Dynamics Old and New Drive Tunisia's Elections

Issue , Year UK £2 www.thearabweekly.com 222 5 September 15, 2019 EU €2.50 Alexandria Assad’s battles climate propaganda change tours Page 20 Page 9 Peace takes a backseat Dynamics old and new as Netanyahu moves to drive Tunisia’s elections boost electoral chances Mamoon Alabbasi calation” and called for an emergency meeting of the foreign ministers of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic London Cooperation “to discuss the serious Is- raeli escalation.” sraeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s announcement was Netanyahu is making a last-ditch also condemned by the United Arab push to boost his chances in the Emirates and Bahrain, which, like I September 17 Israeli elections Saudi Arabia, share Israel’s concerns but his campaign efforts appear to be regarding Iran’s role in the region. at the expense of reaching a peace deal Netanyahu informed the United with the Palestinians or forming better States before making his announce- ties with the wider region. ment on annexing the Jordan Valley The latest poll, released September and hinted that the move was sup- 12 by the state-owned Kan 11 television ported by the Trump administration. channel, predicted that Netanyahu’s Netanyahu, however, drew criticism Likud party would win 31 seats in par- from Moscow ahead of a trip to meet liament, two fewer than the figure ex- with Russian President Vladimir Putin. pected for his main rival, former mili- Netanyahu’s anti-Palestinian rheto- tary chief Benny Gantz, who heads the ric did not stop at the West Bank. Two Blue and White alliance. days after vowing to annex the Jordan Both the right-wing Likud and the Valley, the Israeli prime minister said centrist Blue and White would need another war in Gaza was inevitable be- to form alliances with other parties to cause of rocket fire from the besieged secure the minimum of 61 seats in the Palestinian enclave. Electoral framework. A man poses for a picture 120-member Knesset needed to form a Netanyahu’s electioneering drew with a poster that reads in Arabic “Tunisia votes coalition government. In an apparent criticism from Palestinian citizens of and continues” at Tunis media centre. (Reuters) bid to court more voters and parties Israel, often referred to as Arab Israe- that are to the right of Likud, Netan- lis. He accused them of being engaged yahu stepped up his rhetoric against in voter fraud and pushed for a parlia- Lamine Ghanmi Tunisia’s resources, which the West sassinations and illegal spying since Palestinians. mentary bill that would have cameras has been accused of unfairly exploit- 2013, Zbidi pledged, if elected, “to Netanyahu vowed to annex the Jor- installed in polling stations in their ing. unravel the mysteries linked to the dan Valley, which accounts for approxi- areas. The move was seen as a bid to Tunis “Populists use this argument of issue of the secret apparatus.” mately one-third of the occupied West intimidate Palestinian citizens of Israel natural resources to lure voters by Experts said oversized egos, in- Bank, if he wins the elections. from voting but the bill failed to pass in ince early September, Tunisia selling them pipe dreams using data ternecine feuds and lack of cohesive Palestinian President Mahmoud Ab- parliament. has been going through an and figures that are inaccurate,” said narratives loom large among mod- bas warned that all peace agreements Separately, Facebook said Netanya- election cycle that will con- Aidi. ernists. This has bred a “poisonous with Israel would end if Netanyahu hu’s page had violated the platform’s S tinue until the beginning of If the 2014 election was marked climate,” they said, made worse by carried out the pledge. The Jordan Val- hate-speech policy by allowing a post November. by a clear-cut polarisation between glitches in the unfinished institu- ley is home to 65,000 Palestinians and that accused Arabs of “want[ing] to After the results of the Septem- secularists and Islamists, that divide tion-building process. 9,000 Israeli settlers. destroy us all — women, children and ber 15 presidential election are an- is not totally absent in the current The absence of a Constitutional Netanyahu’s annexation announce- men.” nounced, Tunisian voters will have election cycle despite the growing Court, because of the inability of ment drew condemnation from Arab to choose, on October 6, which po- divisiveness among the modernists parliament to agree on its makeup, countries, which Israel hopes to nor- Mamoon Alabbasi is Deputy litical parties and independent slates themselves. has created political turbulence and malise ties with. Managing Editor and Online Editor will sit in the new parliament and Tunisian Minister of Defence Ab- tense jockeying for power. Almost all Saudi Arabia denounced Netan- of The Arab Weekly. form the next government. delkrim Zbidi, a presidential can- candidates have called for amend- yahu’s move as a “very dangerous es- P4 If the presidential campaign is any didate running as an independent, ments to the electoral code. Many indication, a new political culture acknowledged that the Islamist