In despair about the hopelessness of his life, Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire on December 10, 2010. His fate moved hundreds of thousands of mostly young people to take to the streets in protest against the regime. The protests not only ousted the dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, they also sparked a series of uprisings that rocked the Arab world. A new era of democracy, dubbed the "Arabellion” or "Arab Spring," seemed to be dawning; it was hoped that authoritarian structures would be swept away. Taking stock a decade on, however, is sobering. All across the Arab world, old regimes have been restored, wars have broken out and people are fleeing their homelands. Yet the Arabellion was not in vain, because the pressure for reform is as great as ever. This documentary gives a comprehensive overview of developments, looking for similarities between the 2011 uprisings and the current unrest in Lebanon and Iraq. The Arabellion is recounted from today’s vantage point and through the eyes of local protagonists. What is life like today in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, ten years later?
Showing posts with label Arab Spring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arab Spring. Show all posts
Sunday, June 13, 2021
Ten Years after the Arab Spring, Is There Still Hope for Democracy? 2/2 | DW Documentary
A decade after the Arab Spring, this film tells the story of the uprisings known as the "Arabellion." The protagonists describe how it started, what happened and what life is like today in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.
In despair about the hopelessness of his life, Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire on December 10, 2010. His fate moved hundreds of thousands of mostly young people to take to the streets in protest against the regime. The protests not only ousted the dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, they also sparked a series of uprisings that rocked the Arab world. A new era of democracy, dubbed the "Arabellion” or "Arab Spring," seemed to be dawning; it was hoped that authoritarian structures would be swept away. Taking stock a decade on, however, is sobering. All across the Arab world, old regimes have been restored, wars have broken out and people are fleeing their homelands. Yet the Arabellion was not in vain, because the pressure for reform is as great as ever. This documentary gives a comprehensive overview of developments, looking for similarities between the 2011 uprisings and the current unrest in Lebanon and Iraq. The Arabellion is recounted from today’s vantage point and through the eyes of local protagonists. What is life like today in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, ten years later?
In despair about the hopelessness of his life, Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire on December 10, 2010. His fate moved hundreds of thousands of mostly young people to take to the streets in protest against the regime. The protests not only ousted the dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, they also sparked a series of uprisings that rocked the Arab world. A new era of democracy, dubbed the "Arabellion” or "Arab Spring," seemed to be dawning; it was hoped that authoritarian structures would be swept away. Taking stock a decade on, however, is sobering. All across the Arab world, old regimes have been restored, wars have broken out and people are fleeing their homelands. Yet the Arabellion was not in vain, because the pressure for reform is as great as ever. This documentary gives a comprehensive overview of developments, looking for similarities between the 2011 uprisings and the current unrest in Lebanon and Iraq. The Arabellion is recounted from today’s vantage point and through the eyes of local protagonists. What is life like today in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, ten years later?
Friday, March 03, 2017
Tuesday, January 03, 2017
The Guardian: Arab Spring 'Could Happen Again'
THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: The Guardian view on the Arab spring: it could happen again » | Monday, January 2, 2017
Friday, May 30, 2014
Reporting Saudi Arabia's Hidden Uprising
Even inside Saudi Arabia, the protests in the coastal region of Qatif hardly ever make the news. It's nearly impossible for journalists to operate here.
But I travelled in under the radar. I know the area well, as I was born and raised nearby.
I visited the Eastern Province several times in the past two years without the knowledge of the Saudi authorities.
I wanted to find out why activists from the country's Shia minority were risking their lives to demonstrate against the monarchy.
How had frequent protests rumbled on without being silenced? » | Friday, May 30, 2014
Saudi Arabia ‘failing to address human rights concerns’ »
Friday, April 18, 2014
People & Power: Algeria: The Revolution That Never Was
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Amr Moussa: Arab Spring Has Not Improved Economy or Brought Stability to Egypt
Tuesday, September 03, 2013
Bahrain: Shouting in the Dark
Monday, August 12, 2013
Sunday, July 14, 2013
CrossTalk: Democracy Dystopia
Sunday, February 17, 2013
THE OBSERVER: A series of repressive dictatorships have been brought down in north Africa, but the ensuing struggles for power have left a vacuum that has allowed the rise of an extremist movement that is gathering both force and supporters
Late last year, largely unnoticed in the west, Tunisia's president, Moncef Marzouki, gave an interview to Chatham House's The World Today. Commenting on a recent attack by Salafists – ultra-conservative Sunnis – on the US embassy in Tunis, he remarked in an unguarded moment: "We didn't realise how dangerous and violent these Salafists could be … They are a tiny minority within a tiny minority. They don't represent society or the state. They cannot be a real danger to society or government, but they can be very harmful to the image of the government."
