Thread by @MonicaLMarks

I want to introduce you to some of the kind, dignified ppl—most of them card-carrying UNHCR-certified refugees—surviving in utterly inhumane conditions in one of #Tunisia’s 🇹🇳 very poshest neighbourhoods.

This is what President Saied’s “Great Replacement” speech has wrought:🧵⬇️

In the Lac neighbourhood of Tunis, amidst UN offices, foreign embassies & some of 🇹🇳’s fanciest cafés, a large group of refugees—the majority of whom I met were card-carrying UNHCR (@Refugees) certified—have been camping in very cold, rainy weather.

They are hungry & unsafe.

I spoke to 33 (group is much larger) over a few hours this afternoon.

Most were evicted overnight, often w/ violence, by landlords who either enthusiastically supported Kais Saied’s Feb 21 Great Replacement tirade, or feared they’d be criminalised for renting to Black migrants.

Josephus, 30, his wife Latisha, 27, & their son Manuel, 8, are political refugees from Sierra Leone.

Latisha worked on a farm about 4-5 hours outside Tunis & was there w/ their son when KS gave his speech. Her husband Josephus was back in Tunis, at their rented flat in Ariana.

Both separately fled pogroming mobs consisting of, they said, 20+ Tunisian young men. “We were absolutely running for our lives,” said Latisha, who screamed at their son to run faster.

Her phone was stolen by the mob as she fled, & Josephus had no idea where she was for 5 days.

This is Immanuel, 25, from Biafra in Nigeria. His landlord in Hayy Ettadhamen locked him out on Feb 25 & stole not just his rent but all his belongings, inc his shoes. “I’m only wearing these now,” he said.

“I don’t want ppl to see my face here. The conditions are too shameful.”

Pausing to make it to next meeting. Will finish this 🧵 later tonight. Thanks to all reading & caring. These ppl say they have no help—no food, no medical care—besides what individual foreigners & Tunisians are donating. If you’re in Tunis pls help. They are hungry & freezing.

“When my landlord came to evict me,” said Immanuel, “he shouted at me that Kais Saied said this country [#Tunisia] doesn’t need Black ppl anymore.

I couldn’t believe it. I left to have a walk & think. Then I went online & saw it was true.

When I got home, he’d sealed the door.”

“I’m asking why isn’t the international community doing anything? We’re in the year 2023. How can racial discrimination like this be happening?”

—Immanuel, 30, from Nigeria.

He is a videographer w/ BA in mass communication & “loves to write.” He fled killing in Biafra in 2021.

This is Mohamed, 16, from Sierra Leone. “Last Saturday a mob of Tunisians came to our home in Raoued,” he said. “Armed mobs were attacking homes w Black ppl after Saied’s speech.

I broke the window to escape. Then I came here. We ran so fast to escape. We’re hungry. I’m scared.”

Mohamed’s friend Ali, 30, also from Sierra Leone, was stabbed in #Tunisia last year. “Racism was bad & was getting worse,” for Black migrants here, he said.

“Many of us worked & were underpaid, but we survived. But after Saied’s speech we have no choice but to leave in boats.”

This is Saddam, 27, from Darfur, Sudan. Like most of those I spoke w/ today, Saddam had serious medical issues. He broke his back whilst fleeing Sierra Leone & showed me his X-Rays.

No org, he & others said--not UNHCR, IOM, Red Crescent, ICRC, etc.--was providing medical care.

Almost everyone I spoke w/ showed me their UNHCR cards confirming their refugee status. Those without cards said they tried to contact UNCHR, IOM, etc but had not received the necessary calls back from these orgs, required to make appointments to process formal refugee status.

Many ppl were physically assaulted by landlords and/or pogroming mobs who parroted Saied's speech. Some were likely raped.

"When Tunisians attack you," said Josephus, "they'll take your money & phone. If you resist they'll enjoy you or stab you."

I asked what "enjoy you" meant.

He said it meant rape. I asked the other men & women gathered around me if they knew any ppl who'd been raped by these mobs since Saied's speech.

