Tunisian Journalists Set Strike to Protest Free Speech Curbs

Tunisian journalists have set April 2 for a general strike in public media in protest over curbs on free speech and the right of journalists to report the news. The protest set by the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists, Tunisia’s main journalists union, expressed concern about President Kais Saied’s “attempts to control public media.” Among its concerns are moves by Saied to bring state television under his direct control, a ban on state television hosting opposition figures in political debates, and the arrest last week of a journalist who would not reveal his sources for a story about Islamist militants. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press came to Tunisia after the Arab Spring and the birth of democracy in 2011. Saied has been unpopular for some time and in July 2020, he fired the government and suspended parliament, and assumed executive authority. In September 2021, he announced that he would rule by decree. A month later, he appointed a new prime minister, and then approved a new cabinet of political neophytes, coming from academia or who were civil servants. Saied wants to amend the 2014 constitution, which he says he will submit to a popular referendum.