A new type of trafficking: they're illegally cutting down trees to fuel wood-fired pizzerias... 
By Souleymane Loum | April 11, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Den Den, a western suburb of Tunis, behind the local supermarket, March 8, 2025. Individuals showed up with the perfect paraphernalia of municipal agents: trucks, chainsaws, etc. Strange agents, in any case, they were unable to prove they were authorized to do what they were doing. They charged toward the trees, some of which were decades old, and began cutting them down, savagely...
The operation was so poorly planned and rushed—no doubt to avoid incurring the wrath of the authorities—that large branches fell on the premises of a hapless nearby shopkeeper, shattering his roof. Faced with outraged protests, one of the agents argued that they were sent by the town hall and a manager whose name he would not name. The shopkeeper offered no other explanation than that. A bit thin, no?
However, they saw disorder and improvisation in this beautiful, shaded spot, with parking lots for cars. Across the street, there's a small garden where children come to play while their parents chat on the benches. Most of the trees that provided shade were razed to the ground by these mysterious agents. All this was done while we were told April, May, and June would be even hotter than the last.
The least we can say is that the timing and modus operandi are questionable. Who are these people? Who instructed them to strip these trees of their branches? We'll find out later, perhaps... or not. Some local residents have confided in us about this scheme. They said the proceeds from these so-called maintenance operations went to restaurants and pizzerias that cook over wood fires...
The good weather is coming, with its share of outings and expenses. Imagine the fallout from this very dubious business. As dubious as the manhole covers that disappear into the surrounding neighborhoods without anyone being offended. Or the electricity poles and their contents that end up evaporating after being hit by vehicles.
Another anomaly is the red light in front of the Den Den police station, about a hundred meters from the supermarket. It too was hit by a car. It staggered for months, years, and eventually disappeared from the landscape. It hasn't been replaced. There's no longer a red light in front of the police station.
These are the dysfunctions and incivilities of everyday life that we accept, to which we end up getting used, telling ourselves that, after all, there are other emergencies, that there are more important and more serious things in this world. Except that by wallowing in this state of mind, we end up recording a collective decline, a generalized shipwreck, while we look at Western countries with the eyes of a Chimène...
Let's keep going like this if we want to be sure of hitting rock bottom; we're almost there.
Den Den, banlieue ouest de Tunis, derrière le supermarché du quartier, le 8 mars 2025. Des individus se sont présentés avec le parfait attirail des agents
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