Youssef kneads his fingers, hesitates a bit before answering. Of course he thought of going away. "I don't have much to lose," he says. A sentence similar to that of many young Tunisians when it comes to emigrating. This often means: by boat over Mediterranean in hope of reaching Lampedusa or at least being taken up in European waters, in order to find work in Italy or France.
The 24-year-old is a trained electrical engineer. He never worked in profession. Last summer he helped out on Djerba, his home island in south of Tunisia, as a waiter at café. "I could put a little side to support my family," he says. But in low season, when fewer tourists came, he was off his job again. Two of his younger siblings still go to school, older sister has become a housewife and just a mor. The money is just enough to make ends meet. "I can't build a house, not get married, start a family." He would also have to save money for an illegal crossing toger. Moreover, he has heard that Europeans no longer trust Tunisians after attacks of Nice and Berlin. " He can understand that, "he says," but assassins have only been radicalized abroad, "he pushes.
Seven years after political upheaval, which was mainly carried out by young people and was associated with great hopes, disappointment in Tunisia is greater than ever. "In past it was safe here and we had our peace," says Youssef shoulder twitching. He was just in Abitur preparations, when at end of 2010 riots against regime of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali started. Politics was never his thing, but he still had to be infected by mood of awakening in country. "Nothing has changed since n."
Male and between 20 and 30 years oldMore and more young people are turning ir backs on Tunisia. As many as this year, it has not been since revolution. The Italian authorities have taken up almost 8,000 Tunisians this year. The Tunisian navy and Coast Guard have also stopped more than three hundred boats with which migrants wanted to travel to Europe. They were almost exclusively Tunisians and not as presumed migrants from sub-Saharan Africa who had fled Libya to Tunisia to take off from re. The boat occupants were almost invariably male, two-thirds of m between twenty and thirty years old, figures of Tunisian Forum on Economic and Social Rights (FTDES), which evaluated information of authorities.
Valentin Bonnefoy, who is in charge of FTDES for migration issues, says that young men are aware of risks, but y think y should try anyway. "If you don't have a chance in your home country, n at least you want to die honorably at sea." Mobile videos of successful overrides, returnees with big cars or music videos like Clandestino Tunisian rapper Master Sina and Balti, who glorify lives of illegals in Europe, would do rest, says Bonnefoy.
The fact that passages with small wooden or inflatable boats often end up being fatal, was painfully brought to attention of Tunisian public when a boat with migrants was rammed by Tunisian Navy in early October and sank. Officially it was said she wanted to stop boat. More than forty people have been found dead, ors are still missing.
"My bror also wanted to go away. After that happened, we were able to retune him, "says Issa. In your voice sounds relief. The mid-thirties from Tataouine, a small town on edge of Tunisian desert, works as a representative teacher. Her bror also studied. He graduated three years ago, and since n he has been unemployed. Not an isolated case, says Bonnefoy, depending on region, 40 percent of university graduates often find no work. Parallel to increased number of emigrants, FTDES 2017 has recorded a nationwide increase in protest movements. "The demands are often fundamental: work, infrastructure, a proper water supply." The Government's response to this, however, is all too often a purely security policy.
In region of Tataouine, too, re had been clashes between young people and government in spring. At times more than a thousand people had pitched a protest camp in Kamour at an oil conveyor and throttled conveyor speed of pipeline. They demanded more jobs in structurally weak region and a levy from proceeds from mineral resources for public projects in district of Tataouine.
Date Of Update: 03 January 2018, 12:02
