“Right after the revolution I thought young people would not leave the country anymore because they did it, they made the revolution for dignity, for a right they did not have. unfortunately things did not go that way”. This is what the president of the corporation of Tunisians architects (Ordres des architectes tunisiens), Fertani Nabila, said to Africanews during the Med in Italy forum held last Wednesday 29 June in Reggio Calabria, southern Italy.
You spoke about the emigration. Why?
Right after the revolution I thought young people would not leave the country anymore because they did it, they made the revolution for dignity, for a right they did not have. One of the rights in the Universal declaration of human rights is about the right to work. Unfortunately things did not go that way and emigration began. Suddenly there was an important number of young tunisians, and later of other nationalities, who faced all dangers, risking suicide crossing the Mediterranean Sea to go search somewhere else although they could rebuild their country. If we should have a help from the state, this should concern an incentive to keep our young people home with work opportunities and, above all, with a better awareness because, think about countries like the United States, these are countries that were build by work and if the Usa were empty, today they would not be a powerful country. Luckily that Europe has not bled for a long time and that it found the tools, in the 20th century, to keep its own citizens. To be developed countries, I think that North Africa as well should find the tools to keep its own brains and its own young people.
Do you think that something did not work in the Tunisian revolution?
Today in Tunisia there is an economical problem, as this was said during the forum. It is true that it was a revolution about work, also to have access to work, but many businesses closed, both Tunisians and foreign. There is also a problem for tourism which registered very low people registering for holidays. Tunisian economy relies strongly on tourism. It is true that the next future does not seem very clear but I would interpret this situation as in a transitional period. It is a pause. Once we will have a legal government, a constitution voted by the population, then we will be able to see more clearly. I think that the revolution will not be successful if the basis for a solid economy will not be built, an economy open to the world which keeps jobs and its own population.
by Piervincenzo Canale
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