Guest column: UNF students offer ideas to help drive change in North Africa

UNF Political Science Class
·5 min read

Since the Arab Spring of 2011, hopes for democracy in North Africa remain frozen. Yet, while most Floridians do not realize it, the United States has vast interests in North Africa, ranging from keeping terrorists at bay, to increasing trade to stemming the tide of refugees overwhelming our allies in the region and Europe. In fact, tens of thousands of immigrants from the region now call Florida home. It’s time our government placed a higher priority on resolving the drivers of instability in this region.

The youth may have hoped for a thaw in authoritarian rule, yet the rulers are stealing their future. As members of Gen Z, we have a responsibility to help our fellow youth achieve peace and prosperity. It is now our generation’s responsibility to address these challenges. Economic stagnation, corruption, and chaos — especially in Libya — are driving our generation in this region to flee in search of a better life.

Our UNF Political Science class studied the crisis and in April visited the nation’s capital to offer policy recommendations through which the U.S. can drive change in the region, addressing economic drivers, investment, and targeting the youth.

First, the Biden administration must place a higher priority on the North Africa region, including hosting a summit to promote trade and investment to advance the development and counter Russia and Chinese influence. The U.S. and European Union must invest more heavily in the region to counter vast Chinese investment, as well as Russian influence. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Katherine Tai should lead a delegation to the region to develop both regional and continental in tandem with trade investment opportunities in the region.

The U.S. and EU should also work to reinvigorate these agreements, lower trade barriers, and increase trade with both the U.S. and EU, perhaps including a Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area as recommended by Carnegie. This could create a $360 billion market of nearly 200 million consumers, dramatically increasing the gross domestic product and purchasing power parity to attract foreign investment and drive reform.

Given the crisis in Ukraine, the West should pressure the region to join the global sanctions against Russia, including the purchase of its weapons, and counter its courtship of the region, such as Russia’s first African summit held in 2019 in Sochi, through enhanced diplomacy. Russia is the largest supplier of arms to Algeria, has a basing agreement with Egypt, and has its irregular forces operating in Libya. Both NATO and the U.S. Africa Command should offer to replace Russian military equipment and training, especially in Algeria and Libya.

Given the enormous amount of U.S. aid to Egypt, we should urge Egypt to end its basing agreement with Russia.

UNF Political Science students were joined by Martin Luther King III (second from left, back row), his wife, Arndrea and their daughter, Yolanda at the entrance to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. The group attended a ceremony to mark the 1968 assassination of the civil rights leader.
UNF Political Science students were joined by Martin Luther King III (second from left, back row), his wife, Arndrea and their daughter, Yolanda at the entrance to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. The group attended a ceremony to mark the 1968 assassination of the civil rights leader.

A key opportunity is for the U.S. and EU to shift their import of phosphate from Russia to Tunisia, complementing the 25 percent of its phosphate sources that come from Florida. Tunisia is currently looking to double its phosphate production and exports by 2024. The U.S. and EU should establish an agreement to import Tunisian phosphate, contingent upon marked progress towards democracy, including the elections that have been postponed since December 2021.

Next, the U.S. must address the root causes of the migration crisis. Millions are fleeing the chaos in North Africa, burdening the region while straining and destabilizing Europe. While the above efforts help address the “push” factors, we must do more to care for those displaced now. The U.S. should support a new UN appeal to garner sufficient resources to address the health, education, and employment deficits. The Department of Commerce and USTR delegation could also address how to help migrants work in new companies.

None of these challenges will be solved without addressing the needs of our fellow Gen Z youth. The U.S. must push for the expansion of youth education, including more educational and cultural exchanges in the U.S., such as internships and study abroad programs like the Youth Exchange and Study program, USAID’s YouthPower program, and the UN’s Decent Jobs for Youth Initiative.

Russia and China are well-known for weaponizing the popular new term “false news” to claim any sort of dissenting information as untrue and prosecutable. The U.S. and international community should promote a media literacy campaign beginning in first grade to equip youth to recognize disinformation and combat it. The Learn to Discern curriculum of the International Research & Exchanges Board, which has been successful in Ukraine, should be replicated throughout North Africa.

Lastly, the U.S. must promote gender equality to include combatting violence against women and abuse of girls. The U.S. should fund early childhood development programs to help address the lack of skills for employment, as well as help advance jobs for women. Programs like Teachers Without Borders should be expanded. Working at the local level is the first step to securing funding towards early childhood development programs.

To promote these efforts, especially those targeting the youth, the Biden Administration should launch a vibrant social media campaign to galvanize action, utilizing social media stars such as Algerian singer Soolking, as well as drawing on those popular among Arab youth, such as #she_is_strong and #jasmine_for_all.

These steps will help shine the Florida sun on the Arab Winter and help warm the future of our generation.

UNF students visited Washington, D.C., in April and presented their recommendations to officials at the Departments of Defense and State; the National Security Council; Rep. John Rutherford; the staff of Sen. Chris Coons; the UN High Commissioner for Refugees; Ambassador David Satterfield; U.S. Institute of Peace; the Council on Foreign Relations; the Middle East Institute; the American First Policy Institute; the World Food Program; and the Embassy of the Republic of Tunisia, as well as UNF alumni currently working in D.C. 

This guest column is the opinion of the author(s) and does not necessarily represent the views of the Times-Union. We welcome a diversity of opinions.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Guest column: UNF students offer ideas for change in North Africa