Tunisian Workers’ Party condemns President Kais Saied’s racist remarks against African migrants : Peoples Dispatch

The Tunisian Workers’ Party has condemned President Kais Saied’s speech last week in which he accused migrants from sub-Saharan Africa of trying to change the country’s demographics. The party accused him of using casteism and hatred to divert people’s attention from his failures in the economic and political fields and asked him to apologise.

On Saturday, 25 February, hundreds of Tunisians took to the streets in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, condemning Saied’s racist remarks. The African Union (AU) also condemned his speech. statement Released on Friday.

Saied made controversial remarks during his speech at the Tunisian National Security Council on February 21. Said that “the unstated goal of the successive waves of illegal immigration is to consider Tunisia a purely African country that has no ties to Arab and Islamic nations.”

Saied also accused political parties in the country of being involved in a “criminal system” to change “the demographic structure of Tunisia” in exchange for large sums of money.

argued that such statements could lead to actual loss For the African population in the country, protesters on Saturday demanded that the president apologize for his comments.

Expressing solidarity with the migrants, some protesters also labeled Said’s statement as fascist and claimed that “Tunisia is an African country,” al Jazeera informed of,

statement The statement issued by the Workers’ Party said that Syed’s intention was to incite racist, primitive and hateful sentiments so that people forget the real reasons for their plight and the failures of his government.

Tunisia has been facing an economic crisis for a long time and is trying to get a loan from the IMF. The country has also been witnessing a political crisis since July 2021 when Saied dismissed the elected government and dissolved parliament, suspended the constitution and ruled the country by decree. Syed’s government has since drafted a new constitution and held a national election, both of which saw negligible popular participation.

His government has also been accused of following the policy of Harassment Of all political opponents, a large number of dissidents have been arrested in the last few weeks.

The Workers’ Party claimed that Sayed’s comments against Africans were similar to tactics used by anti-immigration right-wing groups in Europe and elsewhere. Tunisians and Muslims in Europe also face racist slurs and are blamed for problems in these countries. The party’s statement claimed that Said’s speech legitimizes such right-wing statements, and endangers thousands of Tunisian expatriates living and working in different parts of the world.

The statement also accused the Tunisian government of participating in the anti-migration policies of European countries, leading to persecution and harassment, and called for the immediate end of all such cooperation.