Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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Members of the special body tasked to draft a new constitution for Libya and members of the General National Congress (GNC) gather during the body’s first meeting in Bayda April 21, 2014. (REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori)

Tunisia’s Example to Libya

by Youssef Cherif | Apr 28, 2014 | Majalla Blogs

Libya has made the transition from dictatorship, but it is now an anarchy calling itself a democracy. The chaos enveloping it was once also seen in neighboring Tunisia, where new democratic ambitions were struggling to take root amid counterrevolution, an economic...

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Tunisian Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa (R), greets Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Tunis on March 4, 2014. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)

Everyone’s New Friend

by Youssef Cherif | Mar 21, 2014 | Majalla Blogs

In the early years after the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, the US was perceived as friendly. It was only in 1956 that its charismatic first president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, clearly shifted into the Soviet camp (however non-aligned he had claimed to be). While the US put...

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Tunisia’s President Moncef Marzouki delivers a speech during a seminar with Tunisian officials and legal experts discussing the reinforcement of a law against “terrorism” in Tunis on October 29, 2013. (AFP PHOTO/FETHI BELAID)

Blacklisted in Tunisia

by Youssef Cherif | Dec 13, 2013 | Majalla Blogs

Tunisia under Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali had its propagandists and organic intellectuals, like any regime would. Many of them served Ben Ali and his Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) party, consolidating his power locally and abroad. Some of those polished his image...

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Tunisians carry the coffin of Tunisian opposition politician Mohammed Brahmi during his funeral at Jallez Cemetery in Tunis, Saturday July, 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Amine Landoulsi)

Tunisian Déjà-Vu

by Youssef Cherif | Jul 30, 2013 | Majalla Blogs

The same setting, same strategy, same weapon, same political inclination of the victim, and same tears from a now fatherless child: Last Thursday morning in Tunisia was, for many, a morbid reminder of Chokri Belaid’s assassination in February, less than six months...

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Tunisian soldiers stand guard on June 11, 2013 in the Mount Chaambi region where the Tunisian army has been tracking militants the government says are veterans of the Islamist rebellion in northern Mali with links to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. (AFP Photo/Abderrazek Khlifi)

Neo-Tunisian Army

by Youssef Cherif | Jun 20, 2013 | Majalla Blogs

To any observer, the drastic change to Tunisia’s public sphere pre and post Arab Spring, lies in the introduction of politics and uncensored speech. Another change, less documented, is in the presence of the Army. It would not be an exaggeration to say that in January...