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"Increasing the roles of unions will ruffle some feathers and will have a direct negative impact on FDI in the short term," said Mr Nuseibeh. "This does not necessarily mean that FDI will decrease in the medium or long terms or threaten current foreign investments."

greater union activity in the country could deter foreign investors

Union activity in Tunisia is potentially going to give a negative image for the country

Unlike Egypt and Tunisia, Saudi Arabia has no civil society of any significance. As a result, online calls to protest—beloved of so many “cyber-utopians”—had no place to take root.

The protests reflected a growing sense of disappointment with King Abdullah, who has failed to implement a single political demand from previous petitions. However, in spite of their disappointment, reformers from a wide range of political ideologies—Islamists, nationalists, leftists, and liberals—are being cautious because the future could be worse. Many intellectuals and professionals are haunted by the prospect of losing their positions when Crown Prince Nayif becomes king. Abdullah has developed a quasi-liberal constituency and cultivated its interest in the state, business, and media. Reformers nonetheless loyal to Abdullah fear that Nayif’s iron fist will come down on them: functionaries of the ancien régime to be replaced.

Another group, the National Coalition and Free Youth Movement, formed on Facebook and Twitter in spite of having no offline organizational presence. Their Web pages would disappear amid government censorship only to reappear at different addresses. Many pages gathered thousands of supporters, but it is difficult to claim that all were authentic. Cyber-warfare pitted activists and non-ideological young men and women against regime security, complicating the headcount.

Observers have often summarized the situation in Tunisia, and the Arab world in general, as a conflict between Islamists and secularists. While the framework of an Islamist–secularist divide is not completely inaccurate, it frequently ignores more nuanced analysis and perpetuates the orientalist premise that Middle East politics should be explained by historical religious norms. In Tunisia, political Islam was marginal until the fall of dictatorship in January 2011.

The main demands of the sporadic protest movements before 2011 were not ideological, but called for more political liberties or an improved socioeconomic situation, as in the 2008 Gafsa uprising

a growing sense among disenchanted voters, youth in particular, that their standards of living would not improve no matter which party they voted for.

a seemingly endless series of scandals across a network of detention centers ostensibly run by the Libyan Department for Combating Illegal Migration, which is associated with the U.N.-backed, Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA). In reality, many of the detention centers are controlled by militias.

Tens of thousands of refugees and migrants have been locked up indefinitely in Libyan detention centers over the past two and a half years, after they were intercepted by the Libyan coast guard trying to reach Italy across the Mediterranean Sea. Since 2017, the Libyan coast guard has been supported with equipment and training worth tens of millions of dollars by the European Union. This money comes from the Trust Fund for Africa—a multibillion-dollar fund created at the height of the so-called migration crisis, with the aim of preventing migration to Europe by increasing border controls and funding projects in 26 African countries

EU’s deal with Libya—a country without a stable government where conflict is raging—has been repeatedly condemned by human rights organizations. They say the EU is supporting the coast guard with the aim of circumventing the international law principle of non-refoulement, which would prohibit European ships from returning asylum-seekers and refugees to a country where they could face persecution

A rather small number of obscure journalists writing on obscure websites calling themselves “anarchist” and “anti-fascist” specialize in denouncing individuals who oppose war or criticize the European Union as fascists and anti-Semites

technique is to identify opposition to war as “supporting dictators”

I do not support any regime.  I support a policy of non-intervention, that is to say, I not only reject the “humanitarian” wars, but also the purchase of elections, the color revolutions, the coups organized by the West, the unilateral sanctions, etc.

members left the Assembly last week for their first break since they began writing in February. Just before their departure, the publication of the first full draft of the constitution demonstrated marked progress, but the contents of the draft have caused controversy throughout the country. The draft revealed that divisive issues, such as the status of women, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and the parliamentary structure of the government, are still far from settled inside and outside of the NCA. The Assembly will reconvene in early September to negotiate these divisions, but the timeframe for the ratification of the constitution remains unclear.

نجح بن علي في تحجيم المعارضة لكنه فشل في خنقها. كذلك، أخفق في تجسيد حلم سلفه المجاهد الأكبر، الحبيب بورقيبة، بتحويل الاتحاد العام التونسي للشغل إلى "نقابة صفراء"، فاحتفظ هذا التنظيمُ، على تواطؤ زعامته مع الحكومة، بهامش حرية يمكنُّه من معارضتها أحيانا، كما بقي مجالَ نشاط رئيسي لليسار. لهذا رأينا أعضاءه يساندون الحركة الشعبية لا بالاعتصامات والتجمعات فحسب (منها اثنان أمام مقرها العام بالعاصمة في 25 ديسمبر و7 يناير الماضيين)، لكن أيضا بنشر أخبارها في الفضائيات ووكالات الأنباء، التي تستقي أغلب معلوماتها من "مصادر نقابية". صحيحٌ أن زعامةَ الاتحاد ساندت ترشيح بن علي للرئاسة في 2004 و2009 لكنَّ كثيرا من كوادرها وقيادات هيئاتها الوسيطة (النقابات القطاعية والإقليمية) شاركت في المعارك الديمقراطية للسنوات الأخيرة. راديكاليةُ هذه الكوادر والضغوط التي تمارسها على قيادة النقابة هي إحدى تفسيرات ضمّ هذه القيادة صوتَها لصوت المعارضين المطالبين بوقف القمع وفتح باب الحريات (بيانا 4 يناير و11 يناير).

إن وجود نقابات قوية وجماهيرية في تونس لعب دورا أساسيا في تدعيم استمرار حركة الجماهير. و على الرغم من ترددها في بداية الأحداث إلا أنها اضطرت للاستجابة لإرادة الجماهير. إن ثورة تونس لم تضع أوزارها بعد فقد أطاحت الجماهير برأس النظام المستبد حتى الآن ولا زال جسد النظام الفاسد ينتظر أن تسحقه الثورة وتقضي عليه حتى لا يسطو مرتزقة النظام وأذنابه على تضحيات الجماهير. إننا نؤمن في مصر بأهمية بناء نقابات مستقلة ومناضلة تضم عشرات ومئات الآلاف من العمال والموظفين وتنظم نضالهم وحركتهم وتفوت فرصة خداع الجماهير التي تحاولها الأنظمة. إن تنظيم الجماهير المضطهدة والمستغلة في منظمات جماهيرية ومستقلة هو أول واجبات والتزامات الثوريين الذين يؤمنون أن نضال جماهير الكادحين هو الطريق الوحيد للتحرر من الاستبداد والفقر.

In a remarkable shift, the police, previously the enforcers of Mr. Ben Ali’s rule, organized a protest of their own on the city’s central artery, Bourguiba Boulevard. They wore red armbands in solidarity with the revolution, complained that Mr. Ben Ali and his family had put cronies in charge of the security forces and demanded a trade union that could negotiate for higher wages. Tunisians were stunned to see police officers, once silent and terrifying, complaining about their working conditions in interviews with Al Jazeera.

“The most rapid revolution in history,” he wrote. “Because we are connected. Synchronized.”