Indepth

How poverty and corruption are pushing Tunisia's disenfranchised youth back to the streets

Since 14 January, a wave of youth unrest has swept aross Tunisia, one decade after the 2011 revolution. Young people, who feel their voices are unheard, have grown increasingly exasperated by dire economic conditions, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, and the failure of the political class to deliver. Last Saturday saw a mass demonstration in central Tunis to protest police repression, corruption and poverty, and demand the release of youths detained during protests over the past week. Hundreds of Tunisians, mostly young, rallied in downtown Tunis alongside a number of civil society org...

'We lost to a violent system': A family portrait of Egypt's revolutionary struggle

*__Editor's note: This article is part of our special series on the Arab Spring 10th anniversary\. The rest of the series can be accessed on this regularly updated [portal](https://www.thenewarab.co.uk/feature/arabspring/)\. __*"Excuse me son; and this generation, excuse me, we aspired to and dreamed of passing you on a democratic society that preserves human dignity\. Unfortunately, I bequeathed you the cells," late leading leftist activist and prominent human rights lawyer Ahmed Seif once [said](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atowwceI4Mw) during a public event for his jailed son, Alaa, and ...

Ten years on, did Egypt's January 25 revolution fail?

Editor's note: This article is part of our special series on the Arab Spring 10th anniversary. The rest of the series can be accessed on this regularly updated portal. The 25th of January 2011 was an historic day for millions of Egyptians. What started as mass demonstrations against corruption and police brutality turned into a full-fledged 18-day popular revolution that toppled a 30-year-old autocracy. But after one decade, and with a sharp return to authoritarianism following a short-lived democratic experiment, how can the impact of January 25 be assessed? After long-time dictator Hosni Mub...

The Iraq Report: Deadly terror in Baghdad suicide bombings

The Islamic State (IS) group has made a deadly resurgence after claiming responsibility for a twin suicide bomb attack in central Baghdad on Thursday that killed at least 32 people and wounded more than 110. While there is obvious fury at the militant group, Iraqis have also expressed dissatisfaction with the security forces and pro-Iran militias, whom they blame for Iraq's endemic insecurity that allows such attacks to continue despite IS' formal defeat in late 2017. Meanwhile, Turkey is bolstering its military presence in Iraq by engaging in high-level diplomatic overtures with both the fede...

Why the US terrorist designation of Yemen's Houthis is a mistake

On the 11th of January, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States would designate Yemen's Houthi rebel movement, known formally as Ansar Allah, as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). The Trump administration also designated three leaders of the movement, including their chief Abdul Malik al-Houthi, as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The move came into effect on 19 January and the US Treasury Department released details of limited licensing exemptions to the restrictions. Licenses would regulate "the official activities of the US government," and would be gr...

How Greece is silencing NGOs to hide abuses at refugee camps

Greece has introduced a new law criminalising the recording and sharing of information of potentially anything that workers and volunteers observe inside its notorious refugee camps. The law, passed on 30 November 2020, has been widely denounced as a cover-up measure for abuses refugees and asylum seekers suffer in reception facilities across the country. It extends from social media to communications with any press and remains effective even after their period of work or volunteering ends. The clause is both broad and vague, and states that "in case of doubt all information regarding the camp...

Mosul: A wounded city trying to heal

Mohammed Salama, a university student, guides us through the streets of the old neighbourhoods of West Mosul. Despite his efforts to remain impassive, he can barely hide his sadness. "I haven't been here in more than a year," he admitted. "I can't stand the vision of the ruins. The smell of death and most of the rubble are gone, but the sight of destruction of our city is hard to bear for me". On a Friday afternoon, the streets of the Old City are almost empty. A few passers-by emerge only to quickly disappear at the corner of an alley. There are more policemen on the crossroads than cars. Rub...

Mosul: A wounded city yet to heal

Mohammed Salama, a university student, guides us through the streets of the old neighbourhoods of West Mosul. Despite his efforts to remain impassive, he can barely hide his sadness. "I haven't been here in more than a year," he admitted. "I can't stand the vision of the ruins. The smell of death and most of the rubble are gone, but the sight of destruction of our city is hard to bear for me". On a Friday afternoon, the streets of the Old City are almost empty. A few passers-by emerge only to quickly disappear at the corner of an alley. There are more policemen on the crossroads than cars. Rub...

What will Biden's presidency mean for the Horn of Africa?

Most discussions about US foreign policy in the post-Trump era do not concern the Horn of Africa. Nonetheless, President Joe Biden may have no choice but to make difficult decisions in this volatile region against the backdrop of Ethiopia's civil war, the Nile Dam dispute, as well as Sudan's fragile political transition. To understand how Biden might approach the Horn of Africa, it is important to take a look at the Trump administration's policies in this region. With a strategy of "minimal engagement", the Trump administration believed that the US's trade and investment would counter the infl...

How Gulf reconciliation could impact the Eastern Mediterranean

The arrival of Qatar's emir in Saudi Arabia earlier this month for the Gulf summit, and his warm reception by the kingdom's crown prince, was a historic moment. The visit came in the wake of goodwill gestures to reopen borders and resume air travel as part of ending the four-year blockade on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain. Ending the Gulf crisis will open a new political page in the Middle East, with the impact likely to be felt far beyond the region, including in the Eastern Mediterranean. The reconciliation was preceded by other positive steps that i...