Arabic spring

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Libyen Ägypten Algerien Jemen Jordanien Oman Saudi-Arabien Syrien Tunesien Kuwait Bahrain Marokko Mauretanien Senegal Sudan Dschibuti Irak Iran Westjordanland Westsahara Vereinigte Arabische Emirate Katar Libanon
Arabic states:
  • Head of State overthrown / resigned
  • Government reshuffled as a result of protests
  • Popular uprising / civil war
  • Mass protests
  • Riots / protests
  • No known incidents
    • Non-Arab States:
  • Protests in non-Arab states
  • No known incidents

    • As the Arab Spring ( Arabic الربيع العربي, DMG ar-Rabīʿ al-ʿArabī ) or Arabellion is the name of a series of protests , uprisings and revolutions in the Arab world that began in December 2010 . Starting with the revolution in Tunisia , these were directed against the authoritarian regimes and the political and social structures of these countries in a number of states in the Middle East ( Mashrek / Arabian Peninsula ) and in North Africa ( Maghreb and Egypt ) . Originally the term had a positive connotation and it was hoped that the human rights situation in the affected countries would improve ; meanwhile this picture has turned into the opposite.

    designation

    In both the German and the international press, the term “Arab Spring” has become widely accepted, an allusion to the 1968 Prague Spring . Because of the unclear space in which the protests took place and other aspects, other names are also used. The papers for German and international politics describe the events as the “Arab Revolution”. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung uses the newly invented term Arabellion , a suitcase word from Arabic and rebellion . Because of the protests in Iran in particular, the term “ protests across the MENA region ” can also be found in English . Due to the electoral success of the Islamist parties after the protests in many Arab countries, the events were also called "Islamist spring" or "Islamist winter".

    Events

    On 17 December 2010 began Tunisia protests against the government of head of state Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after the greengrocer to Mohamed Bouazizi in Sidi Bouzid due to police brutality and humiliation lit himself had. Within a few weeks, nationwide mass unrest broke out, which over the next few months spread to a number of states in North Africa and the Middle East.

    The mass protests have so far led to the dismissal and flight of the Tunisian ruler Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and the resignation of the Egyptian President Husni Mubarak . The President of Yemen , Ali Abdullah Salih , resigned at the end of 2011 after more than 30 years of rule. In Libya , there was a civil war in which rebels supported by the NATO leader Muammar Gaddafi fell, while in Syria a civil war is still ongoing. In other countries in the Arab world there were government reshuffles and political reforms. In addition, social movements in other parts of the world also refer to the Arab Spring.

    Egypt

    Protesters standing on an army truck in downtown Cairo on January 29, 2011

    The uprising in Egypt began on January 25, 2011, the "Day of Wrath". On February 11, 2011, the long-time President Husni Mubarak resigned and a military council took power. This assured the demonstrators free and democratic elections and the repeal of the emergency law that had been in force for 30 years. Mubarak was sentenced to life imprisonment on June 2, 2012 . On August 21, 2013, an Egyptian criminal court ordered Mubarak to be released from custody. One day later he was transferred to the Maadi Military Hospital in Cairo, where he was placed under house arrest. On May 21, 2014, Mubarak was sentenced to three years in prison for embezzlement. In November 2014, proceedings against Mubarak were dropped for the deaths of more than 800 demonstrators during the spring 2011 protests. In January 2015, the prison sentence for corruption that had been imposed in May 2014 was initially lifted, but was confirmed on May 9, 2015.

    In the elections between the end of 2011 and mid-2012, the Muslim Brotherhood, together with other Islamic parties, obtained a majority in parliament and in the Constituent Assembly of Egypt ; their then party leader Mohammed Morsi won the presidential elections. As a result, protests from liberal, left and secular forces escalated in late November 2012 after Morsi had given himself additional powers over the Egyptian judiciary. On November 29th, the Constituent Assembly also approved the draft of a new constitution, which includes Appeals to the "principles of Sharia ". This again led to demonstrations which ended in a military coup . The military appointed Adli Mansur , a former Mubarak official , as acting president until the new elections in May 2014. In the new elections, Abd al-Fattah as-Sisi was elected president.

