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NL Tunisian democracy in grave danger after crackdown on critics
Protests in Tunis, Tunisia 2011: Flickr President Kais Saied's regime in Tunisia has hit a new low with a crackdown on critics. Dozens of public figures, including politicians, protest organisers, lawyers, judges, trade union officials, the head of an independent radio station and business leaders, were arrested in often violent night raids. This led to protests in [...]
Growing drug problem in Jordan and Lebanon
The drug captagon is causing a major problem in the Middle East. The drug emerged in the early 2000s when IS distributed it to its warriors, but soon spread to the rest of the population. It has become the drug of choice for young people in the Middle East and North Africa. The growing demand has led to a booming [...]
FMS Political Café: Passion and unity on 'revolutionary situation' in Iran
People are still taking to the streets en masse in Iran for the biggest Iranian protests since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The FMS organised a political café about this on 2 February. With a passionate and engaged audience, experts, politicians and representatives of the Iranian diaspora stressed the importance of continued support for the [...]
Interview: Colleague Meriem on her experiences in the Palestinian territories
Colleague Meriem Hammami visited the Palestinian territories in November during a three-day fieldtrip organised by the Palestinian-European Civil Society Forum and the Jerusalem Human Rights Consortium. During the fieldtrip, she experienced poignant moments. FMS interviewed her about the experiences that stuck with her most. What was the background to your trip to [...]
Egypt suffers from skyrocketing inflation
A 1 Egyptian pound note. The social contract between Egyptian President Abdul Fatah al-Sisi and Egyptians is in question. Egypt has a long history of trading political freedoms for socio-economic gains. With the Egyptian economy in a deep slump, the question is whether Egyptians continue to believe in [...]
Background to Tunisia's bizarre elections with a nine per cent turnout
Last Saturday, Tunisia went to the polls for the first time since the outbreak of a deep political crisis between President Kais Saied and the Assembly of Representatives (Majlis Nuwwab ash-Sha'b), Tunisia's parliament, a year and a half ago. The outcome of the election was shocking but not entirely surprising. Only just under nine per cent of the electorate [...]
Protests in Iran continue despite heavy-handed repression and half-hearted promises
Protest in Melbourne in September 2022 in solidarity with protests in Iran Over the past 12 weeks, Iranians took to the streets en masse to demonstrate. The immediate cause was the death of 22-year-old Masha Amini, who was arrested by the so-called vice police for not wearing "modest clothing" prior to her death. [...]
'A missed opportunity': MEP Lara Wolters on Qatar World Cup
View of Lusail stadium, one of the stages of the 2022 World Cup On the eve of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, tempers are running high. The choice of Qatar as the host country is the target of mounting criticism, partly because of the degrading working conditions in which migrant workers built the World Cup stadiums. The FMS spoke to Labour Party MEP [...]
Climate summit COP27 in Egypt: dubious endorsement of al-Sisi's democratic facade
Al-Sisi in 2015 at COP21 in Paris (source: Flickr) Next Sunday, politicians, policymakers, activists and journalists from around the world will travel to the Egyptian coastal town of Sharm el-Sheikh for COP27. This year, for the first time since 2016, the international climate summit will take place in a (North) African city. The location is hopeful that climate priorities for the [...]
Palestinian human rights secondary to Dutch trade interests during Rutte visit
Mark Rutte visited Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories last week, on Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 October. During his visit, the focus was on strengthening ties with Israel, Israeli business and the (relatively impotent) Palestinian Authority, while Palestinian human rights activists were skipped. A questionable programme in a [...]
