Briefing | Looters with flags

How cynical leaders are whipping up nationalism to win and abuse power

Hatemongers often erode checks on misrule and corruption

A politician sweeps cash behind a draped flag
Image: Ellie Foreman-Peck
|SFAX

EARLIER THIS year Tunisia’s president, Kais Saied, warned that “hordes of irregular immigrants” from sub-Saharan Africa were plotting to change Tunisia’s demography, replacing the Arab majority. Black Africans, he added, brought “violence, crimes and unacceptable practices”.

This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Looters with flags”

From the September 2nd 2023 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Briefing

A photo collage about plastic surgery boon, featuring public figures like Joe Jonas and Kim Kardashian

Young customers in developing countries propel a boom in plastic surgery

Falling costs and converging beauty standards spur new habits

The torn down statue of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad.

The Assad regime’s fall voids many of the Middle East’s old certainties

What if Syria abandoned its hostility to the West and stopped menacing Israel?


Top rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani speaks to a crowd at Ummayad Mosque in Damascus

Syria has exchanged a vile dictator for an uncertain future

It is not clear how stable or how benign the new regime will be


Gambling is growing like gangbusters in America

Technology and legal changes are spurring a betting bonanza

The Adani bribery case could upend Indian business and politics

The allegations against the corporate champion may end up being resolved diplomatically rather than in court

The war in Ukraine is straining Russia’s economy and society

Despite advances on the battlefield, pressure is growing