Stop Foreign Interference in Tunisia’s Internal, Domestic Affairs: Statement of Noureddine Taboubi, Secretary General of the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT), Tunisia’s National Trade Union Movement.

Emblem of the UGTT

Statement of the UGTT on foreign (US, EU) interference in Tunisia’s internal domestic affairs in Arabic July 30, 2022. Tunis.

(Below, an unofficial translation using “Google Translate.” I provide the original in Arabic above in case there are errors in translation)

Statements of the foreign ministers and ambassadors of America and some European countries about the situation in Tunisia have been repeated for some time with the intention to teach us lessons about democracy. These statements have reached the point where they are nothing less than threats and intimidation.

National Executive of the General Union of Tunisian Workers – UGTT strongly condemns the repeated statements of foreign officials on the situation in Tunisia and expresses its absolute rejection of interference in our internal affairs. We warn that the interference in internal affairs was not limited merely to statements, but went beyond them to the policies of ambassadors and embassies in all parts of the country. As a result Tunisians are increasingly subject to human rights violations regarding limiting travel visas or subjecting the forced deportation of Tunisian irregular migrants this with the complicity of the Tunisian authorities and also through international pressures to impose Tunisia’s normalization with the hateful Zionist entity.

We call on our Tunisian authorities to take a firm and strong position against such practices and, if necessary, suspend the accreditation of the new American ambassador. We call on the relevant foreign country to put an end to these violations a call which represents the embodiment of the true will of the people to reject any attack on our country.

The UGTT denounces the deliberate intention of some internal Tunisian political forces to seek help from foreign countries to restore rule and return to an era in which injustice prevailed, corruption and terrorism spread, economic and social crises deepened, and national sovereignty was lost through alignment with alliances and submission to the instructions of states.

The UGTT asserts that it was the policies pursued by successive authorities that gave external forces the opportunity to interfere in national affairs by following a unilateral, tortuous and hesitant reform path, through excessive debt policies, requesting humiliating aid, and disgraceful submission to the instructions of international donor funds and the blind application of their dictates, as happens these days with the International Monetary Fund.

The UGTT emphasizes the right of all citizens, male and female alike, to criticize, protest, express an opinion in national affairs and participate in it, away from bullying abroad, and stresses that there is no solution to the problems of our country and to the political, economic and social crisis in Tunisia outside Tunisian initiatives that would include an in-depth review of all deviations and errors that have so far led to wasted opportunity for our country to engage in a path of far reaching economic and democratic development. There is a historical obligation to reform the situation and to address the effects of successive periods of monopoly, confusion, discrimination and social injustice in order to transform the lives of Tunisian women and men towards the better and fairer, and to ensure real sovereignty that is not subject to pressure and blackmail.

Noureddine Taboubi, Secretary General of the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT). July 30, 3033. Tunis, Tunisia