Racism in Tunisia – Debate within the Tunisian Left, 13 May 2017

By Magdalena Mach

Racism in all its forms is a serious issue in Tunisia, even more so as it is a taboo within the society. Despite being the first Arab country to abolish slavery (in 1846), this chapter of the past still weighs heavily on the Tunisian society of today influencing racially biased stereotypes and roles traditionally attributed to members of the Black minority, as well as racial profiling and racist violence. What makes the work on these issues even more imperative is the fact that there still is no law criminalizing racism and racial violence. The proposition of such a law, however, is currently being worked among civil society organizations (FTDES, Euromed, CRLDHT and others), and was presented by Messaoud Romdhani from FTDES. It hasn’t been submitted to parliament yet. Generally, parliamentary and most political forces have neglected the issue so far, including the left.

On Saturday, 13 May, the Nashaz association organized in cooperation with the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung an event called “How to confront Racism”, which assembled a variety of civil society actors, as well as a number of well-known intellectuals, a member of parliament and a member of the leftist coalition Popular Front, to discuss the issue of racial discrimination in Tunisia and the role of the Tunisian Left in its activism against it.

The vibrant event full of lively discussion was the first seminar of a cycle of events called “The Nashaz debates – The Left and the Questions of Society”. The matter of the debates are societal questions that concern the political left, but are not traditionally in its focus. The goal is to set in motion a reformation and modernization of the Tunisian Left, which is perceived as too rigid in its set up and mainly focuses on the struggle of the proletariat against the rich. These rather “traditionally leftist” discussions should be enlarged by work on more up-to-date issues, such as women’s rights, social justice, and the discrimination of minorities, said Fathi Ben Haj Yahia, a well-known Tunisian writer, who organized and moderated the event for Nashaz together with Hichem Abdessamad. The establishment, he said – talking about the established parties of the Tunisian Left – thinks too much about electoral votes, when they should rather be working for a better future. The goal is, therefore, to renew and reform this political scene by concentrating on social problems of today and their resolution.

This presentation of the event, and of the cycle of debates it is part of, was followed by the screening of a short documentary of Lotfi Ghariani, which is a collection of interviews of Black Tunisians and Sub-Saharan students in Tunisia on racism and racial discrimination in their particular regions. This collection of interviews is itself a presentation of a study, “Cases of racism against Blacks in Tunisia” (in Arabic), which is currently being carried out by the Nachaz, and which will be published in June 2017.

It is estimated, by the M’nemty (“My dream”) association, that 15% of Tunisians are Black, residing mostly in the southern parts of the country. The interviews featured in the documentary recount cases of different forms of racial discrimination in the areas of Gabes, Kebili, and Tunis, from daily harassment and insults to racial profiling and racial discrimination in the housing market, where especially Sub-Saharan students experience exclusion and injustice. One story recounted the case of a woman who wanted to report an incident of racist harassment in the streets, which was shrugged off by the police officers in charge saying that she was only looking for trouble. Another young woman from Tunisia’s south explained that she’d always have to remove her photo from job applications, and even then, she’d get a “No” in most cases when she was invited for a job interview, because of her skin color. Most of these stories talk about systemic racism apparent within the society, but still rarely acknowledged in public debates.

After the documentary screening the stage was opened for interventions by civil society actors and further debate with the audience. Among those who took the mic were public figures such as: Tawfik Chaari of the association Adam, Ines Mrad, a well-known writer and historian who specialized on the history of slavery in the Maghreb, Zied Rouin who represented M’nemty, which is one of the most active NGOs working against racism in Tunisia, as well as Boshra Belhaj Hamida, a member of parliament for the conservative party Nida Tunis. The discussion circled around the urgent need of a juridical framework that criminalizes racism and other forms of discrimination. Within such a framework, the behaviour of judges and police officers would be easier to call out and change. There hasn’t been one judge to recur to the international conventions that Tunisia is signatory to. This was pointed out by Abdelkarim Rajeh, lawyer and vice-president of the Higher Administrative Judiciary Council of Tunisia. Apart from the creation of relevant jurisdiction, all participants agreed that it is of the upmost importance to work on racism as a social phenomenon. The discussion united both messages of bitterness and hope for a better future. Different approaches to the resolution of the societal problems were brought up, such as raising awareness, talking about the history of slavery and racism in Tunisia in school education, and the denunciation of acts of racial discrimination. Another idea was that the issue should get more attention in audiovisual media. Very interesting input came from three of the interviewees of the documentary, who had come to join the event, two of whom are Sub-Saharan students living in Tunis. Clarissa, activist and student from Cameroon, gave an inspiring and touching speech about the discrimination she and other Sub-Saharan students face every day. In this context, the all too many insulting words in the Tunisian dialect were pointed out, and the impact of hate speech on the psychological state of an individual. Despite the complexity of the problem, the discussion was ended on a positive note of hope for a better future and a call to work together against racial oppression in Tunisia.