    The participation of Ultras in the Arab Spring caused an international sensation , especially in Egypt.

    Algeria

    The unrest in Algeria has spread since January 5, 2011 out of anger over the massive increase in basic food prices. They ignited spontaneously from individual events and were not organized uniformly. One of the central demands of the opposition, the lifting of the state of emergency that had been in place for 19 years, was met on February 24, 2011 by the Algerian government. However, there were reports of unrest and demonstrations until mid-April.

    On October 5th, a demonstration marking the anniversary of the democracy movement in 1988 was nipped in the bud by the arrest of the initiators. At the end of April 2012 riots broke out again after a street vendor set himself on fire in protest at the removal of his stand.

    Bahrain

    Protesters on Perlenplatz (February 19, 2011)

    The protests in the Gulf Kingdom of Bahrain began on February 14, 2011 when a few hundred demonstrators set up an illegal tent camp in Manama's central Pearl Square . The predominantly Shiite population protested against the Sunni royal house of Hamad bin Isa Al Chalifa . On the night of February 16-17, the camp was evacuated by special police forces, killing four people. In the weeks that followed, tens of thousands of people demonstrated. On March 14, Saudi Arabia sent 1,000 soldiers to the country at the request of the Bahraini government, and a state of emergency was declared the following day. The Bahraini opposition saw this invasion as a declaration of war and as an occupation by foreign troops. Bahraini troops took action against demonstrators.

    All protests were forcibly suppressed over the next few days. Some Shiite ministers and senior judges resigned in protest. Numerous people were arrested. On June 1, 2011, the state of emergency was lifted. From September 2011, there were repeated large or small protest rallies, the protests during the Formula 1 race in Bahrain in 2012 became particularly well known .

    Iraq

    On February 22, 2011, demonstrations took place in Basra , southern Iraq. On February 25, 2011, after the Friday prayers, demonstrations were reported from other parts of the country for the first time, in which several people were killed. The cause was anger about social injustice, particularly corruption and high unemployment were denounced. Some of the rallies were violently ended when the participants tried to storm government buildings in several cities. The largest demonstrations took place in the cities of Mosul , Fallujah (predominantly inhabited by Sunni Arabs), Baghdad and Basra (predominantly inhabited by Shiite Arabs). In the autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq, it also gave demonstrations and deaths. The Kurdish regional parliament in Erbil then issued a 17-point plan to de-escalate the situation. The demonstrations also led to the resignation of Basra's governor, Sheltak Abbud, who is widely regarded as corrupt by the population.

    Yemen

    Protests in Sanaa on January 27, 2011

    In Yemen , the protests began with a demonstration on January 27, 2011, when around 16,000 Yemenis protested against the policies of President Ali Abdullah Salih in the capital Sanaa . On February 2, 2011, Salih declared that he did not want to run for another term and that he would not offer his office to his son. In the following days there were further protests, which were violently ended by soldiers on March 8th. More than a dozen people were killed in the course of the riots. On March 20, 2011, the Yemeni government was dismissed by President Ali Abdullah Salih due to increasing political pressure. In April, at the suggestion of the Gulf Cooperation Council , Salih agreed to resign after an assurance of impunity. Since mid-May 2011, fighting between tribal militias and government units in the capital, Sanaa, resulted in the deaths of more than 120 people. As part of these fighting, the presidential palace was attacked on June 3, in which President Salih was injured by a shrapnel and temporarily left for medical treatment.

    In November 2011, Salih signed an agreement that provided for a transfer of power to Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi and presidential elections within 90 days. However, Hadi was the only candidate. Since Salih, who held the title of honorary president until the presidential election , was assured of impunity in this agreement, protests broke out again. The opposition in South Yemen , which was independent until 1990 , called for an election boycott and a split. At least four people died in fighting during the election.

