups have said the country has not done enough to address racism.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
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