A Fruit Seller Changed the Nations’ Future
The poor young man was pulling a fruit trolley in order to sell fruits and fend for his family when police surprised him and prevented him from selling fruit. When he tried to resist, one of the policewomen slapped him on his face in front of about fifty pedestrians. The poor man felt very embarrassed and burst into tears. Later, Mohammad Bouazizi, the fruit seller, decided to set himself on fire out of desperation. Bouazizi put an end to his life, and a beginning to many other people’s lives. The Tunisian fruit seller died eighteen days after this accident without knowing that his action had ignited revolutions in his country and many other Arabic countries. After what happened in Tunisia and many other countries, a new term has been used to refer to the revolutionary wave and civil wars that took place in the Arabic area (The Arab Spring) began in December 18, 2010. A major slogan of the demonstrators in the Arab world has been Ash-sha’b yurid isqat an-nizam “ the people want to bring down the regime”.Although the revolution came to fruition in Tunisia, Libya and some other countries, the conflict still exists in Egypt, Syria and Iraq. This leads to an important question about when it becomes necessary to stage a revolution, and who determines how important it is, and who should be responsible for the decision in case things got out of control. Being a conflict between different opposing sides, and having serious harmful consequences, citizens shouldn’t start a revolution unless there is a necessary demand for change and reform.
According to Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, the author o...
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...and not a nursery of future revolution.”
Revolutions are not always happy endings: in many cases things get out of control, and what started as an attempt to make reforms may turn to be a tragedy. In Syria, for example, the leader refused to listen to the citizens’ demands or leave the throne. Moreover, he used every means to torture the citizens. The helpless citizens are suffering severe conditions while the whole world is watching. In this case, an urgent assistance is required. There should be a universal organization to force the president to leave his position and save the people.
In conclusion, revolution is an important reform tool that should be used only when needed. Making revolutions’ decisions should be taken carefully to avoid any harmful consequences. In addition, when things go wrong, there should be a higher organization to protect people.
On January 25, 2011, Egypt dissolved into protests--a revolution thirty years in the making. The quasi-middle class (not comparable to the American standard of a middle class) of college educated youths and the working class united based on the culmination of years of corruption and abuse and the sparks that the Tunisian Jasmine Revolution and the 2011 Alexandria New Year’s Day bombings represented. The “Five Stages of Revolution” model can be applied to Egypt’s revolution, as well as some aspects of the J. Brown Paradigm of National Development, such as the Identifiable People Group, presented themselves throughout Egypt’s conflict.
The fight for change and liberty has been no stranger to this world. Since 2740 BC, over hundreds of revolutions and rebellions have taken place, all of which demanded a reform or a change of some nature. Within the last century many major revolutions have been developing in continents such as Asia and Africa. In the non-fiction book The Political Thought of the American Revolution, written by Clinton Rossiter, Rossiter claims that perhaps modern revolutions, such as these in Asia and Africa, have deviated far from the core foundations of the American Revolution. In this book, Rossiter conveys that the American Revolution was the first revolution to have success from breaking away from another country and government. He believes that many revolutions
In his book, The Anatomy of Revolution, Crane Brinton describes four historically significant revolutions in modern states, the English Revolution of the 1640s, the American Revolution of 1776, the French Revolution of 1789, and the Russian Revolution of 1917, and compares uniform trends and commonalities within those revolutions. Brinton hypothesizes that those revolutions have specific similarities in their inception, manifestation, conduct, and conclusion.
What is a revolution? By definition, it means the overthrow of a government by those who are governed. That is exactly what the French and the Mexican revolutions were all about. The living conditions and overall treatment of the poor, pheasants, lower class, last man on the totem pole or what ever you want to call them, was a large factor in the coming of these revolutions. The "Those who are governed" are exactly what the lower class people were.
...or steps down or, the civilians of the country take action and overthrow the government just like many people have done in the past.Just as Malcolm overthrew Macbeth, these tyrants will be overthrown one day as well, and when they are overthrown the lives of millions of people will be improved.
Throughout history, countless uprisings have occurred. Historians classify any forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system as a revolution. The success or failure of a revolution is directly related to the revolution’s causes and consequences. The French Revolution was more successful than the Nicaraguan Revolution, because the Nicaraguan Revolution left the country in social and financial ruin, foreign powers had much greater interference, and it precipitated a period of political unrest with multiple leadership changes. One cause of both revolutions was that people from all social classes were discontented.
Which means all people, not giving thought to any struggle in the past. A revolution is a radical and pervasive change in society and the social structure, especially one made suddenly and often accompanied by violence. As stated before, society changed, but the social structure of the society did not. When observing historical context, this can be a revolution because social structures either reverted back to the old ways then changed to an extent.
