When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Geopolitics

With Egypt On Edge, Tension Also Brews In Tunisia, Birthplace Of Arab Spring

ASSABAH (Tunisia), FRANCE 24-ARABE (France),

Worldcrunch

TUNIS – With protests mounting against the Islamist-led government, Tunisia's leading labor union called Friday for the first general strike since the fall of the Ben Ali regime nearly two years ago.

Slated for Dec. 13 in the capital of Tunis, Sfax and other major cities, the strike has been called by the General Union of Tunisian Workers as a response to the violence that was used against its members in front of the Union’s headquarters last Tuesday, France 24 Arabic reports.

As violence spreads in Egypt following President Mohammed Morsi's declaration of new powers, the tensions mounting in Tunisia, where the Arab Spring first ignited, show how fragile the pro-democracy revolution remains even after the downfall of the authoritarian leaders in early 2011.

Representatives of the Union blame these incidents on Islamist members of El Nahda ruling party. The Union also called for banning the “League for the protection of the revolution,” which it described as a militia that uses violence to serve the interest of the government.

As for the Nahda Party, it criticizes the interference of the General Union of Tunisian Workers in political affairs and compares it to a radical opposition party. The party characterized the call for strikes as a political and not a social act.

[rebelmouse-image 27086090 alt="""" original_size="320x192" expand=1]

Two years ago a popular revolt could not be held down (Habib M’henni)

In this context, Assabah newspaper wrote that these rising tensions could potentially plunge Tunisia into catastrophic upheaval. This strike is the first one the Union calls for after the downfall of the former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, and the third in the history of Tunisia. The second strike was two days before Ben Ali fled the country.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Dottoré!

If We Were All Conscientious Objectors

Our Naples-based psychiatrist imagines a world where all professionals could deny care on the basis of religious objection.

black and white photograph of a woman walking down a Neapolitan street, towards a large church.

A woman walks towards church in Naples

Ciro Pipoli/Instagram
Mariaterese Fichele

In Italy, sacred Catholic values are untouchable.

In fact, they are so untouchable that abortion clinics are falling like flies, forced to close because more and more gynecologists are so-called "conscientious objectors" — allowed to refuse to terminate pregnancies based on religious conviction.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest