Border Resistance
January 2025
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In the outskirts of Sfax, Tunisia’s economic capital, hidden among olive trees, thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa live in informal camps, fleeing repression by the authorities and widespread violence in Tunisian cities. Out of sight from the world, these olive groves have become both a refuge and a trap: spaces of forced survival marked by extreme precariousness and a constant threat of expulsion, but also places of resistance and daily struggle
This humanitarian crisis, which has worsened over the past two years, is rooted in a system of exclusion that, following the Tunisian president’s xenophobic speech in February 2023, has translated into repressive policies, racially motivated dismissals, evictions, and attacks against Black communities. Forced to flee the cities, many have sought refuge in rural areas, where the indifference of institutions and international organizations has given way to a form of grassroots resistance, built by those who fight every day simply to exist.
In this second edition of Border Resistance, we tell the stories of those who refuse to give up. Through the voices of Joy, Josephus, David Yambio, and Dr. Ibrahim, we will explore the practices of self-management and solidarity that have emerged within these spaces of exclusion.
Joy, a young Nigerian asylum seeker in Tunisia, embodies the daily struggle of women who, despite the hardships, continue to care for others through her work in childcare within migrant communities.
Josephus, an activist from Refugees in Tunisia, will take us through the protests organized in front of UNHCR and IOM offices, in an effort to demand protection and rights for those who have been abandoned.
David Yambio, founder of Refugees in Libya, will offer a transnational perspective on migrant resistance, recounting how the movement born from the Tripoli protests between 2021 and 2022 has inspired other mobilizations across North Africa.
Finally, Dr. Ibrahim, a member of the Black Medical Team, will share his experience as a doctor working in informal encampments, demonstrating how, even in the most extreme conditions, it is possible to build networks of care and save lives.
These testimonies paint a complex picture, where systemic violence intertwines with forms of collective organization that challenge the exclusionary system imposed at Europe’s borders. In this context, resistance means not only survival but also building alternative communities, caring for others, denouncing injustice, and imagining different futures.
Through this publication, we aim to provide a critical perspective on what is happening in the olive groves of Sfax while also amplifying the voices of those who continue to fight for a more just world. Because remembering these acts of resistance is itself a political act: telling their stories means refusing to let them disappear.
We therefore join the efforts of those living and resisting institutional violence in Tunisia by launching a fundraising campaign to support their daily struggles. You can contribute by making a donation to the following IBAN: IT74G0501804600000011411485, with the payment reference "Sfax Medical Team", account holder: MEM.MED MEMORIA MEDITERRANEA ETS.
Every contribution is a concrete act of solidarity and resistance.
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