Arab Spring

From RationalWiki
(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
(Why can't poor Mik-- write?)
m (Reverted edits by Thorvelden (talk) to last revision by Mikalos209)
Line 1: Line 1:
The '''Arab Spring''' was a short lived eruption of liberal opposition to authoritarian governments in the Arab speaking Middle East.  By early 2012 that liberal phase was clearly over as Islamists of various types took effective control of these opposition movements.  Initially concerned, conservatives in the West have joined with some less than observant liberals in lauding what has become Sunni Islamist seizures of state power in the Arab non-Monarchies.  As it is used in Western news media, the term elides references to the Shi'a protests against the royal cistatorship in Bahrain.    
+
The '''Arab Spring''', also known as '''"Oh my God! The people with towels on their head want to be equal!"''' and '''"Oh, shit! What's going to happen to our oil?"''', is an ongoing series of mass protests and [[civil war]]s in Arab countries driving regime change or at least change in regime leadership that erupted in 2011.  As usually with everything that isn't to the liking of [[Conservatism|conservatives]] it's bad and all [[Barack Obama|Obama's]] fault.
  
The Arab Spring is credited by some for inspiring the [[Occupy Wall Street|Occupy Wall Street Movement]]. So what?
+
The Arab Spring is credited for inspiring the [[Occupy Wall Street|Occupy Wall Street Movement]]. {{fact}}
  
== Tunisia ==
 
  
The protests began in Tunisia in late 2010 when a young fruit seller named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in front of the town hall of Sidi Bouzid to protest being beaten up by the police over not being able to pay bribes so he would be ignored while working as a peddler.  Within days the protests spread throughout the country and resulted in Tunisia's dictator Ben Ali fleeing towards Saudi Arabia.  The protests spread further to Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Jordan.
+
== History ==
  
Elections were held in Tunisia (for the Constituent Assembly) which the Islamist Ennahda party won the election with 41% of the vote and received 90 of the 217 seatsThe largest secular party - Congress for the Republic (CPR) - won 13% of the vote and recieved 30 seats.   The leftist Ettakatol party won 10% of the vote, and received 21 seats.<ref>[http://www.tunisia-live.net/2011/11/14/tunisian-election-final-results-tables/ Final Results of Tunisian Elections Announced]</ref> As the Iranians discovered after their revolution, an Islamist movement with that kind of base can gradually establish an Islamic state.<ref>Iranian Islamaists and secularists overthrew the Shah of Iran in 1979.  Over the next 4 years the Islamists isoalted and then eliminated the secularists with a combination of propaganda, election thuggery and terrorism.  Western liberals did their best to convince themselves and others that it was not happening.  That these were just revolutionary excesses.  Wishful thinking is powerful.</ref>
+
The protests started in Tunisia in late 2010 when a young fruit seller named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in front of the town hall of Sidi Bouzid in protest of him getting beaten up over not being able to pay bribes so he would be ignored while selling his fruitsWithin days the protests spread throughout the country and resulted in Tunisia's dictator Ben Ali fleeing towards Saudi Arabia. The protests spread further to Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Jordan.  
  
== Egypt ==
+
In Egypt, the mass protests led to Hosni Mubarak stepping down after the military dropped him like a hot potato. 
  
In miltiary ruled Egypt, efforts to repress the mass protests failed and the miltiary chose to sacrifice Hosni Mubarak.  Although he was forced from power, the military remained in power and maneuvered to contain the Sunni Islamist threat from the Muslim Brotherhood. Elections in Egypt were won by moderate islamists near the Muslim Brotherhood, with almost 20% of the vote gooing to the fundamentalist Salafists. Around 30 to 40% of the parliament seats went to various ambiguosuly secular parties, alliances and representatives.  After a subsequent presidential election won by the Muslim Brotherhood, a military appointed court dismissed the elected parliament.
+
In Libya there was a civil war that ended on October 23 2011 after [[Muammar al-Gaddafi|Colonel Gaddafi]] was captured and killed on October 20. The Libyan rebels were supported by Western forces who were operating under a [[United Nations]] mandate.
  
