Houda Mazioudet

When populist Tunisian President Kais Saied made an inflammatory speech on February 21, 2023, about the danger posed by irregular black African migrants in its evil design to replace indigenous Tunisians and strip them of their Arabic-Islamic identity, few doubted at that time this discourse with xenophobic and racist undertone could have an impact on large sections of a disenchanted population, that now considers any person of African descent as a national peril.

Emboldened by a relatively unknown political party established in 2018, the Tunisian Nationalist Party (TNP) built a digital populist platform that appealed to the popular masses.

Just as Saied’s popularity was built since 2012 when he shot to fame around social media pages mainly Facebook- ironically for someone who is has almost no knowledge of social media technology - so has grown his digital authoritarianism by proxy as it were. His populist mantra of “the People Wants” reverberated on social media with the mushrooming of several Facebook, Twitter and TikTok accounts that played on the “fear of a black peril” threatening the Tunisian nation.

This racial backlash ironically grew after a decade of a tumultuous democratic transition, in which black racial politics developed amidst a climate of denial of racism and resistance to a supposed, imaginary Afrocentric ideology hellbent upon turning Tunisia into a black colony. This paper attempts at analyzing digital racist rhetoric of TNP and several social media pages that take cue of European far rights groups, with which they share the Great Replacement Theory of black African wanting to colonize Tunisia (and by extension North Africa).

Additionally, such hate speech social media pages resorted to disinformation and misinformation campaigns aimed at inciting cultural wars between Tunisians and black African migrants as new invaders, by manipulating the ideology of Afrocentrism, equating it with Zionist ideology that colonized Palestine. How and when did this form of hate speech develop in Tunisian social media? What type of relationship do these groups entertain with Saied? What impact do they have on the rising anti-black African migrants in Tunisia since 2018 and the exacerbating xenophobic atmosphere since late 2022?

Background to the emergence of social media groups targeting black African migrants with hate speech and misinformation:

 This article focuses on the impact of hate speech, misinformation and disinformation of some Tunisian Facebook pages and YouTube channels. Given the growing number of such groups since 2018 when law 50-2018 criminalizing racial discrimination was passed, some are ad-hoc groups, others are official social media outlets and one is an official political party, the Tunisian nationalist party have been mushrooming and gems even more popular since Tunisian president inflammatory racism speech in February 2023. The case of the TNP is particular as its presence in different social media outlets (Facebook, X, YouTube, TikTok, Telegram, etc), endowing with a popularity among some sections of the Tunisian population, which has become very sensitive to the conspiracy theory about the plan of sub-Saharan Africans to displace Tunisians through the Great Replacement theory. 

Case of TNP and the political normalization of anti-immigrant and anti-black racism

Relying on misinformation, hate speech and disinformation about alleged criminal activities (which some occurred by most have been blown out of proportion), the TNP has spanned a narrative about an Afro-Zionist conspiracy that will turn Tunisian into another Palestine with a Western European-supported campaign of making Tunisia the new homeland of black Africans using Afrocentric ideology (which the TNP likens to the Zionist ideology that was behind the occupation and the settling of Palestine by world Jewry) as their Trojan Horse to destroy Tunisian Arabic-Islamic identity. Throughout 2023, TNP has been waging a vicious campaign targeting civil society organizations which it accused of being complicit in facilitating the colonization of Tunisia by black African migrants. These organizations include black Tunisian organization Mnemty. 

Moreover, is its Tik-Tok channel, TNP made a video based on historical revisionism about the inferiority of Black Africans, who were brought as slaves from West Africa during the era of Hammouda Pasha, this latter the head of the party, Sofiane Ben Sghaier recently hailed him a national hero of Tunisian independence from foreign interference and kicked West African ex-slaves for their alleged corruption in 1800. Their settlement in Tunisia goes back to Ali Bey 1st (1735-56) who brought them from the country of Sudan (kingdoms of Bornou-Khanem, Mali in particular) to work as his special guard and gave them permission to set up their own clubs and associations. But with time they began plotting to pervert the Tunisian state through social clubs with administration and special courts. They later proved to be corrupt and fallen spreading vice and lewdness in Muslim Tunisian society. 

