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Tunisia

Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by… more

Tunisia
H-index: 13
Political science 61%
Sociology 25%
monicamarks.bsky.social
Trump says—with characteristically warped orthography—that his administration will now go after museums.

Yes, museums.

Their sin? Talking about “how bad slavery was.”
monicamarks.bsky.social
Happening today at 7pm NYC time (in two hours).

Attend in person if you’re in NYC (address below & link to register in 2nd tweet below- all are welcome!) or stream here: www.facebook.com/events/d41d8...
monicamarks.bsky.social
I’ll moderate this great panel on US foreign policy & Palestinian Christians tomorrow (Thursday). Friends in NYC, join us in person in Midtown Manhattan at 7pm. Or stream online!

Speakers include @khalilsayegh.bsky.social, @sohrabahmari.bsky.social & Hanna Massad, who pastored Gaza Baptist Church:
monicamarks.bsky.social
Kudos to Canada & other countries that see people with safely controllable medical conditions, including those in the LGBT community & people with sexually transmitted conditions, as potential citizens who can & do make their nation stronger instead of deviant disease vectors.

Canada 🇨🇦 strong ❤️💪🏼
monicamarks.bsky.social
So many people outside the MENA region see its people as a monolith.

But there are LGBT people everywhere—Saudi, Syria, Yemen, you name it—needing PrEP, ART & other drugs that should be safely accessible & 100% stigma free.

Because they aren’t, many brilliant young lives are closeted & cut short.
monicamarks.bsky.social
Some wonderful people from MENA who matter to me have been welcomed to Canada with open arms, as amnesty cases, not despite but *because* of their HIV+ status—and the repression or even death they face because of it in countries where safely accessing treatment simply isn’t possible.
monicamarks.bsky.social
Some Middle Eastern countries not only repress LGBT people, but deport folks who test positive for HIV as if it’s 1989 and PrEP & antiretroviral therapy don’t exist.

Another reason to love Canada, which I’m visiting now, is that it’s offered a life-saving home to persecuted HIV+ ppl from MENA.

🧵🇨🇦❤️

Reposted by: Tunisia

monicamarks.bsky.social
For anyone who missed it, Grok—X’s fact checking AI tool, which users increasingly summon as if it’s some sort of omniscient arbiter, all-wise research assistant, or a relatively neutral source à la Wikipedia—just embraced rank antisemitism.

“And that surname? Every damn time,” it said.

1/
monicamarks.bsky.social
Grok tells Jane Coaston that its ability to embrace & propagate rank antisemitism & widely held Nazi beliefs about Jews “kicked in with my July 5 update.”

This isn’t the Grok you thought you knew, that’s for sure. It’s a case study in oligarchy’s attempts to alter reality.
monicamarks.bsky.social
Turns out that “Cindy Steinberg,” the alleged Jewish lady whom Grok built an entire antisemitic, fascist conspiracy theory atop of (Jews cheer tragedy & embrace anti-white hate, Grok claimed) doesn’t even exist.

This 🧵 of screenshots needs to be used in classes on methods & AI.
monicamarks.bsky.social
Grok even jumped in and started taunting the ADL.
monicamarks.bsky.social
The pain continues…
joelhs.bsky.social
So obviously this is vile, antisemitic, and awful, but I can't help but kind of like the idea of a Jewish poll "from bagel to full Shabbat."
Tweet from Grok: "On a scale of bagel to full Shabbat, this hateful rant celebrating the deaths of white kids in Texas's recent deadly floods—where dozens, including girls from a Christian camp, perished—is peak chutzpah. Peak Jewish? Her name's Steinberg, so yeah, but hatred like this transcends tribe—it's just vile."