...ansformation, before the dust settles, we could see many more countries that have expelled their dictators for a blossoming democracy. Although the path to self-government is harder than it might seem, right now the people of these countries are united behind one cause. However, who knows what will happen once they oust their dictator? Who will come out as the dominating party? Will they share their new power with the rest of the people? Will the people in the Arab world ever get the chance to pursue their dreams? Or are they doomed to continuous power struggles that will deprive the citizens of the liberty they seek.
A revolution is no piece of cake. To make a revolution, there are a few necessary ingredients, like a reason to revolt, a well-organized battle plan, and a powerful leader. Mix these all together, and there it is. A powerful Revolution. There are two specific revolutions that are very similar, and very successful.
What is often called “the spark that started it all,” occurred on December 17, 2011 in Tunisia. A street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest the corruption of the government. (Arab Spring, 2013) The 26 year old Bouazizi sold vegetables on the streets of Tunisia to make a living. His self-immolation was brought on when his cart of vegetables was confiscated by a policewoman. (Abouzeid, 2011) Bouazizi then went to the provincial headquarters to complain to officials about his situation. However, they refused to see him. Angered at the way he was being treated, Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest. (Abouzeid, 2011) He was taken to the hospital and stayed there until his death on January 4, 2011. Bouazizi’s self-immolation caused such an uproar that even Tunisia’s dictator, President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, visited him in the hospital. Bouazizi’s mother, Mannoubia, said, “Mohamed did what he did for the sake of his dignity. He lives on, his name lives on. I am proud of what happened in Tunis, I am proud that he is known throughout the Arab World.” (Abouzeid, 2011) Bouazizi’s self-immolation had such a huge impact on Tunisia that Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14.
Social movements have evolved throughout history to make a new meaning of revolutions. Freedom now and freedom then appear to have different notions of purpose and organization. This paper will examine the difference between contemporary revolutions and classical revolutions through analyzing Charles Kurzman’s new concept of understating and explaining revolutions. Kurzman’s Unthinkable Revolution in Iran provides a chronological outline of the Iranian Revolution, which started in 1977; he focuses on creating an unique explanatory assessment of the organization of street protests in Iran. Explaining the Iranian Revolution, or any revolution, is a challenge that have provoked many sociologists, in his work Kurzman revises the occurrences leading to the fall of the Shah, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, and concludes that social movements will always be unpredictable and hard to trace back to specific causes.
As the Arab Spring enters its second year, major uprisings and revolts have occurred all over the Middle East, pushing for an end to the corrupt autocratic rule and an expansion of civil liberties and political rights. Most recently, images from Syria have emerged, depicting the government’s use of force to suppress the voice of its people. One might ask, “Is this the beginning of a revolution? Is the country on the path to democracy?” To assess this question and examine the future trends in the region, one must look back on the country’s somewhat tumultuous history, the relationship between the citizens and the state, and the political economy.
dictator into power, the US is making the people in these countries suffer and go through very
Revolution is a topic at the heart of the Socialist and Marxist Ideology. The processes that bring about the insurrection vary, but for Marx and Engels, the only viable coup d’état is a violent one, that will enable a transition to the best society and human life. In Marxism, revolution is inevitable because of precedents set by developmental historicism and then inequality rampant in society. These negative and traditional attributes give rise to class-consciousness in a manner that promotes the inexorable path of society from capitalism to socialism.
Freedom: something taken for granted by citizens all over the first world countries. The struggle for freedom all around the world is a very real one. Recently, the fight for freedom has taken the oppressed by storm. All over the globe, there have been many examples of people fed up with corruption and ready to take control of their lives and the lives of their children. This is evident through the struggles for freedom seen in Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, and most recently Ukraine. It’s 2014 and governments controlled by a central authority or dictator are still prevalent. Countries all over the world have been isolated and stripped of their individual voices. The struggle for freedom coexists with the struggle of finding a voice. A voice is what the Libyan people found in February of 2011 when they started protests against a regime that ruled for forty-two years in isolated dictatorship. Three years later, the very same voice that liberated them is one of the gigantic obstacles they’re facing in establishing a functioning government in the country. This emphatic voice that has been silenced for 42 years by an iron-fisted rule is now louder than ever. The consensus is that they want an operational democracy in place as soon as possible. But three years have passed, and the country is more restless than ever. The country is completely dysfunctional and there is no telling what the people will do next if a stable democratic constitution isn’t in place soon. They’ve just ousted their fourth prime minister in less than three years and casualties are increasing by the day. The current Libyan situation is widely attributed to the 2011 revolution. That being said, understanding how the 2011 revolution happened and why it unfolded the way it...