Arab Spring: Demonstration for Democracy

Context

Much of the Arab world witnessed a new uprising at the end of the first decade of this century. The uprising is popularly known as the Arab Spring. It reflected the desire and demand of the people to establish a more accountable, pro-people and democratic governments in different countries of Asia and Africa where democracy was not so strong. In other words it was a pro- democracy protest of the people of the Arab world. The name-Arab Spring itself reminds a revolutionary change which had occurred in a particular area of the world. It took place in a significant population of the world located in more than one continent. The Arab Spring started from Tunisia which is the northernmost country of Africa and spread gradually across west Asia and Middle East which together constituted the Arab world. In many of these countries rulers were removed or overthrown from the power and in some cases even killed or executed.

Leading Centers of Arab Spring

1. Tunisia

The Arab Spring in Tunisia is also called Jasmine Revolution as it was named after Tunisia’s national flower. The people of Tunisia were dissatisfied with the economic condition, corruption and existing socio-political unrest in the country. They wanted to bring a change in the government. The situation became conducive for a new upheaval when an educated young man Mohammed Bouazizi self-immolated in December 2010 because the police had seized his cart as he was selling vegetables without a permit. Later on when he died it became a political issue. Students and youth of Tunisia started protesting against their government which resulted in clashes with the security forces and the protest spread in many other cities of Tunisia. It influenced the politics of Tunisia so much that its president Ben Ali had to flee to Saudi Arabia along with his family members where he died in 2019.

2. Libya

Libya was severely affected from the Arab Spring. Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi popularly known as Colonel Gaddafi was the chief ruler of the country. He was the leader of the country in since 1969. Protest became very intense in 2011 during the Arab Spring. It began against unemployment and corruption which took the form of civil war. Colonel Gaddafi tried to suppress the protest but failed to do so as vast number of people participated in the protest and most of the people thought him to be the root cause of the problem of corruption and unemployment. Gaddafi was captured and killed 20 October 2011 without any benefit of fair trial.

3. Egypt

In Egypt protest started against economic condition of the people and the country. In this protest a man set fire to himself near the parliament building in Cairo. The protesters later demanded the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak. The security forces used tear gas and started beating them. They arrested many people including journalists and some important political leaders whom they thought to be responsible for the protest. Even then the protest continued in which many people died. The supporters of Mubarak tried to crush the uprising in a violent and brutal method. Ultimately due to national and international pressure and continued protest Mubarak resigned and handed over power to military.

4. Yemen

Yemen became a fertile ground of the Arab Spring. Along with other countries of the Arab world people of Yemen started protesting against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh who was in power since 1990. Gradually the protest became broad based in which leaders, Journalists and many local and national activists participated. When a very famous human rights activist and journalist Tawakkol Karman was arrested along with other participants then the movement became more intense. She believed in the culture of non-violence and peace. She also called for the end of the oppressive regime of the president Ali Saleh. She had become a public face of the Arab Spring in Yemen. The government reacted with violence to disperse the protest. Consequently many government officials and military personals resigned. Protest kept on going which forced the president Saleh to sign a power transfer agreement in late 2011.

5. Syria

Arab Spring in Syria was marked by Syrian Civil War. During the uprising of Arab Spring in 2011 Bashar al- Assad was in power who is the President of Syria even today. His father was the president before him. As there were no proper democratic elections based on multi- party contest for a long time, Assad became the president after his father died in June 2000. During the Arab Spring in 2011 people demanded the end of Assad government but the government started suppressing the protest which resulted in a prolonged conflict between the government of Assad and opposition forces in the country. The protesters wanted a better political condition in the country, end of emergency which was there for a long time and protection of civil rights. However, Assad ultimately accused the opposition for all the unrest in the country. There were accusations and counter accusations in between the government and the internal opposition forces backed by the foreign powers. In the meantime Assad government received continuous support from Russia and it has been in power even today in spite of the civil war like situation.

6. Bahrain

People of Bahrain were also influenced by anti-government protests which were taking place in the Arab world in 2011. They launched a series of sustained campaigns and protests. Initially the protests were peaceful but later when the people gave a call to end the rule of Haman bin Isa Al Khalifa, the movement became aggressive. Consequently On the request of the government of Bahrain from the Gulf cooperation Council about 1500 troops, entered Bahrain and situation was brought under control. However, the protest did not come to stop permanently and when the emergency like situation came to the end the people under the leadership of the opposition party again started weekly protests. The demonstration and protest attracted more and more people and confrontation like situation again emerged. When lakhs of people started participating in the protest, the police started beating the participants. Now, a three day campaign was organized on August 14 in 2013 on the occasion of the forty second anniversary of Bahrain Independence Day. During these days various demonstrations were held in the country and many people were injured in confrontation with the security forces. Thousands of people were detained and tortured in the overall course of the protest. Hence protests and demonstrations created a new awareness amongst the people for better governance.

Pro-democracy Protests in Other Countries

Apart from some of these countries the Arab Spring has left its mark on many other countries of the Arab World. In Algeria many regional protest were launched by the youth of the country against lack of job opportunities, backward economy, price rise, corruption and similar other problems created by the inflated and stagnant economy. However, the authorities did not give any importance to such localized protests and did not take it seriously. They suppressed these movements partially for a time being but after sometime the movement again got momentum. The process of transformation and impact of protest is still going on in Algeria. In Jordan also protests and confrontations against the authorities became very common in which thousands of people participated. The opposition parties boycotted the parliamentary elections held in 2013. In Morocco thousands of young people participated in pro-democratic movement and demanded a constitutional monarchy and a responsible government. Even in Oman some mild form of protest took place in which people demanded for a better political, economic, social, cultural and civil society.