Whoever wins the struggle for power in the near or long term, the Egyptian liberals will certainly loseMass poverty, mass illiteracy and dependence on economic rents in the form of fees from the Suez Canal, American O.D.A. and money from Saudi Arabia mean that liberal democracy has little chance in Egypt.
+
Other protests occurred in Algeria, [[Iraq]], Morocco, Oman and Syria. Minor protests broke out in Kuwait, [[Lebanon]], Mauritania, [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Sudan]] and Western SaharaProtests were ruthlessly suppressed in Bahrain.<ref>[http://likethedew.com/2012/01/17/bad-double-standards-good-double-standards/ Bad Double Standards, Good Double Standards]</ref> Demonstrations in Syria and Yemen are still ongoing. Demonstrations in Yemen are characterized by minor clashes, a lot of proposals, and politicians stepping down, while the Syrian government massacres their own people. As result of this, the Arab League suspended Syria.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/world/middleeast/arab-league-votes-to-suspend-syria-over-its-crackdown-on-protesters.html?_r=1 Arab League Votes to Suspend Syria]</ref>
  
== Libya ==
+
== "Criticism" ==
 +
Hoping that the average Westerner did not understand what the hell was going on, American conservatives and European right-wingers jumped the gun and sowed panic at the idea that the protestors might actually be radical [[Islamism|Islamists]] seeking the establishment of an [[Pan-Arabism|<s>Islamic state</s>]] Caliphate.
  
In Libya there was a civil war that ended on October 23 2011 after [[Muammar al-Gaddafi|Colonel Gaddafi]] was captured and killed by a crazed mob on October 20th.  The Libyan rebels were supported by Western forces with air strikes, under a [[United Nations]] mandate.  The country's infrastructure was left in ruins.
+
== Aftermath and effect ==
 +
Elections were held in Tunisia (for the Constituent Assembly) which the Ennahda — a moderate islamist party — won with 37% of the vote; the other seats in the Assembly will be filled with secular parties and independents, making it almost impossible for an islamic state to be established.  
  
Among the casualties in the revolution were large numbers of African migrants who were murdered by the rebels, their bodies were dumped in mass graves by the rebels.
+
Elections in Egypt were won by moderate islamists near the Muslim Brotherhood, with almost 20% of the vote gooing to the fundemantalist Salafists. Around 30 to 40% of the parliament seats went to secular parties, alliances and representatives.<ref>It is almost impossible to exactly pinpoint what party and representatives are secularists and which aren't. This is caused by the great number of parties each with a differing view on the matter.</ref>
  
Libya is, in principle, "governed" by a National Transitional Government, which was formed during the country's civil war.  Various militias control much of the country.  Elections are expected in 2012.
+
Libya is governed by a National Transitional Government, formed during the country's civil war.  Elections are expected in 2012.
 
+
== Syria ==
+
 
+
In Syria, Sunni Islamists financed by Saudi Arabia and the other Persian Gulf monarchies recognized the opportunity to rebel against the secular Arab nationalist government of Bashar Assad.  The Arab League suspended Syria in response to efforts to crush the insurgency.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/world/middleeast/arab-league-votes-to-suspend-syria-over-its-crackdown-on-protesters.html?_r=1 Arab League Votes to Suspend Syria]</ref>  Every ready for another war in the Middle East, Western neo-conservatives jumped on the humanitarian bandwagon to support the rebellion.  Their hypocrisy of denouncing in denouncing the use of helicopter gunships by the Syrian Army while lauding the use of drone airstrieks by the U.S. Air Force and C.I.A. is obvious. 
+
 
