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K.P. Fabian’s newly launched book, ‘The Arab Spring That Was and Wasn’t’ was seen in the news recently.
About Arab Spring
- a wave of uprisings, revolts, protests, and unrest, spread across Arabic nations in the Middle East and North Africa by early 2011.
What gave birth to the Arab Spring?
- In December 2010, a Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi set himself ablaze in the city of Sidi Bouzid to protest the draconian seizing of his vegetable shop by the police over failure to receive a permit.
- His sacrifice became a catalyst for the Arab Spring revolution in Tunisia.
- The pro-democracy protests that ensued in Tunis, eventually provoked authoritarian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who ruled for more than 23 years, to resign and flee to Saudi Arabia.
- The regime change in Tunisia inspired activists in other countries and began to protest authoritarian governments in their own nations.
- The street protests triggered a wave of revolts across the Middle East as people began to voice their angst against unemployment, corruption, discrimination, authoritarianism, and poverty.
Impact of Arab Spring
- The Arab Spring caused the end of many long-standing autocrats.
- In Yemen, the fallout of the Arab Spring is playing out in a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and the UAE — both US proxies — and Iran.
- Millions have been displaced, and a Saudi-led blockade has led to massive starvation and malnutrition.
- Although the protest movements in 2011 were unique in their interconnected struggle for democracy across the region, the push to end corruption and improve citizens’ quality of life did not end with the Arab Spring.
Source:IE
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