    Jordan

    Rally in Amman on November 16, 2012

    The protests in Jordan began on January 7, 2011. On January 26, 2011, the Islamic Action Front called for protests against the government of Samir ar-Rifai . King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein called for real reforms in January 2011 due to the developments in Tunisia and Egypt . Prime Minister Samir ar-Rifai was deposed and on February 1, 2011 Maruf al-Bachit , who had already held the office of Prime Minister from 2005 to 2007, was charged with forming a government.

    There were further protests after a cut in subsidies on petrol, diesel and gas for cooking in November 2012 and after the general election on January 23, 2013.

    Kuwait

    On February 18, 2011, demonstrations also broke out in al-Jahra , Kuwait , in which 30 demonstrators are said to have been injured and a total of 50 people were arrested. First and foremost, the demonstrators called for Kuwaiti citizenship to be retained. On November 28, the government of Nasir al-Muhammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah submitted its resignation after months of protests with the Emir Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah .

    Libya

    The USS Barry launches a Tomahawk cruise missile on a target in Libya (March 19, 2011)
    Refugees at the Libyan-Tunisian border (March 7, 2011)

    After mass protests in the port city of Benghazi , Libya , resulted in dozens of deaths on February 18, public Internet traffic in the country was paralyzed and access to social networks such as Twitter and Facebook was cut off. The tough crackdown on demonstrators by the Libyan military led to civil war-like conditions in some parts of the country and the resignation of many high-ranking politicians. The opponents of head of state Muammar al-Gaddafi were initially able to bring large areas under their control, especially in the east of the country. The military successes of the government troops led to the adoption of Resolution 1973 on March 17, 2011, calling for an immediate ceasefire and the establishment of a no-fly zone. After several months of civil war, the rebels, led by a National Transitional Council and with the support of NATO troops, managed to overthrow Gaddafi and bring large parts of the country, including the capital Tripoli, under their control. On October 20, 2011, Gaddafi was apprehended in his hometown of Sirte after an attack by forces of the National Transitional Council . Gaddafi died under unexplained circumstances, probably as a result of gunshot wounds.

    The National Transitional Council then found it difficult to enforce its authority. On July 7, 2012, a General National Congress was elected. 120 seats were reserved for independent candidates, 39 of the 80 seats in the parties fell to the Alliance of National Forces of Mahmoud Jibril , chairman of the Executive Council of the National Transitional Council from March to October 2011.

    In November 2013, it was announced that the Ministry of Justice was planning to reform the legal system in accordance with Sharia law. On December 4, 2013, the National Assembly of Libya voted to introduce Sharia law.

    The instability that followed led to the civil war in Libya since 2014 . At the end of 2015, a peace treaty was agreed which provides for the rebuilding of the Libyan state by 2018. [outdated]

    Morocco

    Mass demonstration in Casablanca in May 2011

    Morocco is a constitutional monarchy and has been ruled by Muhammad VI since 1999 . governs. It is considered politically stable. After a call on the Internet portal Facebook , thousands of demonstrators demonstrated for political reform and more democracy on February 20, 2011, the “Day of Dignity”. Five people died in a burning bank branch in the city of Al-Hoceima during the unrest . In response to the unrest, the king announced political reforms in a televised address on March 10, 2011.

    According to the constitutional reform that was then worked out, the king should lose some of his previous rights and no longer be the spiritual head of all Moroccans as before. He should also be obliged to choose the head of government from the party with the most seats in parliament. In addition, the Berber language Tamazight was to be given equal rights with Arabic and a clearer separation between the judiciary and the executive was planned. On July 1, 2011, the new constitution was confirmed in a referendum by 98 percent of the voters. Morocco strives for reforms and socio-political renewal with peaceful political strategies, which is why the country speaks of a soft revolution ( Arabic   thaura silmiyya ). Early parliamentary elections were held on November 25, 2011 , with the moderate Islamist Party for Justice and Development winning.