+
== Those Other Countries ==
+
 
+
There were also protests in other Arab countries but they offered a poor fit in the heroic-triumphalist framing of Western news media.  Protests  occurred in Algeria, [[Iraq]], Morocco, Oman and Syria. Minor protests broke out in Kuwait, [[Lebanon]], Mauritania, [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Sudan]] and Western Sahara.  Protests were ruthlessly suppressed in Bahrain.<ref>[http://likethedew.com/2012/01/17/bad-double-standards-good-double-standards/ Bad Double Standards, Good Double Standards]</ref>
+
 
+
== Aftermath and effect ==
+
Hoping that the average Westerner did not understand what the hell was going on, American conservatives and European right-wingers initially fretted that the protestors might actually be radical [[Islamism|Islamists]] seeking the establishment of an [[Pan-Arabism|<s>Islamic state</s>]] Caliphate.  As it happens, the Islamists did successfully hijack the movements launched by Arab liberals.  [[The powers that be]] in Washington, London, Paris and Berlin have chosen to support the Sunni dominated Islamists in Libya, Egypt, and especially Syria.  Rather than a democratic rebellion against tyranny, the Arab Spring in Syria has become a Sunni Islamist rebellion financed by Arab monarchies and encouraged by the West against a modern, secular Arab nationalist government.  As was true in Saddam Hussain's Iraq, women and members of religious minorities enjoyed more rights than anywhere else in the Arab world. 
+
  
 
==See also==
 
==See also==

Revision as of 22:59, 23 June 2012

The Arab Spring, also known as "Oh my God! The people with towels on their head want to be equal!" and "Oh, shit! What's going to happen to our oil?", is an ongoing series of mass protests and civil wars in Arab countries driving regime change or at least change in regime leadership that erupted in 2011. As usually with everything that isn't to the liking of conservatives it's bad and all Obama's fault.

The Arab Spring is credited for inspiring the Occupy Wall Street Movement.[citation needed]


Contents

History

The protests started in Tunisia in late 2010 when a young fruit seller named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in front of the town hall of Sidi Bouzid in protest of him getting beaten up over not being able to pay bribes so he would be ignored while selling his fruits. Within days the protests spread throughout the country and resulted in Tunisia's dictator Ben Ali fleeing towards Saudi Arabia. The protests spread further to Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Jordan.

In Egypt, the mass protests led to Hosni Mubarak stepping down after the military dropped him like a hot potato.

In Libya there was a civil war that ended on October 23 2011 after Colonel Gaddafi was captured and killed on October 20. The Libyan rebels were supported by Western forces who were operating under a United Nations mandate.

Other protests occurred in Algeria, Iraq, Morocco, Oman and Syria. Minor protests broke out in Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Western Sahara. Protests were ruthlessly suppressed in Bahrain.[1] Demonstrations in Syria and Yemen are still ongoing. Demonstrations in Yemen are characterized by minor clashes, a lot of proposals, and politicians stepping down, while the Syrian government massacres their own people. As result of this, the Arab League suspended Syria.[2]

"Criticism"

Hoping that the average Westerner did not understand what the hell was going on, American conservatives and European right-wingers jumped the gun and sowed panic at the idea that the protestors might actually be radical Islamists seeking the establishment of an Islamic state Caliphate.

Aftermath and effect

Elections were held in Tunisia (for the Constituent Assembly) which the Ennahda — a moderate islamist party — won with 37% of the vote; the other seats in the Assembly will be filled with secular parties and independents, making it almost impossible for an islamic state to be established.

Elections in Egypt were won by moderate islamists near the Muslim Brotherhood, with almost 20% of the vote gooing to the fundemantalist Salafists. Around 30 to 40% of the parliament seats went to secular parties, alliances and representatives.[3]

Libya is governed by a National Transitional Government, formed during the country's civil war. Elections are expected in 2012.

See also

Footnotes

  1. Bad Double Standards, Good Double Standards
  2. Arab League Votes to Suspend Syria
  3. It is almost impossible to exactly pinpoint what party and representatives are secularists and which aren't. This is caused by the great number of parties each with a differing view on the matter.
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Community
Tools
support