All in that semicircle (abt 12 ppl) nodded vigorously & said yes, we definitely know Black ppl who've been raped by these mobs.

Many of the Tunisian mobs were comprised of armed young men, they said, roaming in packs of 20+ ppl. Many mobs stole their phones & their savings.

I delivered replacement phone to one person today, only to learn that multiple other ppl also had their phones stolen by the mobs 😔

"They used a knife to take my phone," said Ella, 27, from Nigeria. "That phone meant everything to me bc I could talk to my family.

But I survived to be here. After the speech they [racist Tunisian mobs] would not even let you [Black ppl] walk on the street."

Alpha, 23, from Sierra Leone told me "I always paid rent faithfully. Always. But my landlord came at 10pm on Feb 25 & told me to leave immediately. I was outside on street w/ only my clothes & money & phone. Then boys attacked me & took my savings. 1500 DT. It was my boat money."

Some men cried as they spoke.

Saddam, 27, w/ the broken back, hugged me for a long moment & cried. "Why don't Black ppl's lives matter? I am human. Skin is just an accident."

"Even though we're all African," said Mohamed, 18, from Guinea, "Tunisians treat us like garbage."

Most ppl I met in front of IOM Tunis today were Sierra Leonian, Sudanese & Nigerian. They said their govs weren't air lifting Black ppl from #Tunisia like Guinea & Ivory Coast have been doing.

"We are very vulnerable," said one Sierra Leonian, "bc we have no embassy here."

All are freezing cold. I was shivering in my coat as I spoke to them. They are in thinc, flimsy tents & under raggedy tarps given by private individuals.

"Almost whatever we eat or have here comes from donations that normal German, French & sometimes Tunisian ppl are making."

Most worked before Saied's speech & desperately want to work. But employers garnished remaining wages & fired them after Saied's speech. Latisha's employer took 600 DT she was owed.

"Now they tell us this economy doesn't need Black ppl. After yrs of our hard work for less pay."

UNCHR, Red Crescent, IOM & ICRC--the international orgs we'd expect to see arranging shelter, providing medical care & giving food--seem asleep at wheel in the refugees' telling.

"UNHCR asks us to make appointments. But they never do anything," said Saddam, echoing all others.

Shelter has been offered (I'm not sure what kind or by whom) for women w/ children & for pregnant women. But their husbands & fathers can't come, which is a big problem.

"I don't trust this racist Tunisian gov for 1 minute to let Latisha & Manuel out of my sight," said Josephus.

Police haven't rounded them up bc they're near the UN facilities, they told me. But every one of them had multiple friends who'd been plucked off the street or off the job & thrown into prison.

All were extremely afraid to live the makeshift homeless camp's small perimeter.

The conditions here--not to mention this entire, racist situation--constitute a massive embarrassment & shame on #Tunisia.

This ⬇️ is their "toilet." Zero dignity. Unhygienic. 1 meter across from flimsy tents.

"We're in disgracing conditions," said Immanuel. "We are ppl too."

The men take turns tending a fire here at night "just to let them [the racist mobs] know we're alive." It's some small protection, they hope.

For past 2 nights, mobs came around midnight, they say.

"We're scared but can't defend ourselves since we'd be imprisoned," they said.

Later tonight I had dinner w/ a Tunisian scholar & old friend who's chilled to the bone by political witch hunts & racist manhunts sweeping #Tunisia.

"Kais Saied rules by fear & distortion (الخوف والتشويه)" she said.

"Building coalitions against the vulnerable is very easy."

Was struggling to stay awake when I wrote this 🧵 last night. A few more details:

This is Osman, 20, from Sierra Leone. He says a racist mob of young Tunisian men broke his leg.

He’s been too terrified to of mobs & police to get medical care, which he says is unaffordable too.

His entire leg is swollen up until the hip, and he thinks his knee is broken.

“The pain is so much I can’t sleep at night,” he said. “This place is a nightmare.”

Some ppl I spoke w/ suggested police instructed their landlords to evict them—at least acc to what their landlords had said whilst kicking them out.

Feb 25 seemed to be a particularly awful night. Many said they were evicted, chased & assaulted by racist mobs that night.