New freedoms in Tunisia drive support for IS

[Sally]

It appears that even the educated leave to join ISIS. As is noted in this article, one student said “Don’t you see it as a source of pride?”

New freedoms in Tunisia drive support for IS

DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Tunis, Oct. 22: Nearly four years after the Arab Spring revolt, Tunisia remains its lone success as chaos engulfs much of the region. But that is not its only distinction: Tunisia has sent more foreign fighters than any other country to Iraq and Syria to join the extremist group that calls itself the Islamic State. And throughout the working-class suburbs of the capital, young men are eager to talk about why. “Don’t you see it as a source of pride?” challenged Sufian Abbas, 31, a student sitting at a street cafe in the densely packed Ettadhamen district with a half-dozen like-minded friends. Continue reading at: New freedoms in Tunisia drive support for IS

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[waltky]

Unemployment is drawing young Tunisians to IS...

Tunisian youths demand jobs, say govt is failing them
Jan 23,`16 -- Unemployed young people from the Tunisian city that touched off nationwide protests say the government is failing them and protested anew Saturday in a precarious calm enforced by a nationwide curfew.

Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring protest movement, is the only democracy to rise from those turbulent demonstrations five years ago, touched off by the suicide of a young man who despaired of making a living. The country has a 15 percent unemployment rate but among young people one in three is jobless. The government imposed a nationwide curfew on Friday night and has not said when it will be lifted.

The nationwide protests this week were triggered by the death of a young man in Kasserine who was electrocuted when he climbed a transmission tower to protest losing out on a government job. The protests then spread to cities throughout the country, including scattered demonstrations in the capital Tunis, where a bank and some stores were looted. On Saturday, a small crowd at a government building in Kasserine reasserted their demands for jobs, while in Tunis the prime minister said the situation was under control. "We want to send a message to the president in my name and the name of everyone: We are demanding work. We're not destroying. We're not burning. We're not causing chaos but just demanding jobs," said Maher Nasri, an unemployed graduate.

Tunisian leaders say they understand the protesters' frustration but blamed criminals for the violence. The Interior Ministry said 261 people had been arrested, with a total of 423 since the unrest began. Emerging from an emergency government meeting to address the unrest, Prime Minister Habib Essid said the security situation was under control and he emphasized his optimism for the country's future. The government, he pledged, "would be firm faced with the difficulties and multiple challenges of security, economy and society it confronts." "The democratic process in Tunisia is an irreversible choice, despite the attempts of some to put in in doubt," he said.

A coalition of Tunisian human rights activists, lawyers, labor leaders and employers won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for their successful efforts to prevent Tunisia from descending into chaos and authoritarianism. But multiple terror attacks in 2015, claimed by the Islamic State group, have caused incalculable damage to a North African economy heavily dependent upon tourism. And in Kasserine, protesters said the government needed to do far more to win their trust. "We want solutions that can be implemented," said Ahlam Gharsalli. "We need urgent solutions because we're fed up with waiting."

News from The Associated Press

 

[waltky]

Unemployment at the root of Tunisian unrest...

Lack of Jobs Greater Threat Than Jihadists, Analysts Warn
January 24, 2016 — Rights activists and economists have been warning for months that growing disaffection among young jobless Tunisians would soon test the stability of the country.

They say the government has failed to even outline a plausible program to develop Tunisia economically, especially to help develop distressed rural areas, which have become recruiting grounds for jihadists. Their fears were borne out this week when Tunisia became engulfed in violent street protests and attacks on police stations, which prompted the government to order an overnight nationwide curfew on Friday. The Interior Ministry said in a statement that attacks on public and private property “represent a danger to the country and its citizens.”

Protesters throw items at police forces in the city of Ennour, near Kasserine, Tunisia, Jan. 20, 2016. Tunisia has declared a curfew in the western city after clashes between police and more than 1,000 young protesters demonstrating for jobs.​

Government officials said they needed the curfew to try to prevent a repeat of Thursday night, when police stations came under assault and security personnel resorted to tear gas to stop protesters armed with stones and Molotov cocktails from looting stores and warehouses. The street demonstrations started last week after a young man who failed to secure a government job scaled a transmission tower in Kasserine, an impoverished city in the center of the country, in protest and was electrocuted. More angry youngsters have threatened to kill themselves. Two were injured this week after trying to throw themselves off the roof of a local government building.

Frustrated youth

While the government has focused on the jihadist threat, fearing that returning fighters from Syria would present a real challenge to the state, the more immediate danger for weeks has been from working class youngsters frustrated with the few job opportunities available to them. “Unfortunately, the situation is getting worse,” says university professor Jelel Ezzine, president of the Tunisian Association for the Advancement of Science, Technology and Innovation, a research institution. “In addition to the incompetence of the government and the political system, the coalition behind the government is blindly defending the ministers and their non-deeds irrespective of the results and the ongoing unrest,” he adds.

Protesters clash with security forces in the central town of Kasserine, Tunisia​

He says the government is failing to understand that the economic fundamentals have to change and they must be “addressed head on.” Under the surface, there has been growing public disaffection with the government for months. Working class Tunisians who hoped the Arab spring ouster of longtime strongman Zine Abidine Ben Ali would bring jobs have seen little economic benefit. Thirty-seven percent of young Tunisians are unemployed and jobless graduates have been joining the labor movement in increasing numbers of protests and sit-ins. Strikes by public sector workers have recently soared.

Unemployed protesters demonstrate in Tunis​

In a televised address Friday night, Tunisia’s president, Beji Caid Essebsi, said he understands the frustration that has built up and led to this week’s protests over unemployment, but he cautioned that instability could be exploited by jihadists. He pledged the country would “get out of this ordeal.” “There is no dignity without work. You can't tell someone who has nothing to eat to stay patient,” the president acknowledged. He warned that the Islamic State militant group in neighboring Libya could use the unrest "to infiltrate into Tunisia". Unemployment has worsened since the 2011 revolution that toppled Ben Ali — the first in a series of uprisings across the Arab world. Tunisia has, in many ways, remained the one hopeful story to come out of the Arab spring, the only country in the region that overthrew a dictator and emerged as a democracy.

Jihadist threat

 

[irosie91]

It appears that even the educated leave to join ISIS. As is noted in this article, one student said “Don’t you see it as a source of pride?”

New freedoms in Tunisia drive support for IS

DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Tunis, Oct. 22: Nearly four years after the Arab Spring revolt, Tunisia remains its lone success as chaos engulfs much of the region. But that is not its only distinction: Tunisia has sent more foreign fighters than any other country to Iraq and Syria to join the extremist group that calls itself the Islamic State. And throughout the working-class suburbs of the capital, young men are eager to talk about why. “Don’t you see it as a source of pride?” challenged Sufian Abbas, 31, a student sitting at a street cafe in the densely packed Ettadhamen district with a half-dozen like-minded friends. Continue reading at: New freedoms in Tunisia drive support for IS

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

thanks Sally-----you cite a very important article-------I heard the same kinds of
comments about AL Quaida and Osama from Pakistani colleagues about 20
years ago-------and even about SADDAAM who's invasion of Kuwait----according
to my enthusiastic informants were designed to obtain OIL wealth to SUPPORT
THE ISLAMIC CAUSE (that he was already paying terrorists to murder children----was not enough ---he NEEDED more)

 

[TNHarley]

Wow