    Mauritania

    Demonstrations near the Parliament in Nouakchott , on March 18, 2011

    Small demonstrations also took place in early January and February 2011 in Mauritania , part of the Arab League . Mauritanian human rights activists organized demonstrations criticizing and rejecting the slavery that is still practiced in Mauritania . Around 550,000 Haratins are primarily affected . As the Mauritanian government feared an increase in protests along the lines of the Tunisian model, the prices of basic foodstuffs were reduced by up to 30%.

    Reforms and parliamentary elections were also promised. Since the election date was postponed several times, there were further protests in 2012. The objectives were partly very different. In the parliamentary elections held at the end of 2013, which were boycotted by an important opposition party, the Union for the Republic (UPR) party was given an absolute majority by head of state Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz .

    Oman

    The supermarket in     Suhar set on fire by the demonstrators

    From February 18 to the end of April 2011, rallies and demonstrations took place regularly in the Sultanate of Oman , which was ruled by Sultan Qaboos ibn Said in an almost absolutist way, which initially remained peaceful. The demonstrators were primarily concerned with political reforms. After a week later protests by around 2,000 people in Suhar led to clashes with the police and the military, in which two people died, criticism of Sultan Qaboos ibn Said also increased. This announced that it would resolve the supply bottlenecks in the country and allow more scholarships for students. The cabinet was also restructured.

    This did not stop the protests, which were increasingly directed against corrupt ministers and even the sultan himself. Only after another reshuffle of the cabinet on 5/7. March the unrest gradually subsided. When a protester was killed in another demonstration on April 1st, a larger wave of protests broke out that lasted about 3 weeks.

    Palestinian territories

    On February 4, 2011, the first major solidarity demonstrations by Palestinians with the Egyptian demonstrators took place. However, these were largely restricted to the Gaza Strip . Similar events had already been violently broken up and several participants were arrested the days before. On February 8, the Palestinian Authority surprisingly announced local elections for July 9. These had been overdue for a year. Hamas , which controls the Gaza Strip , immediately announced an election boycott.

    On February 14, 2011, the Palestinian government headed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad resigned. President Mahmud Abbas had pushed for this step in order to achieve a replacement of several ministerial posts. Abbas has charged Fayyad with the formation of a new government. The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization also decided to hold presidential and parliamentary elections by the end of September at the latest. From today's perspective, however, the elections are likely to be limited to the West Bank without East Jerusalem . Fayyad took an unusual step in forming a government and wrote on his Facebook page that suggestions should be made to him: “Who do you think is trustworthy, well educated, and equipped with leadership skills to be entrusted with a ministry? Please state the name and the position, ”he wrote. Within a few hours he had already received 700 comments.

    On April 27, 2011 it was announced that the previously hostile organizations Hamas and Fatah had agreed on the formation of a unity government and a date for elections. A few days later they signed a reconciliation agreement. According to Ezzat al-Rishq, member of the Hamas Politburo, the change of power in Egypt has favored reconciliation. However, the unity government was not formed, nor were presidential or parliamentary elections held (as of 01/2013).

    Saudi Arabia

    Infrastructural problems due to heavy rain led to a first demonstration in the port city of Jeddah , Saudi Arabia on January 26, 2011 after the Friday prayers , which took place surprisingly for Saudi Arabian standards. The rally was forcibly suppressed and around 30 to 50 people were detained. In the days that followed, Facebook called for political reforms, including the establishment of a constitutional monarchy and a more equitable distribution of wealth. A few other rallies followed in February, including by women or members of the Shiite minority.

    After the Saudi Arabian King Abdullah ibn Abd al-Aziz returned to Saudi Arabia on February 23, 2011 after a stay in a US hospital, he is said to have promised his population 27 billion euros to improve their situation. He also discussed the situation there with the Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Chalifa .