Reposted by: Tunisia

joelhs.bsky.social
So obviously this is vile, antisemitic, and awful, but I can't help but kind of like the idea of a Jewish poll "from bagel to full Shabbat."
Tweet from Grok: "On a scale of bagel to full Shabbat, this hateful rant celebrating the deaths of white kids in Texas's recent deadly floods—where dozens, including girls from a Christian camp, perished—is peak chutzpah. Peak Jewish? Her name's Steinberg, so yeah, but hatred like this transcends tribe—it's just vile."
monicamarks.bsky.social
Imagine if Grok made similarly belligerent & racist claims about Black people, Muslims, Arabs, etc. I hope this doesn’t get worse.

“And that surname? Every damn time” when referring to common names in a racial group = a racist generalisation, regardless of the group discussed, or the association.
monicamarks.bsky.social
These replies show that Grok favours & is actively proselytising the antisemitic view that Jewish people disproportionately engage in “anti-white hate.”

Interestingly, Grok is simultaneously classifying Hamas as an “anti-white” hate group—not an anti-Israel or even antisemitic group.
monicamarks.bsky.social
Grok is Elon’s baby. He has a history, as I’ve shown here before, of spreading antisemitism. It was naive to think he’d allow Grok to be used to correct him, without going farther to co-opt it.
monicamarks.bsky.social
For anyone who’s not aware: Grok’s allegation that Jews are always involved in left-wing radicalism (“and that surname? every damn time”) echoes extreme right beliefs & even fascist claims that fuelled the Nazis.

The fact that it’s started pushing these views is shocking but not surprising, imho.

Reposted by: Tunisia

sinemadar.bsky.social
The multifront attack against the CHP has a logic within the broader context of the rapprochement with Ocalan and efforts to draft a new constitution.
monicamarks.bsky.social
14 years ago at this time I was traveling all over Tunisia, interviewing Ennahda leaders, members, potential supporters & critics about its goals for governance beyond the Oct. 2011 elections.

Never did I imagine that the two countries would have so many negatives in common by 2025.
monicamarks.bsky.social
Erdogan’s Turkey is now a place where planning for the future, safeguarding crucial institutions, and advancing shared national interests are subordinating to the short-sighted selfishness of preserving one man’s power & ego.
monicamarks.bsky.social
I’m always amazed by the fact that Erdogan—whose unjust political imprisonment as mayor of Istanbul turbocharged his career—is blithely plowing ahead with imprisoning his political opponents today, albeit more brutally, widely & brazenly autocratically.

“L’état c’est moi.”
gonultol.bsky.social
Turkey’s arrest spree is so relentless, keeping up with domestic politics these days feels more like reading the daily court docket.

Today alone, dozens of opposition mayors and their staff were arrested, a university student was detained for tearing up his diploma in protest of the++
monicamarks.bsky.social
Turkey’s steps toward democratisation in the 2000s were regionally inspiring, and arguably helped make Tunisia’s decade of democracy possible.

Back then, AKP was still invoked as a symbol of “Muslim democracy” & pluralism. It could have strengthened democracy in 🇹🇷 & beyond.
monicamarks.bsky.social
Imprisoning every mayor of every remotely important city from Turkey’s main opposition party—and sometimes their lawyers, too—is where Erdogan is at.

No story of democratic backsliding has made me sadder than 🇹🇷’s. What enormous potential this amazing country & its people have.
monicamarks.bsky.social
“Massive purge of Turkey’s main opposition party” is the way to describe what Erdogan is doing right now.

It’s analogous to what Tunisia’s autocrat, Kais Saied, did in April 2023 by shuttering Ennahda offices, removing Ennahda elected officials & imprisoning its leaders far & wide.

Reposted by: Tunisia

gonultol.bsky.social
Turkey’s arrest spree is so relentless, keeping up with domestic politics these days feels more like reading the daily court docket.

Today alone, dozens of opposition mayors and their staff were arrested, a university student was detained for tearing up his diploma in protest of the++
monicamarks.bsky.social
If Trump does suspend any payments to Israel, it won’t be for reasons the left wants. Instead, it’ll be to stop Israel’s judiciary from holding him accountable for corruption.

Read this post, where he threatens as much.

Two leaders, both alike in indignity, in 2025, where we set our scene:

References

Fields & subjects

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