Paper short abstract:

By focusing on the cross-border movements and political solidarities of Libyans and Tunisians ten years after the 2011 revolutions, this paper will explore how alternative, collective, more liveable presents and futures are being experimented with beyond national and judicial containers.

Paper long abstract:

Despite Libyans in Tunisia constituting one of the largest Libyan communities abroad, they are often not thought about in diplomatic circles and academic work as political actors contributing to Libya’s precarious limbo out of conflict and to bottom-up political initiatives in Tunisia. This is mostly because Libyans find themselves in this neighbouring country for a wide variety of reasons and timespans, and they have not for the most part established diaspora organisations while residing or in exile in Tunisia. Grassroots solidarities and alliances between Tunisians and Libyans who are moving in and out of these two countries due to different threats have however developed since the 2011 revolutions. These have been taking shape through the political convictions of different generations (like Arab nationalism), ethnic relations (such as Tamazight networks), through common political affinities or enmities (such as Islamist parties or militias in both countries gaining ground), as well as through friendships and shared professional goals. It is precisely by virtue of their displacement in neighbouring Tunisia and in their movements between Tunisia and Libya that ordinary Libyans from different backgrounds can keep engaged in perhaps more long-term, societal and political transformation in both countries. It is by focusing on their mobilities, on their comings and goings, and on the shared complicities and political solidarities of Libyans and Tunisians that this paper will strive to show how different, collective, more liveable presents and futures are being experimented with beyond national and judicial containers.