Targeting black Tunisian activists with racist attacks 

TNP’s supporters on Facebook had attacked Mnemty’s president Saadia Mosbah as well as Tunisia’s first black MP, late Jamila Ksiksi as traitors to the nation due to their support of the right of black African migrants in economic and social protection from the Tunisian state against race-related violence. Additionally, a black Tunisian host to the private radio station IFM, Ghofrane Binous has received violent backlash from many supporters of TNP and other “white” Tunisians opposing black African migrants' presence in Tunisia due to her actuation of direct anti-black racism emanating from fellow radio host, who espoused the great replacement theory of black African migrants' plan to colonize Tunisia. In one heated debate she blasted Nejib Dziri about his unhinged racism in embracing the theory about black African migrants’ plan of colonizing Tunisia and their being behind criminal activities in the country.

The rise in hate speech against black Africans included former government officials, including Tunisian ministry of interior the open racism of another radio host and former security official, Khalifa Chibani about black African migrants and his espousal conspiracy theory about their representing a security threat to Tunisian sovereignty. She faced a vicious online attacks including threats to deport her to sub-Saharan Africa and racist slurs. Ksiksi and Mosbah also suffered such racist attacks too. 

Rise in xenophobia of Tunisian Facebook and YouTube in connection to black African migrants:

Several Facebook pages dedicated their work on warning about the danger of “colonization of Tunisia by black African migrants”. They have become active in inciting anti-black campaigns against both regular and irregular black African migrants, with a strategy revolving around collaborating with Tunisian police to report black African migrants living and working illegally in Tunisia and denouncing those helping them. This is a sad reminiscent of “long history of collusion between law enforcement and white supremacists in the West”, argued Yasmine Akrimi in an article for Nawaat online newspaper, while highlighting some Facebook pages that were formerly affiliated with police unions waging uncirculated campaigns accusing black African migrants of running prostitution networks, with ringleaders of illicit and fraud activities. 

The rise in hate speech against black Africans included former government officials, including Brigadier-General Khalifa Chibani, former spokesman of the General Administration of National Guard, who during a heated debate with a Tunisian civil society activist who worked on Tunisian radical militants with jihadist groups in the Levant, about black African migrants and his espousal conspiracy theory about their representing a security threat to Tunisian sovereignty. 

 Rise in xenophobia of Facebook and YouTube channels related to black African migrants:

Several Facebook pages dedicated their work to warning about the danger of “colonization of Tunisia by black African migrants”. They have become active in inciting anti-black campaigns against both regular and irregular black African migrants, with a strategy revolving around collaborating with Tunisian police to report black African migrants living and working illegally in Tunisia and denouncing those helping them (Akrimi. 2023). This is sad reminiscent of “long history of collusion between law enforcement and white supremacists in the West”, argued Akrimi while highlighting some Facebook pages’ formerly affiliated with police unions campaigns of accusation of black African migrants of running prostitution networks and ringleaders of illicit activities including fraud (Akrimi, 2023). 

Turning black migrant dehumanization into anti-black racism and role of politicians in enabling it

Most of the Facebook posts from Tunisian members use dehumanizing language about black Africans, depicting them as invaders, but who also engage in killing cats to eat them, as rapists, frauds and terrorists linked to Boko Haram jihadist group. A Tunisian MP from Sfax, Tunisia’s second city, Fatma Mseddi even posted on the same day Saied made his racist speech, a photo on her Facebook profile of a West African tribal chief purporting to be Sfax next mayor. This action was decried by internet users that a representative of the people in the Tunisian parliament is inciting racial hatred by ridiculing black Africans as inherently savage. Tunisian weatherman re-shared the photo. 