It appears that Marzouki was wrong. Following the assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaid last Wednesday – which plunged the country into its biggest crisis since the 2011 Jasmine Revolution – the destabilising threat of violent Islamist extremists has emerged as a pressing and dangerous issue.
Violent Salafists are one of two groups under suspicion for Belaid's murder. The other is the shadowy, so-called neighbourhood protection group known as the Leagues of the Protection of the Revolution, a small contingent that claims to be against remnants of the old regime, but which is accused of using thugs to stir clashes at opposition rallies and trade union gatherings. » | Peter Beaumont and Patrick Kingsley | Sunday, February 10, 2013
Saturday, February 09, 2013
THE OBSERVER: A series of repressive dictatorships have been brought down in north Africa, but the ensuing struggles for power have left a vacuum that has allowed the rise of an extremist movement that is gathering both force and supporters
Late last year, largely unnoticed in the west, Tunisia's president, Moncef Marzouki, gave an interview to Chatham House's The World Today. Commenting on a recent attack by Salafists – ultra-conservative Sunnis – on the US embassy in Tunis, he remarked in an unguarded moment: "We didn't realise how dangerous and violent these Salafists could be … They are a tiny minority within a tiny minority. They don't represent society or the state. They cannot be a real danger to society or government, but they can be very harmful to the image of the government."
It appears that Marzouki was wrong. Following the assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaid last Wednesday – which plunged the country into its biggest crisis since the 2011 Jasmine Revolution – the destabilising threat of violent Islamist extremists has emerged as a pressing and dangerous issue.
Violent Salafists are one of two groups under suspicion for Belaid's murder. The other is the shadowy, so-called neighbourhood protection group known as the Leagues of the Protection of the Revolution, a small contingent that claims to be against remnants of the old regime, but which is accused of using thugs to stir clashes at opposition rallies and trade union gatherings.
The left accuses these groups of affiliation with the ruling moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, and say it has failed to root out the violence. The party denies any link or control to the groups. But it is the rise of Salafist-associated political violence that is causing the most concern in the region. Banned in Tunisia under the 23-year regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, which ruthlessly cracked down on all forms of Islamism, Salafists in Tunisia have become increasingly vocal since the 2011 revolution. » | Angelique Chrisafis, Patrick Kingsley and Peter Beaumont | Saturday, February 09, 2013
Monday, November 26, 2012
November evenings are balmy on Kuwait City's waterfront, and there is a festive atmosphere in Irada Square as crowds gather for another protest rally. Women swathed in black mix with others in jeans while men in dishdashas and red-checked ghutra headdresses sip tea on Persian rugs spread on the spiky grass.
Speakers are hammering home the call to boycott this Saturday's elections because the emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al Sabah, has decreed a change to voting rules that will weaken the opposition. Stewards display spent teargas canisters that were fired to break up an unlicensed protest last month.
Unlike elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa , Kuwaitis are not seeking to overthrow their regime. Irada (the Arabic name means "will") is tamer than Cairo's Tahrir Square. Violence is very rare.
Yet there is no mistaking the depth of divisions in this small but fabulously wealthy country – and the anxiety about how they will play out. Its ultraconservative Saudi and Emirati neighbours are watching nervously.
"The emir's decree was the straw that broke the camel's back," said Sultan al-Majrubi, a young activist who was injured when special forces broke up October's big demonstration. "The Sabah family need to change from the inside. They are not thinking about the future and their credit with the people is running out."
• Kuwait is still the most democratic state in the Gulf. Its "springtime" dates back to 2006, long before the overthrow of the autocrats who ruled Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. » | Ian Black in Kuwait City | Sunday, November 25, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
I woke to the roar of total silence.
Issa, an Omani bedouin of the Al-Maashani tribe, made tea as the orange-lit theatrics of sunrise began behind us. It was just him, me and the soundless dunes of the Empty Quarter.
Dinner had been Issa's too - chopped camel meat fried in camel fat, chewy and delicious, washed down with ginger tea.
Afterwards, we had chit-chatted companionably in the dark, staring upwards as the Milky Way slid across a pinprick sky, like the arch above Wembley Stadium.
We were camped in what the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes had called "a place of wind and spiders". In his day it was known as Fasad, or "decay".
