Country: Tunisia

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Algerian author Said Khatibi (image: private)

Algeria – wasteland for Arabic literature

Big Brother is watching you

In May 2023, Algerian author Said Khatibi won the prestigious Sheikh Zayed Award in the young author category for his historical crime novel "Nihayat al-Sahra'" – in English, 'the End of the Sahara'. Claudia Mende caught up with Khatibi in Abu Dhabi for Qantara.deMore

English in Algerian schools and universities: What's the best language option for Algeria?Human rights in Algeria: Banned, intimidated, driven into exileRemembering Mohammed Dib: The grand seigneur of French-language Algerian literature
People protest in Iraq over unpaid salaries (image: Feriq Ferec/AA/picture alliance)

Arab states in crisis

In search of a miracle cure

Given the political, economic and social challenges in Arab countries, fragmented individual measures are no longer enough. What is needed is comprehensive, far-reaching reform. Essay by Marwan MuasherMore

Arab states in crisis: The ruling classes' dereliction of dutyThe Middle East's "Axis of Failure": Arab autocrats – ruining their own statesAuthoritarianism and underdevelopment in the Islamic world: Islamic clerics and statesmen in an unholy alliance
A man walks in the desert in Saudi Arabia, 23 October 2022 (photo: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images)

Climate change in MENA

Is the Middle East prepared for extreme heatwaves?

Experts say that as intense heat becomes more frequent, the Middle East will see a rise in heat-related deaths. Despite gaps in public health planning, this region could teach the world a lot about extreme heat. By Cathrin SchaerMore

Heatwave in Egypt: "Not only the prices are going up, the temperatures are too"Climate change in Morocco: Dry winters and scorching springsInternational disputes about water: On a knife-edge between peace and conflict
Poster for the film "Harka" with Adam Bessa (photo: Cinenovo)

Tunisian films about the Arab Spring

Rage, hope and desperation

Tunisian filmmakers are addressing the subject of the Arab Spring and its failure in Tunisia in their films. Shady Lewis Botros watched three of them for Qantara.deMore

Political documentary films from Tunisia: At the eye of Tunisia's political stormA new age dawns for Tunisian cinema: Press reboot!North Africa and the Arab Spring in film: Between rebellion and ideals
This photo released by Saudi Arabia's official news agency shows Bashar al-Assad (l), president of Syria, with Badr bin Sultan Al Saud, deputy governor of Mecca province, before the 32nd Arab Summit in 2023 (image: Mosa Al Kathami/Saudi Press Agency/dpa/picture-alliance)

Counterrevolution in the Arab world

Authoritarianism, a forever scenario?

Calls to normalise relations with the criminal Assad regime, which has killed and displaced millions of Syrians, marks a new phase, namely the victory of the counter-revolutionaries. The old-style Arab regime is back – more brutal and oppressive than ever, as Ali Anouzla explainsMore

Earthquake aid for Syria: Bashar al-Assad – pariah no morePower struggle in Sudan: Sudan's generals "should have been dealt with as war criminals"Political rule before and after the ″Arabellion″: Internal colonialism and counter-revolutionThe Assad regime and the civil war in Syria: Clash of barbarisms
Italian Prime Minister Meloni and Tunisian President Kais Saied (image: Slim Abid/AP/picture alliance)

EU courts Tunisia

Has Europe found a new partner for its asylum policy?

E.U. Commission President von der Leyen, along with the Dutch and Italian prime ministers, visited Tunis at the weekend brandishing a shiny package of attractive financial aid. Is Tunisia’s democracy experiment being swept aside for the sake of reducing migration to Europe? By Mirco Keilberth, TunisMore

Migration from Africa: Upholding migrant human rightsTunisia's ″Cemetery for the Unknown″: The gravedigger of ZarzisBirthplace of the Arab Spring: Tunisia: a young democracy in peril
The EU has a vested interest in returning migrants to Tunisia (image: Emilio Morenatti/AP/dpa/picture alliance

EU-Tunisia migration deal

Proposal ignores migrant human rights concerns

A proposed migration deal with Tunisia could help the North African nation avert economic collapse, but observers fear worsening conditions for migrants and future returnees. By Jennifer Holleis and Tarak GuizaniMore

EU courts Tunisia: Has Europe found a new partner for its asylum policy?Migration from Africa: Upholding migrant human rightsTunisia's ″Cemetery for the Unknown″: The gravedigger of Zarzis
Khaled ben Khemis, mizwad maker, in his workshop (image: FETHI BELAID/AFP)

Tunisian music

Breathing new life into Tunisia's bagpipes

At his workshop in Tunisia's capital, Khaled ben Khemis pieces together a type of bagpipe once banned from the airwaves, but now embraced by artists infusing its sound into new musical styles.More

Emancipation and music: Black Tunisiansʹ bitter heritage"Future Lab Tunisia": It all comes down to musicQantara dosssier: Musical worlds
Young people in the Arab world (image: Getty Images/AFP/F. Belaid)

Philosophy, Arab world trend

Erich Fromm's advice for troubled times

The writings of German-American philosopher Erich Fromm (1900-1980) are trending in the Arab world. Claudia Mende asked Hamid Lechhab, translator of Fromm's works into Arabic, what might be behind thisMore

