Women’s posts glamorize risky migrant crossings
In a photo TUNIS, TUNISIA — posted in November, 18-yearold Sabee al Saidi wears bright-pink lipstick as she leans from the side of a wooden boat, a calm blue sea stretched out behind her. In a video, she smiles alongside a dozen other migrants, gesturing to a popular rap song.
A month later, Chaima Ben Mahmoude, 21, posted a similar video, waving as she made the crossing from Tunisia to Italy with her fiance in a boat crowded with migrants.
The two Tunisian women have sparked controversy with their posts — which show them on seemingly carefree trips across the Mediterranean, landing in Lampedusa, Italy, and then traveling around Europe taking selfies next to landmarks. Many criticized them for “normalizing” a journey that leaves thousands dead each year.
According to the Missing Migrants Project, 2,048 people went missing in the Mediterranean in 2021, with 23,000 missing since 2014. Experts warn al Saidi and Ben Mahmoude — social media influencers in Tunisia, with nearly 2 million followers on TikTok and Instagram between them — could inspire others to make the dangerous crossing.
“Social media is putting out a vision of Europe that is not accurate,” said Matt Herbert, research manager at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.
Tunisia is a main departure point for migrants setting off from North Africa to Europe. Once a popular tourist destination, as Tunisia’s economy deteriorated — with an 18% unemployment rate exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19 — migration attempts have soared.
In 2021, authorities intercepted over 23,000 migrants trying to leave Tunisian shores. This number is starkly higher than in 2019, when around 5,000 people were intercepted.
A report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime pins the surge on rising unemployment and pessimism about Tunisian leaders’ ability to improve the situation. Last July, President Kais Saied suspended parliament and took on sweeping powers, raising fears of democratic backsliding.
The journey across the Mediterranean is known locally as the “harka” — a reference to the figurative “burning” of borders and the destruction of personal documents before undertaking the perilous crossing.
While al Saidi’s and Ben Mahmoude’s posts sparked criticism, many also came to their defense, highlighting how some see the harka as the only way to escape the country amid growing frustration over European Union visa restrictions. France recently slashed visas given to Tunisians by 30% — and to Algerians and Moroccans by half — accusing the countries of failing to cooperate over the return of their nationals in France illegally.
“Shame on her? More like, it’s a shame for us!” posted one TikToker in response to criticism of al Saidi’s video. “She managed to make it to Italy, while we’re all stuck here in Tunisia.”
As she underwent two weeks’ COVID-19 quarantine at a detention center in Italy, Ben Mahmoude told The Associated Press she understood the risks of the journey. But financial difficulties and her inability to get a visa had “forced” her to do the harka.
“I didn’t find anything for myself in Tunisia,” she said in an interview conducted through Zoom. “I have a diploma in hairdressing and I couldn’t get any work in this field. … When I did, the monthly salary was really hopeless — around 350 dinar ($120). You cannot do anything with that. You can just use public transport and buy your lunch — that’s it.”
Ben Mahmoude, who like al Saidi grew up in the coastal Tunisian city of Sfax, said all it took was a call to a friend of a friend. She then paid 4,500 dinar ($1,560) for a place in the boat alongside 23 others.
Despite her smiles in the photos, Ben Mahmoude said the journey was terrifying.
“The fear was extraordinary, the sea was really agitated and there were lots of high waves,” she said.