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The Arab Spring. WHAT IS THE ‘ARAB SPRING?’. BEGAN IN 2010/2011 AND IS STILL HAPPENING NOW! PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTERS ACROSS NORTH AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST ROSE UP AGAINST THE DICTATORIAL REGIMES THAT RULED THEIR HOME COUNTRIES. HOW DID THE ‘ARAB SPRING’ BEGIN?.
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WHAT IS THE ‘ARAB SPRING?’ • BEGAN IN 2010/2011 AND IS STILL HAPPENING NOW! • PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTERS ACROSS NORTH AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST ROSE UP AGAINST THE DICTATORIAL REGIMES THAT RULED THEIR HOME COUNTRIES.
HOW DID THE ‘ARAB SPRING’ BEGIN? • BEGAN IN TUNISIA IN DEC. 2010 WHEN A YOUNG STREET VENDOR SET HIMSELF ON FIRE AFTER A POLICEWOMAN CONFISCATED HIS UNLICENSED VEGETABLE CART AND ITS GOODS. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16212447
COUNTRIES THE ‘ARAB SPRING’ HAS IMPACTED • TUNISIA • JORDAN • EGYPT • SYRIA • LIBYA • MOROCCO • IRAN • ALGERIA • BAHRAIN • SAUDI ARABIA • YEMEN • OMAN
EGYPT • LEADER: PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK, IN POWER FOR 30 YEARS. • LEFT OFFICE AFTER 18 DAYS OF PROTESTS IN THE CAPITAL OF CAIRO. • HE WAS FOUND GUILTY OF CORRUPTION BUT THIS WAS LATER OVERTURNED. HE WAS RELEASED IN MARCH 2017.
EGYPT SINCE ARAB SPRING • A MILITARY REGIME TOOK CONTROL AFTER MUBARAK WAS OUSTED. • A NUMBER OF PRESIDENTS HAVE BEEN ELECTED AND DEPOSED SINCE BUT EGYPT CONTINUES TO SUFFER FROM: • UNEMPLOYMENT & LABOR STRIKES • POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY & PROTEST • DISTRUST BETWEEN ISLAMIST & SECULAR PARTIES • AN ISIS-LINKED INSURGENCY • MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN TENSION
LIBYA • LEADER: COLONEL MUAMMAR GADDAFI WAS IN POWER FOR 40 YEARS. HE WAS OUSTED BY REBELS IN AUGUST OF 2011. • AFTER AN 8 MONTH CIVIL WAR GADDAFI WAS CAPTURED AND KILLED.
LIBYA SINCE ARAB SPRING • LIBYA HAS FAILED TO CREATE A FUNCTIONING GOVERNMENT. • LIBYA IS CURRENTLY CONTROLLED BY ARMED MILITIA GROUPS, TRIBAL RIVALRIES, WARLORDS AND A UN SANCTIONED “UNITY GOVERNMENT”. • CRIME IS HIGH AND THE CONCEPT OF LAW AND ORDER SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE. • THERE IS ALSO A REFUGEE CRISIS OF LIBYANS TRYING TO ESCAPE ACROSS THE MEDITERRANEAN TO EUROPE. • LIBYA’S ECONOMY IS IN TERRIBLE CONDITION AS ITS OIL EXPORTS HAVE DECLINED BY NEARLY 90 PER CENT SINCE 2011.
SYRIA • LEADER: BASHAR AL-ASSAD, IN POWER SINCE 2000 (INHERITED POWER FROM HIS FATHER). • CIVIL WAR SINCE 2011 IN WHICH NEARLY ½ MILLION SYRIANS HAVE BEEN KILLED. • REBELS ARE CALLING FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM, AN END TO CORRUPTION, & ACTION ON POVERTY. • SYRIAN GOVT. CLAIMS THE PROTESTORS ARE ‘TERRORISTS AND ARMED GANGS’. • THE U.S. AND EU HAVE IMPOSED SANCTIONS ON SYRIA, BUT THE CONFLICT HAS NOT ENDED.
SYRIA TODAY • CURRENTLY IN A CIVIL WAR • GOVERNMENT IS FIGHTING: • A NUMBER OF REBEL GROUPS: • SOME SUPPORTED BY U.S. • ISIS • GOVERNMENT SUPPORTED BY: • RUSSIA & IRAN • US SUPPORTS SOME REBEL GROUPS FIGHTING ISIS
OTHER POTENTIAL ARAB SPRING TARGETS • MONARCHIES: • SAUDI ARABIA • UAE • QATAR • POTENTIAL TARGETS FOR ARAB SPRING MOVEMENTS • OPPOSITION MOVEMENTS ARE BANNED. • THE KINGS SUPPORT THE OTHER MIDDLE EASTERN LEADERS AND SUPPLIES THEM WITH SOLDIERS TO PUT DOWN PROTESTERS.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW? • MANY OF THESE COUNTRIES HAVE TO DECIDE WHAT TYPES OF GOVERNMENTS THEY WANT, NOW THAT THEIR DICTATORS HAVE BEEN KICKED OUT! • SHOULD THEY HAVE A DEMOCRACY OR A THEOCRACY? • MANY ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISTS HAVE GAINED POPULARITY IN THESE COUNTRIES AND WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE WORRIED THAT SECULAR DEMOCRACIES WILL BE DIFFICULT TO MAINTAIN.
REFLECTION • U.S. POLICY HAS BEEN INCONSISTENT REGARDING DIFFERENT NATIONS INVOLVED IN THE ARAB SPRING MOVEMENT. WHY MIGHT THIS BE TRUE?