″Religious criticism around 1900″: Middle Eastern philosophy's take on IslamIslamic thinker Fehmi Jadaane: What is the essence of Islam, and does it need reforming?Islam and enlightenment: Beware of the myth Egyptian philosopher Hassan Hanafi: "Globalisation is Western gegemony"
Tuwaiq Palace Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (image: Rashid & Ahmed Bin Shabib)

“Hot Cities: Lessons from Arab Architecture”

Inspiring cities of the future

“Hot Cities: Lessons from Arab Architecture” at Germany's Vitra Design Museum provides valuable food for thought about the ways architecture can deal with climate change. Numerous examples from Arab countries illustrate how they have been defying the heat for thousands of years. By Joseph CroitoruMore

Mohamed Elshahed's "Cairo Since 1900": In pursuit of other modernismsSaudi Arabia's urban development: The Crown Prince's bulldozersQantara photo essay: Saudi Arabia seen from above
Tunisian security officers and police patrol the site of the deadly attack (image: Hasan Mrad/ZUMA Press Wire/picture alliance)

Synagogue shooting in Tunisia

What next for Djerba?

Jews on the Tunisian holiday island of Djerba, where a gunman killed five people last week during a Jewish pilgrimage, are asking why – and what happens next. By Cathrin Schaer and Tarak GuizaniMore

The Jewish community in Tunisia: "Everything is ok; we don't have any problems"Muslims and Jews in the Maghreb: A whispered historyTunisia in turmoil: Will Tunisians rise up against Kais Saied?Tourism in North Africa: Tentative recovery, or too little, too late?
People visit the Qishla building following iftar in Baghdad, Iraq (image: Murtadha Al-Sudani/AA/picture alliance)

Middle East

Why are Ramadan TV specials so controversial?

Every year, new TV series are released during the Muslim religious holiday. And every year, some cause controversy, upsetting clerics, governments or activists. Media analysts in the Middle East say they know why. Cathrin Schaer reportsMore

Egypt's Ramadan series "El-Ekhteyar 3": At Abdul Fattah al-Sisi's expenseRamadan: Tunisia TV series sparks polygamy rowA match for Bollywood – the rise of Turkey's dizis
Italy's Prime Minister Georgia Meloni with Algeria's President Tebboune in Algiers January 2023 (image: Chigi Palace Press Office/ANSA/ZUMA/picture-alliance/dpa)

Italy and Algeria cooperate on energy

Algiers is banking on Europe's gas rush

Following the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's visit to Algeria, both countries are seeking to expand their energy cooperation. This will, however, only further cement Algiers' dependence on the gas rush. By Sofian Philip NaceurMore

Human rights in Algeria: Banned, intimidated, driven into exileThe EU's diplomatic dilemma: Morocco and Algeria square off over Western SaharaAlgeria at 60: No more lethargy – Algiers’ passive foreign policy is over
Anti-Saied demonstration in Tunisia (image: AFP)

Tunisia in turmoil

Will Tunisians rise up against Kais Saied?

Voter turnout for parliamentary elections in Tunisia at the end of January 2023 was so low it broke world records. Tunisians are dispirited and a wannabe authoritarian leads the country. What now for the endangered democracy? By Cathrin Schaer and Tarak GuizaniMore

Kais Saied's creeping coup: Who will save Tunisia's democracy now?Migration from Tunisia: Why many young Tunisians set their sights on EuropeParliamentary election in Tunisia: Tunisia's undemocratic drift
Tunisia's farmers are struggling to feed their cows as the cost of fodder has soared by up to 40 percent in the past year due to the impact of the war in Ukraine on imported ingredients (image: FETHI BELAID/AFP)

War in Ukraine, climate change, mismanagement

Tunisia milk market 'collapsing' as feed prices soar

A Tunisian farmer attaches a machine to a cow's udder and sets the pump whirring, but he only expects to fetch less than half the normal amount of milk amid soaring fodder pricesMore

Ukraine and Tunisia's looming wheat crisis: Becoming toast?COP27 and the Middle East: Millions at risk of climate displacementConstitutional referendum in Tunisia: What next for the birthplace of the Arab Spring?Kais Saied's creeping coup: Who will save Tunisia's democracy now?
Map of the Maghreb (1843) by the geographer Alexandre Vuillemin, taken from his "Atlas universel de géographie ancienne et moderne à l’usage des pensionnats" (Universal Atlas of ancient and modern geography for the use of boarding schools) (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

The origins of the Maghreb

Was the Arab Maghreb a French invention?

The book "The Invention of the Maghreb: between Africa and the Middle East" prompts us to review basic terminology. This includes terms that we use almost every day as if they are definitive by virtue of geography, history and culture, such as "the Arab Maghreb", "North Africa", "the Middle East" and "sub-Saharan Africa". Shady Lewis Botros read the bookMore

The West and the Middle East: Casting a long shadow – Napoleon's intervention in Egypt"A Slave Between Empires: A Transimperial History of North Africa" – Decolonising Maghreb history The Tuareg: literature, language and culture: "The journey of the princess"

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