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Tunisian immigrants demand MP's ouster for calling dual nationals 'scum'

Safi Said's offensive remarks about Tunisian dual nationals have been censured on social media as 'insulting' and 'racist.' (Photo by AFP)

A Tunisian MP and former presidential candidate has been urged to resign after referring to Tunisians with dual citizenship as "bastards" and "scum," and for advocating that dual nationals be ejected from parliament.

Safi Said, an independent MP, made the remarks during a vote of confidence in the government of Prime Minister Habib Jemli on 10 January.

While they failed to register in the busy chamber, his comments quickly drew scorn on social media, with the veteran MP coming under fire from both his parliamentary peers and notable academics.

Former MP Karima Souid, who holds both French and Tunisian nationality, accused Said of "promoting divide and estrangement".

Sociologist Vincent Geisser, described Safi Said's comments as "gross" and said that dual nationals had played a "key role" in upholding Tunisia's image abroad.

With remittances from abroad accounting for almost 5 percent of Tunisia's GDP in 2018, some stressed the economic contribution of dual nationals to their country.

For his part, Said, a leading intellectual who is credited with coining the term "Arab Spring" to describe the 2011 uprisings that began in Tunisia and spread through the region, apologized in a lengthy Facebook post.

Still, the controversy has continued to grow, with several NGOS and civil society groups condemning his remarks in recent days.  A collective of Tunisians living abroad, meanwhile, has decided to sue him. 

Many critics have also been tweeting under #TwensaWnoss, which means half Tunisian in the local dialect. In a statement, the TwensaWnoss movement decried Said's comments as "insulting" and "racist," and also called for his parliamentary immunity to be waved.

The hashtag has become the symbol of a campaign to affirm the identity of dual nationals, political activist Ahlem Hachicha Chaker told Middle East Eye.

"So basically he said dual nationals are not Tunisians, and we're telling them that they are Tunisians and a half," she said.

In a country where polemics about dual nationality often bubble to the surface, Chaker added: "We're keeping up the pressure. We're aware the assembly won't do much about it but it's a name and shame campaign. We want to make sure nobody else dares say the same thing again."

Source: Middle East Eye


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