Youcef | يوسف

Months ago, I stumbled upon old photographs of the "Algerian Man," an early 20th-century immigrant to the U.S. whose attire struck me as all too familiar. What ensued were hours of interviews and weeks of sifting through often indiscernible archives — and then this long story.

As a reminder, the flotilla came under two drone attacks last year while anchored near the port of Sidi Bou Said. That was just a few hundred metres away from the presidential palace.

GSF is demanding "immediate clarifications" after what it called "a troubling departure from Tunisia's long history of public solidarity with the Palestinian people".

In an unexpected twist of events, Tunisia has arrested five pro-Palestinian activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla while the group was set to sail from Tunis to Gaza anew this spring. arabnews.com/node/2635533/m…

"His novel was praised for giving a voice to the victims of Algeria’s brutal civil war. But one woman has accused Kamel Daoud of having stolen her story – and the ensuing legal battle has become about much more than literary ethics." theguardian.com/books/2026/feb…

I tell the AFP that the #bid round was “no great success.” The lackluster outcome likely reflects the fact that the real action is happening elsewhere: ExxonMobil and other major companies are already engaging with Libya through private, #bilateral talks that bypass any structured bidding process.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Libya grants first foreign oil licences since Gaddafi's fall newarab.com/news/libya-gra…

Older generations in Gabes recall being happy when the plant was inaugurated in the early 1970s by then president Habib Bourguiba. "We went out in the street singing and clapping," recalled an interviewee, now 76. "But we didn't know we were cheering our own demise."

Nearly everyone interviewed said they were supporters of President Kais Saied and had pinned their hopes on him to address the issue. But it is at Saied's behest that Tunisia is now banking on phosphates to boost its struggling economy.

I spoke with families in Gabes, a highly polluted city in southern Tunisia where the air smells like burned rubber and where the culprit — a large phosphate-processing plant — is ramping up production despite government promises to shut it down. al-monitor.com/originals/2025…

Andrew Cuomo is afraid he'll lose, so his donors want you to fear me. His SuperPAC just sent out a mailer that artificially lengthened and darkened my beard. This is blatant Islamophobia—the kind of racism that explains why MAGA billionaires support his campaign.

I interviewed protesters and relatives of one of the students who died in the collapse. yahoo.com/news/deadly-tu…

For years, locals in Mezzouna had warned that the wall at their town’s only high school was at risk of falling. And when it did, it laid bare their town’s long-standing underdevelopment and the neglect that plagues Tunisia’s interior regions.

After a crumbling school wall collapsed and killed three students in a small town near Tunisia’s central Sidi Bouzid — where the Arab Spring began 14 years ago — outraged residents launched days of protest over a tragedy they said had been long in the making. (@AFP)

@AlastairTibbs @newmarkjschool @africasacountry Hi, Alastair! I appreciate your reaching out, but given my current capacity as well as other factors, I'm not able to make a comment. Best of luck (and happy to connect otherwise :))

@YOBounab @newmarkjschool @africasacountry Hi Youcef, I'm the editor at North Africa news site Maghrebi.org and I'm looking to write an article on the race between Morocco and Algeria for a Nigerian gas pipeline. I wondered if you'd help with a few quotes? Please DM me if you're interested. Thanks

Some photos I took two years ago at a West African immigrant-run mosque in the Bronx as part of a ⁦⁦@newmarkjschool⁩ assignment — later incorporated into a photo essay for ⁦⁦@africasacountry⁩. Eid Mubarak to my community! africasacountry.com/2022/05/keepin…

#Tunisia The long-awaited trial for "conspiracy" began yesterday without the main defendants who refused to attend by video. By denying them the right to appear in person, the authorities have taken an add'l step to trample their right to a fair trial @hrw hrw.org/news/2025/03/0…

@AsadFromNYC @Chrysographer @takacs That would be wonderful, Asad! I'll be in New York in the summer!

@YOBounab @Chrysographer @takacs I realize that Louis's work has been shared with me before. Great to connect with the guy behind it. I will now include it as a reference along with your article on future tours. Hope to have you on one soon!

This is a really cool story by @YOBounab: Between 1905-1925, Augustus Sherman took hundreds of portraits of immigrants at Ellis Island. What do those images tell us now about the America of yesterday and the America of today? newlinesmag.com/essays/the-ame…

@AsadFromNYC @Chrysographer I appreciate it, Asad. Coming from you, this means a lot! All thanks go to Oussama and @takacs, who lent me hours of their time to chat!

@Chrysographer @YOBounab Wow, what a tremendous article and super-well researched. I just realized that 109 Washington Street, the location where Martin Labe worked and where the Algerian Man would've worked for him is the *last stop* on my Little Syria tour! It's the final tenement on Washington Street!

Between 1905 and 1925, a clerk at Ellis Island took photographs of immigrants to the U.S. Today, the images created by Augustus Sherman are providing a point of departure for research and an inspiration for artworks. By @yobounab for @newlinesmag. newlinesmag.com/essays/the-ame…