Thread by @AhlemHC

A group of #Tunisian's is tweeting about the situation in the country, tweeting in English to target foreign media and decision-makers. They're doing this to counter the narrative spread by Ennahdha, Islamist party, and their operatives abroad that the President is doing a coup.

They consider that the President is acting upon the wishes of the general public, that he is supported by most Tunisians. They believe he'll fight corruption, end the reign of Islamists and restore order. His relying on the military so much is a good sign to them

The military are highly respect as they never openly interfered in politics. And today they are respected because they interfere in politics. How long will that last? Go figure.

In response to concerns about democracy, this counter-narrative has 2 answers depending on the supporters
1. The President's actions are not against democracy
2. Democracy is relative and we'll go back to it after we clean up the country

This campaign comes after outrage over some calls to withhold aid to Tunisia, including vaccines, to pressure Saied to go back to the constitutional path, as has been requested by many foreign governments and institutions.

Tunisians are mainly active on Facebook and that's where the mobilization for the demonstrations held on 25th July occurred. And that's where many groups are targetting support for Saied. Facebook mobilization is said to have played a big role in the 2019 elections.

Actually, Facebook seems to be looking at some of these groups and probably shutting some down for CIB, Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior. Reports that CIB and other AI tools have been used in the 2019 elections had circulated at the time, from different sources and experts.

But there have been calls to create content on Twitter to support Saied as that's where most foreign media outlets are active, in hope of reaching international public opinion and stakeholders.

This campaign is also supported by some influencers, many of the same influencers that were active before and during the 2011 revolution. They are tweeting in English which is unusual for most of them. Some have actually been away from Twitter for a long time.

But this isn't really just about the vaccines. Who in their right mind would hold vaccines from Tunisia?
This is about gaining support for Saied. Ennahdha has a strong network of operatives and lobbyists abroad, in the US particularly.

Saied is weak on this front. Most countries and organizations have expressed concern about the situation in Tunisia, or at least called for a swift return to "normal". Except for Libya and Turkey who clearly spoke against his course of action.

Saied, unknown as a politician before the elections, has not been much active on the diplomacy front in 2 years. The only strong ties he seems to have built are with Sissi.
Even his brother has started writing in English on Facebook

From Day One, Ennahdha, as Saied seemed adamant not to open talks, has launched an offensive on the international front, feeding content, establishing a narrative, staging scenes for the media, activating all their people on the internet and power centers.

Part of the pro-Saied campaign is promoting that if you're against him you're favoring the Islamists, whether you're with them or not, that he must be supported to "rid" the country of them, and that this was the only possible course of action because of the political deadlock

So is it only Islamists who are against Saied's actions, are concerned with the near future? No. Many intellectuals, civil society activists, journalists, constitutional law experts, some politicians have voiced concerns and do consider this to be a coup.

Actually, part of Ennahdha leadership is aligning with Saied, openly or not. Why? Probably because he's a way for them to get rid of Ghannouchi and take control of the party. Probably because he's very conservative. Probably because some of them like power more than anything else

But not most of them. Ennahdha social media units are still actively and aggressively working against him, targeting supporting groups and leaders. Tunisians call them "Blue Flies", the color of the party.

And so are the social media units of Saied. Any post on Facebook expressing rejection or even criticism about him and what he is doing is subject to several negative/aggressive comments.

I have personally been insulted, called a ikwanji (a pejorative term for Islamist) and a tool for Ennahdha. Which is quite laughable.