Arab Spring: Fierce battle between Authority and People

Arab Spring:  It is the name given to the series of protests against the authoritarian (dictatorship) regimes in order to establish democracy in the Arabic countries in early 2010’s. It began in Tunisia in December 2010 and then spread across the much of the Arab world especially in Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain where either the regime was toppled or major uprisings and violence occur. The events in these countries generally began in spring of 2011 which led to the name.

Background and Implications:

Most of the Arab world was ruled by authoritarian governments in the early 2010’s. In December 2010, a Tunisian street vendor set himself on fire to protest against the arbitrary seizing of his vegetable stand by the police over failure to obtain a permit. This act gives birth to countrywide protests in Tunisia against the authority and it forced the authoritarian president (dictator) to give up his position. Tunisia’s first parliamentary elections were held in October 2011 and activists in other countries were inspired by this and they began to protests against the similar authoritarian governments in their nations.

While uprising in Tunisia led to some improvements in the country from human rights perspective but not all countries that witnessed such uprising in the spring changed for better.

For example:

Egypt: Democracy was established after Arab spring in 2012 but authoritarian (dictatorship) returned in 2013.

Libya: Dictator Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in October 2011. However, since Gaddafi’s downfall, Libya has remained in a state of civil war.

Syria: In the aftermath the Arab Spring, civil war is going on in Syria between various rebel gorups such as ISIS, Kurdish and Syrian army, forcing many to leave the country.