    After further demonstrations by the Shiite minority in the oil-rich Saudi eastern province and the opposition group Islamic Reform Movement (MIRA) in the capital Riyadh , the Saudi government issued a ban on March 5, as the demonstrations contradicted Islamic law. Nevertheless, there were repeated demonstrations in the weeks that followed, some of which were violent by the police.

    June 17th became Driving Day , on which women demonstratively violated the women's driving ban. The right to vote for women in the local elections on December 12, 2015 was granted to women in 2011 by the then King Abdullah.

    Sudan

    In Sudan , mainly students and supporters of the communist and Islamist opposition led by Hasan at-Turabi demonstrated against the regime of al-Bashir and against the economic deterioration that was emerging as a result of the independence of South Sudan . On February 21, al-Bashir announced that he no longer wanted to run for president in the 2015 election, but was re-elected and, according to official information, clearly won the election. In December 2018 there were again student protests in the country.

    Syria

    Building in     Homs destroyed in the course of the war

    In Syria, after the first protest calls in February 2011, numerous opposition members were arrested. In the following weeks, thousands of people demonstrated in the city of Dar'a for political freedoms and the overthrow of the government of President Bashar al-Assad . Even the formation of a new government and the lifting of the state of emergency in April could not prevent the protests from spreading to many cities across the country. Security forces have been using violence against demonstrators since mid-March 2011. Since the summer of 2011, deserting soldiers have formed the Free Syrian Army , which aims to protect civilians. As recently as September 2011, when armed struggle had already started, non-violent demonstrators were arrested. The situation turned into a civil war that continues to this day.

    In February 2012, Assad held a constitutional referendum . All references to socialism and the leadership claims of Assad's Baath party have been removed from the new constitution. However, the opposition and international observers spoke of a farce and instead called for Assad's resignation.

    According to UN figures, more than 100,000 people died up to and including July 2013, while one million Syrians had fled the country by May 2013 and four million others were on the run within Syria. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights , Navi Pillay , therefore recommended calling the International Criminal Court.

    As of April 2013, there were first reports of the use of poison gas by the Syrian army, as well as reports that rebels had used sarin . Since US President Barack Obama had described the use of chemical weapons as a “red line”, the crossing of which could lead to military intervention by the United States, there was suspicion that the reports were incorrect or that the other side's own use was being imputed should. In response to international pressure, Assad finally agreed to an investigation of 13 incidents by UN experts, which arrived in Syria on August 18, and which soon investigated the poison gas attacks in Ghouta , which, according to US information at the time, were clearly carried out by government troops. Apparently in order to avert a US-led action, Assad agreed on September 10, 2013 to the country's accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention and the abolition of its chemical weapons arsenal. How this was to be done under the conditions of the civil war was initially unclear.

    Tunisia

    Protests in Tunis on January 14, 2011

    The political events in Tunisia , also known as the Jasmine Revolution, began with nationwide mass unrest in the population at the end of December 2010. The unrest was triggered by the rapidly spreading news of the self-immolation of the vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi on December 17, 2010 in Sidi Bouzid. On January 14, 2011, the Tunisian head of state, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, left the country. On January 17, 2011, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi formed a transitional government. On February 27, 2011, Ghannouchi had to resign after massive protests by the Tunisian population. The new head of government is Béji Caïd Essebsi .

    Effects on non-Arab states

    Outside the Arab world , too , the protests did not go unnoticed. In the countries south of the Sahara and in China , various rulers were alarmed and took preventive measures to nip possible protests in the bud. The close political and economic ties to Libya led to controversy in Italy. The Italian government fears a lack of crude oil supplies and an onslaught of North African refugees .

    China

    On February 20, protests broke out in China for the first time following calls on the Internet, which the police and civilian thugs broke up. According to several press reports, the timing of the demonstrations can be traced back to the success of the protests in the Arab world. In the weeks that followed, the protests were mostly limited to symbolic acts, such as carrying jasmine flowers. Several search terms such as “democracy” or “jasmine” are blocked by the government on the Internet , and around 200 critics of the regime and activists have been placed under house arrest or arrested.

