After slacking on a weekly post, I'm back on the track with new content! This time's topic is a history that's not completely part of the past yet. You've got the spoiler in the title already; it's the hot topic of the beginning of last decade- the Arab Spring. There's much to get into regarding this topic and so I intend to make two (or more if needed) parts of today's post. Here's the part one where I'll be covering what Arab Spring is, how it began and a glimpse of what it led to.
It all started from a small country in North Africa- Tunisia; a country having a long history of corruption and oppression from the government. In the cover of farce-like democracy, the country actually ran by dictatorship under the power of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's second president starting from 1987. People didn't have the freedom of speech and government corruption, unemployment, social inequality were distressing their life. Ben Ali's government successfully formed fear among citizens by suppressing any uprising against the government with drastic measures. Only until things were bound to get out of control.
Now let's know about a Tunisian named Mohamed Bouazizi. It was 17 December, 2010. Like any other day, he went to sell fruit on the street with his fruit cart. After 10.30 am, the police started harassing him showing the cause that he didn't have vendor's permit. The cart, weighing machine and all his goods (which he brought on credit the previous day) were confiscated. Bribery was at its peak then in Tunisia and he didn't even have enough money to bribe them to release his goods. On top of that, he was publicly humiliated. When his pleading and request didn't help him get his stuffs back, he went to the governor's office to complain. But no one listened to him there too. At last at 11.30 am, Bouazizi set himself on fire in front of the governor's office as a mean to protest against the injustice he had to go through.
(Here I had a question whether or not he really went against the law. But then I came to know that even though street-vending is illegal in Tunisia, selling from a cart requires no permit. And I think it's important to mention that being mistreated by police was no new thing to Bouazizi.)
This incident shook the whole nation and the dissatisfaction people held back all those years because of fear, outburst in the form of mass protest. Thus began the days of Tunisian Revolution aka Jasmine Revolution. Bouazizi died on 4 January, 2011. His death didn't go in vain since his sacrifice inspired many to fight against injustice and he was regarded as the hero of the revolution.
Ben Ali's government strictly controlled the media to keep news from spreading but not a single thing remained unknown by dint of social media. The world saw how powerful the social media can be to fuel a revolution in a country. Within weeks, Ben Ali was ousted from presidency in January, 2011 after being in power for 23 years. Thus Tunisia was finally free from dictatorship and democracy saw the face of light in the country.
The revolution in Tunisia inspired people of other Arab countries to stand against their oppressive government. This united uprising against the oppressive regimes in the Arab world is known as the 'Arab Spring'.
The Arab Spring brought changes people were hoping for for a long time in some countries but at the same it caused some devastating changes too. For example, the civil war in Syria, Libya, Yemen started as a result of Arab Spring.
How the Arab Spring affected the Arab world will be saved for the next part. Until then take care and stay safe.🌼