The Arab Spring Uprisings are political protests against the governments of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Morocco, and Jordan. (Manfreda, ) The protests began in Tunisia when a vegetable vendor set himself on fire in protest of the actions of the government. This incident is said to have been the “spark” that fueled the action of the people to overthrow their governments. This region is being watched by every country in the world. The world is watching to see how it will affect their political and economic relationships with one another. Will the areas become democratic nations or will they become shell states where terrorism runs rampant?
December 17, 2010 was a day like any other for Mohamed Bouazizi. Mohamed was a 26 year old man having trouble finding work in his home country of Tunisia to feed his family of eight (8). (Sanford) Mohamed never graduated high school because the family did not have the money to send him to university. (Ryan 2, ) He gathered his vegetable cart and went to work in the market. Mohamed became the primary worker in his family at the age of 10. (Ryan 2, ) He did not have a permit for his cart, like many others. (NPR Staff) According to Hamdi Lazhar, head of Sidi Bouzid’s State Office of Employment and Independent Work, a person does not need a permit to sell items from a cart. (Thorne) It was not uncommon for him to be harassed by the local police. The local police would come by the vendors and demand bribes. (Fahim)The police would say that since they did not have a permit they would need to pay them money for them to allow the vendor to keep their wares. According to a vendor in the market, they had three (3) options when the police arrived. (Fahim) They cou...
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The authoritarian regimes of the Middles cycled through a pattern of anti-western policy until the globalization effects of economics and information demanded reform. As conservative Arab states try to maintain the autocracy they relied on after gaining independence, their citizens, affected by information and education expansion, challenge their resistant governments as typified by Syria’s unwillingness to capitulate. The proliferation of information and education underscored the protest movements of the Arab Spring because citizens’ contempt for their obstinate governments grew to large under economic pressures, as the current situation in Syria demonstrates.
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.
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BACKGROUND: In March of 2011, the unrest in Syria was just beginning, with protests g...
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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.
“A-28- year old construction engineer, Maher heads the April 6 youth movement, which began as a Facebook group in spring 2008 to support a workers’ strike in a northern industrial town in Egypt. This youth opposition coalition was the main organizing force behind last week’s demonstration. Their demands included the departure of the interior minister, an end to the restrictive emergency law, and a rise in the minimum wage. The member, who include many young well-educated Egyptians, have shown a greater willingness than others to risk arrest and start public protests. The group uses popular social websites to alert its networks about police activity and organize demonstration.”(Branch of the China Daily)
After detailed media coverage at local and international levels, the civil unrest spread to other Arab countries, including Egypt. By the end of December 2013, the problem had spread to several Arabic countries including Libya, Yemen, Algeria, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Oman (McDowall 28). In all these protests, media played a decisive and influential role in ensuring that the international community understood the cause of the problem and the political status of the affected countries. A recent survey by modern journalists affirms that mass media and social media played a central role in accelerating the revolutionary wave in Arab countries. The study further asserts that society members and revolutionists relied on media in advocating for the political changes in their countries.
Overall the protests succeeded in President Mohammed Hosni Mubarek’s resignation but even before the government was overthrown, a 2008 comment from Wael Nawara, an avid blogger and vice chairman of Egypt's El Ghad opposition party speaks true about the situation and what it became. "I think the time for censorship is gone," he says. "The government realizes this but they are trying until the last minute to slow the wheels of change. Forces of technology, changing cultures, changing modes of communication... This is a phenomenon that no government or alliance of governments can block. This is evolution and no one can stop evolution."
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