En- advocated for revising the constitu- has emerged in Tunisia, considered nahda Movement “is objectively tion to reset the balance of power Shedding light on Qatar’s Muslim a model of successful democratic an integral part of the political and between institutions. transition in the region. party landscape in Tunisia.” Others said they regret there is Brotherhood network in Europe Whatever the electoral results, no provision for primary elections liberal Westernised elites and, to a within the secular camp but former The Arab Weekly staff ential political actors have called for certain extent, Islamist candidates If the presidential campaign Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa, anoth- the ban of the Muslim Brotherhood. have been strongly challenged by is any indication, a new er of the 26 confirmed candidates for London Based on access to thousands of populists. political culture has president, told The Arab Weekly that confidential documents, producers Said Aidi, Bani Watani leader and emerged in Tunisia, kind of provision was premature. n September 24, the Franco- of the film focus on the role of Qatar presidential candidate, told The Arab considered a model of “The question of the primaries is German TV channel ARTE is Charity, an NGO operating in many Weekly the trend stems from a com- successful democratic not yet relevant because we must to broadcast an investigative countries of Europe where it finances bination of crises besetting the coun- transition in the region. first finalise the constitutional bod- O documentary titled “Qatar: A scores of mosque projects, Islamic try since the 2011 uprising, despite ies of the second republic as we will War of influence on Islam in Europe.” centres and schools linked to the the new era of democratic change. However, during his campaign, have amended the electoral code to The documentary is the latest Muslim Brotherhood. “There is a crisis of confidence in Tu- Zbidi also highlighted a different vi- allow for a stable majority in the as- French investigative work shedding Doha’s activities in France are but- nisian politics, as well as a social and sion that separated him from Islam- sembly,” he said. light on Qatar’s large web of econom- tressed by a transactional strategy economic crisis,” he said. ists. Echoing demands by secularists ic, political and cultural connections and the seeming complacency of Par- The solutions some populists offer and leftists who clamour for light Lamine Ghanmi is an Arab Weekly in Europe. Doha pursues its activities is towards Qatar’s double game. reflect distrust of political elites and to be shed on the suspicions of an correspondent in Tunis. even in countries such as staunchly a lack of confidence in the overall Islamist-run clandestine operation secularist France where many influ- P12 post-independence management of that would have been involved in as- P2-3,6 Teens discover voice through media outlet in Egypt’s peripheries Marc Espanol been gradually expanding in Egypt. lessons,” said Bashkatib founder face include ensuring they have a broken pipeline along a main road It supports projects such as Dar El Ahmed Elhawary. adequate financial resources, navi- went viral and attracted the inter- Salam in Aswan, Mansoura, Minya, “There is nothing [else] provid- gating a vague legality about social est of national television stations. Cairo Port Said and Sohag. ed to them: no music, no theatre, entrepreneurship and gaining the “These media outlets can re- One of Bashkatib’s goals is to nothing [that allows them] to get to trust of the locals. flect better what is happening in ina Abdel Aziz, a 17-year- introduce young people in areas know anything about themselves As the projects become more all these areas where the voice of old student of commerce where the opportunities beyond and about their potential.” well-known, the perception of the the people is not heard,” said Ali, from Cairo’s Dar El Salam school are limited to new experi- Bashkatib focuses its attention community starts to change as who added that the projects also D neighbourhood, said she ences. Bashkatib provides train- on the marginalised and peripheral well. “They start to see us in a dif- “change the mindset of the people was always interested in writing ing that targets skills ranging from communities. ferent way [because] we had their regarding how things work, [show- about what is going on around her. creative writing, photography and “Most of the media are located in credibility and, if we have the trust ing] that they should not wait until However, it was not until she and cartoons to design, management Cairo and local reporters are not as of the people, we can be the voice people talk about them but rather her mother discovered Bashkatib, and marketing, so participants can well-trained, [so] the news coming of these areas,” said Ziad Ali, 20, a that they can talk about them- an initiative aimed at establishing identify their interests and run a from local governorates are usually writer with Bashkatib since he was selves.” and supporting media outlets run small media outlet.

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