One YouTube channel that attracts racist vitriol against black African from many Tunisians, called Bila  Kinaa (Arabic for without mask) has been making controversial videos about black African migrants, showing their violence towards security forces and engaging in illicit activities, including a weird video about their building a mosque where they would pray that God does not make rain. Alternatively, it interviewed a Tunisian who was hosting black Africans who lost their homes after the speech in his restaurant to have free meals. The video received some insults from Tunisians, with people posting racist comments about black Africans using the Tunisian N-word. 

 This channel is notorious for doing street vox pop interviewing ordinary Tunisians and often giving voice to those whose open racism raises no eyebrows adding to the normalization of anti-black racism. 

Another YouTube channel, New Media TV interviewed a “white” Tunisian lawyer who bragged about his slave holding grandfather with many Tunisians condoning his rhetoric. The video made turns on social media and CNN even shared it in the aftermath of black witch-hunt due to President Saied’s racist speech. 

Ironically, TNP doubled down on its rhetoric using these openly racist Tunisians to support its position that Tunisians are not racist just scared for their country's safety and sovereignty against the invasion of black Africans. Its president, Sofiane Ben Sghaier was invited on some Tunisian TV channels (such as Carthage Plus and public national TV, Watania TV) where he warned about the danger of the settlement of black Africans in Tunisia. 

Its YouTube channel has been active making videos spreading fake news and disinformation about Afrocentric groups from west Africa and the Caribbean making plans to make Tunisia a settlement for   blacks from sub-Saharan Africa.

On misinformation, Chibani and Mseddi went as far to declare on private radio stations such as Diwan FM and Shems FM that they had proofs that many black African migrants who infiltrated Tunisia coming from Algeria included Boko Haram fighters. On November 27 2023, MP Mseddi went on to accuse black African African migrants -who clashed with security forces over the later preventing them from leaving Tunisia from a small town in Sfax on rickety boats, leading to the serious wounding of one police official- of having shouted Allah Akbar during the clashes, hinting at their belonging to a terrorist organization of Boko Haram.

Some Amazigh activists have been engaging in the last few years in misinformation cloaked in an anti-black African and immigrant rhetoric targeting black Tunisian activists and conspiracy theory about their intent to colonize North Africa (Tunisia) as Amazigh nation by black Africans and the renewed pride in the Amazigh character of Tunisia by some of these activists.  A Facebook page called “Fighting African Colonization of Tunisia: la Résistance des Nationalistes”, (in Arabic مقاومة الاستعمار الأفريقي في تونس)). 

as its name suggests has a nationalist message that purports “to prevent Tunisia from facing the same scenario as Palestine”, adopting an alarmist and messianic message mixed with conspiracy theory about the threat of black African migrants to Tunisia’s demographics. One of its administrators often makes Facebook live sessions with the Tunisian flag alongside the Amazigh flag.

In June 2023, it made an electronic petition to sign and disseminate to deport illegal immigrants (black Africans) “to confront settlement and demographic change in order to protect national, health and territorial security and sovereignty and to support Tunisian president’s stance in applying the law….in order to reject racism and take into account the humanitarian side and defend the homeland”.

The group which garnered support from some Tunisian Amazigh activists, adopts the same rhetoric of TNP, whose message about sovereignty and unconditional support of Saied since his February 2023 racist speech resonates with the populist president’s nativist and conspiratorial rhetoric about the danger of black Africans to Tunisia’s Arabic-Islamic identity.

The irony is that both TNP’s rhetoric about the Tunisian umma (nation in Arabic) and la Résistance Tunisienne Facebook group’s Amazigh identity as the core of Tunisian identity intersects, despite the enmity between Tunisian Arab nationalists and Amazigh activists over the former’s racism. But in the face of the imminent threat from an outside enemy, black Africans, their past enmity is put aside and their forging of a new alliance to fight black African threat.

Their opportunistic alliance includes their publication of several videos about the violence of black African migrants in some Tunisian cities especially Sfax, Tunis and Kasserine with a lot of disinformation, inciting average Tunisians against regular black African migrants who have never engaged in any criminal activity.