Whilst watching the news last night it came to my attention that a year had passed since Tunisian Fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in Tunis in protest of the corruption of the local authorities. Although he died 18 days later it is my firm belief that this single act will go down in history as the moment the world changed. In Tunisia people who were also fed up with the corruption of the Ben Ali regime took Bouazizi’s action and used it to rally opposition, eventually overthrowing the government. Similar protest then spread across the Middle East.
Although Tunisia and have held free parliamentary elections and Egypt overthrew Mubarak in other part of the Arab World revolutions have bogged down. In Syria and Bahrain for example the regimes seem to have learned the ‘lessons’ of Mubarak and Ben Ali and instead of offering concessions, which eventually lead to their downfall, they have opted to fight back. I firmly believe that the days of these regimes are, however, numbered. When a regime looses the support of it people it is only a matter of time.
This was clearly shown in Libya, the most spectacular victory for the ‘Arab Spring’ so far. Whilst you could claim (with some justification) that the only reason that the Qaddaffi’s were removed from power was because of NATO air power, the fact remains that it was Libyans that were on the ground having to fight for every inch of ground in order to liberate their country.
Some question where this will all lead. The biggest fear is that all of these countries which have overthrown dictatorships will form a new caliphate. I would have thought this unlikely as once people get a taste for freedom they tend not to give it up easily. Just so long as the radicals are not allowed to set the agenda that is…..
