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What Youth across Africa think of The Revolutions in North Africa?

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"No Woman, No Cry" -Human Rights Day- #16days

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“ No Woman, No Cry ” is the famous reggae song of Bob Marley and The Wailers. The original title is “No Woman, Nuh Cry” in Jamaica tongue.The “nuh”, is a shorter vowel sound for “no”, and corresponds to the short form “don’t”. The song tends to persuade women not to cry and reassure them that everything will be alright.This is what my friend Taiwo ADESOBA   from Nigeria has explained. However, when I see how much women in the world suffer, I wonder how can women not cry, W hen 95% of the victims of violence are female and 95-98% of the perpetrators are male... W hen every 15 seconds a woman is beaten, raped, or killed... When women still don't receive equal payment and are judged only for the fact that they are WOMEN... When women not only in Afghanistan, Republic of Congo or India but also about 2 to 4 million of American women are battered each year by their partners... It is a vicious circle of women's suffer everywhere, everyday... Despite this r

Violence Has Become A Language

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In a beautiful summer day, I arrived to the largest city in South Africa, Johannesburg, as westernized and wealthy as I thought with its skyscrapers, fancy neighborhoods and highways. I have taken the Gautrain from the airport to the hotel. As I was sitting next to a young South African man in his early 30s, we eventually struck up a conversation on the country’s current situation. “Few days ago, protesters against the provincial government in Cape Town ran amok and looted stores and stalls”. I was listening to him as the image of rich -poor divide Cape Town contradicts the image I have of wealthy predominately “white” place . “Other protesters were throwing stones at police, burnt tires and blocked roads to express their dissatisfaction”, he continued.   After few minutes of this conversation, I realized that having the largest and most developed economy in Africa, “ the most admirable constitution in the world” , 11 official languages and its pluralistic makeup didn’t prevent p

Racism has taken a New Form

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Walking in the street, I was called "ibrony" in Ghana and "Muzungu" in Kenya which means "white". I didn't take it seriously when I interacted with people. But then the more I traveled I realised how divided our continent is along color lines or colorism. I thought about racism in Tunisia...how someone would feel to be called "black" in a predominately lighter skinned or "White passing" society. I realized how racist and anti-black are the expressions used comfortably in Tunisian dialect of the word "black" like "kahloush", "ousif" or "abeed" meaning slave... also how imperialistically racist to call a part of the world "Black Africa", "L'Afrique Noire"?   In fact, if you google 'Racism in Tunisia', you will not find many articles, research, videos or documentaries while racism is intrenched in our society ... when we still refuse to mix with black people in

Semi-Finalist for PLURAL+ Youth Video Festival

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I have started my advocacy commitment for intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding among Americans and Arab Muslims during my stay in the US last year. Coming from North Africa and being faced myself with many stereotypes while engaging in sincere conversations, made me realize that the first step to bridge both cultures is to expose those stereotypes, explore information from both parts of the world and tell a different story of the mainstream media.  One of the harsh statements that an Arab can hear is attacked of being "a terrorist" because of the act of few! my short video "Arab Muslims living in the USA" highlights the views of Americans and Arab Muslims living in the US who have a different story to tell than that of hatred, skepticism and intolerance. I entered with my video an international competition on  PLURAL +  2013  Youth Video Festival ,      a joint initiative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAoC) and the I

Reportage on Women's Day #Tunisia

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Les Femmes de La Révolution

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"à l'occasion  du 13 août, F ête  Nationale de la  Femme" Les tunisiennes ont impressionné le monde entier en se levant pour défendre leurs droits en tant que femmes et en tant qu'êtres humains. Epaules contre épaules elle se sont soulevées aux côtés des hommes afin de défendre leur nation pendant la révolution. Ceci dit, le mouvement des femmes tunisiennes remonte bien avant le 14 janvier 2011. Dès le début du 20e siècle les femmes tunisiennes ont joué un rôle déterminant dans l'obtention de l'indépendance de leur pays. Comme les hommes furent arrêtés et emprisonnées après le manifestations qui ont amené les français et leur protectorat à se retirer et à reconnaitre l'indépendance du pays le 20 mars 1956. Moins de 5 mois plus tard, le 13 aout 1956, le premier président de la Tunisie, Habib Bourguiba, faisait un discours où il citait un extrait du code civil défendant les droits des femmes. Le codex interdisait la polygamie et le

11 Days of Non-stop Sit-In in Tunis

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This blog post is a reportage on what's happening in Bardo sit-in that lasted for 11 days so far. #Bardo #Ra7il #Brahmi #Belaid Photo Album on August 3rd, 2013 at Demotix  http://www.demotix.com/news/2350471/eighth-day-non-stop-tunis-sit-calls-government-resign#media-2350158 Photo Album on August-06, 2013 at Demotix  http://www.demotix.com/news/2369203/tunisia-commemoration-chokri-belaids-assassination Reportage on the mass rally on yesterday commemoration of Belaid's assassination.

Tunisia: Between Political Instability, Terrorism & Police Repression

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When journalists are arrested because they've taken photos for their articles, we ask, where is freedom of expression? When there is denial of accessibility, we ask, where is transparency? When the corrupt hands are out of jail, we ask, where is accountability? but when political leaders are assassinated during a "democratic transition", what shall we ask  for ? The assassination of  Chokri Belaid  on February 6th earlier this year, is a sorrow for Tunisia not only because it is an act of killing a human being but also an act of extreme censorship to a leader who revealed corruption and  vocally criticized Ennahda, the Islamist ruling party . This is not censoring YouTube or Daily-motion, hacking blogs, Facebook Pages and Tweeter accounts or dispersing protests with teargas. This is censoring the heartbeat forever. In less than six months of Belaid's  m urder, during the Republic Day which is our  annual celebration marking Tunisia's foundation as an indep

Peace by All Means

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Following the  Global Power Shift,  I flew to Trabzon, the beautiful city on the Black Sea coast of North-Eastern Turkey, where,  I spent 5-day workshop on conflict transformation, post-conflict peace building and reconstruction with 70 young activists and professionals from 47 countries.  As conflict, crisis and disaster academics, practitioners, consultants, activists and students, we looked beyond dominant theories relating to youth in conflict and explored the challenges of youth exclusion from peace-building activities and decision making. As such, the basis, rationale and formation process of young people’s relationships with societal structures and negotiation both through established and unconventional means, and how this impact on peace processes in contested and divided places were practically discussed and examined. At the plenary session of the last day of the workshop, I presented with few team members the digital tools and techniques to use f