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'There Is No Future Here,' Worry Tunisians

Ali Hashem reports from Tunis that Tunisians are in despair about the future of their country.
A man reads a local newspaper, displaying a picture of assassinated prominent Tunisian opposition politician Chokri Belaid, at a kiosk in Tunis February 7, 2013. Tunisia's Islamists rejected on Thursday a plan by their party chief and prime minister to change the government after unrest erupted over the killing of an opposition leader, deepening the worst crisis since a 2011 revolution. Labour union leaders agreed to stage a general strike on Friday and the family of assassinated secular politician Chokri B

Tunis — Politics is probably the only subject debated 24/7 in Tunisia. Taxi drivers, journalists, people in cafés, even sports commentators have been linking football to what is happening in their country.

On my way from the Tunis airport to my hotel, I asked my taxi driver, Abdul Nasser, his views of the current situation. “What do you want me to say,” he answered with a gloomy face. “What about you? If this were your country, what would you say?” Although Abdul Nasser had turned the question on me, he didn’t waited for a response and continued, “We are not helping revive our country. We all want the chair. I'm afraid someone will gain it, but we will lose Tunisia.”

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