The spot had since been euphemistically renamed Al-Hashman, meaning wholesome - but with its broken walls and foully undrinkable spring water, that struck me as an oddly mirthless piece of spin.
There is a lot of that in Oman these days, as the country paddles ever harder to maintain its trademark swan-like serenity.
The Arab Spring has come knocking. Last month a local journalist was jailed, accused of slander - the most high-profile of, so far, 42 court cases related to issues of public protest. » | Matthew Teller, BBC News, Oman | Thursday, November 08, 2012
Monday, October 08, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The murder of the US ambassador to Libya is a shocking reminder to Barack Obama that helping to overthrow dictators does not guarantee stability in the region
For anyone who still clings to a naive belief that recent dramatic changes to the political landscape of the Middle East have made the world a safer place, the murder of the US Ambassador to Libya and three other embassy staff on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks should act as a brutal wake-up call.
For more than a year, politicians on both sides of the Atlantic have given their enthusiastic backing to the seismic changes taking place among the ruling elites who have dominated the region for decades. As dictator after dictator has been removed from power, either through force of arms or the overwhelming strength of popular discontent, Western leaders have universally given their support to what they mistakenly identified as an “Arab Spring” of Western-style pro-democracy movements sweeping aside despotism.
In Washington President Barack Obama has sought, from the start of his presidency, a “new beginning” for America’s problematic relationship with the Muslim world. He has given unqualified support to those campaigning for change in the major Arab capitals, actively encouraging the overthrow of one of Washington’s longest-serving allies, Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, and backing the military campaign to overthrow Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
In London, a similarly proactive stance has been adopted by the Coalition. David Cameron and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy were at the forefront of last year’s Nato-led coalition to effect regime change in Tripoli, while William Hague regularly lectures his Foreign Office staff that it is important for Britain to be seen to support the reformers clamouring for change in the Middle East.
But as the brutal murders of US Ambassador Chris Stevens and his colleagues in the Libyan coastal city of Benghazi have demonstrated, the wave of change sweeping the region is not without risk. It is still too early to say for sure who was responsible for the attack on Mr Stevens’s convoy as he was being evacuated from the American consulate following an assault by a mob of anti-American protesters, but this tragic episode certainly brings into stark relief the dangerous currents that are swirling beneath the reform movements. Read on and comment » | Con Coughlin | Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Saturday, September 08, 2012
In the countries that follow the Muslim faith, the lines between past and present often blur, making it seem as though the past is not over, and certainly not forgiven. Indeed, the past can come terribly alive here, and it can turn terribly deadly, again and again, every day.
When representatives from around the world convened in the Iranian capital of Tehran last Thursday for the start of a Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, an annual meeting of 120 nations that view themselves as not aligned for or against any major powers, the focus was suddenly on 1,300-year-old battles, murders and power struggles. The host was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a Shiite. Next to him on the dais was Egypt's new president, Mohammed Morsi, a Sunni.
Morsi began his opening address with a mention of the Prophet Muhammad, but then continued: "May Allah's blessing be upon our masters Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali."
Iranian media immediately took the statement as a provocation. Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman were Muhammad's successors after the Prophet's death in 632. Sunni Muslims venerate them as the first caliphs -- but Shiite Muslims consider them usurpers and traitors to the faith, hated figures whose very names should not be spoken. Muhammad's true successor, Shiites say, was Ali, their first imam, who later fought against the other three before being murdered. » | Christoph Reuter | Thursday, September 06, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Scattered violent incidents of 'moral vigilantism' break out in Egypt, which is trying to come to terms with Islam's place in public and private life.
CAIRO — An engineering student is killed for walking with his fiancee by men reportedly linked to a group called the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. Women are harassed for not wearing veils, owners of liquor stores say they're being threatened, and fundamentalists are calling for sex segregation on buses and in workplaces.
Egypt's recent election of an Islamist president has rekindled a long-suppressed display of public piousness that has aroused both "moral vigilantism" and personal acts of faith, such as demands that police officers and flight attendants be allowed to grow beards. Scattered incidents of violence and intimidation do not appear to have been organized, but they represent a disturbing trend in Egypt's transition to democracy.
Emerging from decades of secular rule, the country is unsteadily calibrating how deeply Islam should infuse public and private life. President Mohamed Morsi, a religious conservative, has called for tolerance, but many Islamic fundamentalists see a historic moment to impose sharia, or Islamic law, on a country left off balance by political unrest and economic turmoil. » | Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times | Sunday, July 29, 2012
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