    Djibouti

    On February 18, 2011, thousands of people demonstrated against President Ismail Omar Guelleh in Djibouti . also because he ran for a third term after a corresponding constitutional amendment. The government promised reforms and there was also a wave of arrests. The presidential election on April 8, 2011, in which Guelleh was re-elected, was not fair, according to the opposition.

    Iran

    In Iran , too, there were intermittent protests against the regime there, which were strengthened by the Arab protests. Previously, there were similar protests in Iran after the Iranian presidential election in 2009 . In 2011 they started a demonstration on February 14, 2011. Two demonstrators are said to have died. At the end of February, opposition groups announced that Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi , the two organizers of the demonstration, had been abducted and announced further protests for March 15.

    Israel

    After filmmaker Daphni Leef became homeless in July 2011 due to high rents, she decided to pitch her tent on the median of Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv-Jaffa , Israel . Imitators followed suit and wrote “Rothschild is our Tahrir Square” on posters. In the weeks that followed, a protest movement developed with hundreds of thousands of participants demanding social justice. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced reforms.

    Content-related connections to the events of the Arab Spring have been put into the room, but they are quite loose; the protests are primarily directed against specific Israeli problems.

    Malawi

    The arrest of a professor at the University of Malawi for showing parallels between problems in the Arab world and those in Malawi sparked prolonged protests by students and professors for academic freedom . With renewed demonstrations on July 20, 2011, the protests broadened and economic and financial problems were also addressed.

    Spain

    The nationwide protests in Spain since May 2011 refer, among other things, to the revolutionary movements in the Arab world.

    Causes and Participants

    The reasons for the increased willingness to protest are displeasure with the authoritarian regimes and their repressive security apparatus, a lack of participation by citizens and corruption in the state, economy and administration. Another major cause is high unemployment, especially among the younger population (whose share of the population is increasing significantly due to strong population growth , which is also seen as a further cause for the willingness to protest) and growing poverty . In addition, there are rising food and energy prices around the world , which are a burden for large parts of the population.

    In addition to the dissatisfaction with the political system, the extent to which modern communication technologies (cell phones, the Internet, but also satellite television reception, especially Al Jazeera ) promoted the protests is also discussed . This strong mobilization on the Internet has been carefully cultivated since the early years after 2000 through mobile communications and platforms such as B. Facebook , Twitter and Egyptian blogs . There is a consensus that this enabled an information structure outside the mainstream that encouraged the protests. Regarding the demonstrations in Egypt, however, observers see the role of this Internet communication as more supportive than fundamental, and point out that the regime is not only suitable for the dissemination of alternative information but also for the camouflaged dissemination of PR by the regime. The protests continued unabated even after the internet was switched off. However, Arabizi , the Arabic chat alphabet, is likely to play a certain role because it facilitates communication and enables less educated people to participate.

    Among other things, the Serbian democracy movement Otpor applies ! as a model for some Arab activists. Mohamed Adel, co-founder of the Youth Movement of April 6 in Egypt, took part in a CANVAS course in Belgrade in July 2010 . CANVAS was financed from abroad, in particular from US sources. The US non-governmental organization Freedom House , headed by former CIA director James Woolsey, trains trainers and finances “activist camps”. Other sponsors that counts Open Society Institute of George Soros .

    The protests are carried by a wide-ranging movement that includes various social classes apart from the regime elite, both left and bourgeois, secular as well as Christians and Muslims - including some members of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood . Members of the Muslim Brotherhood who took part in protests in Egypt refrained from introducing Sharia law , among other things . Leaders of religious fundamentalist organizations, on the other hand, have problems positioning themselves against the Arab protests, or they (e.g. leaders of Hamas ) are hostile to them, although they too are in opposition to the regimes. According to the Norwegian historian Brynjar Lia, the reason is that the protest movements are non-violent, popular, predominantly secular and inclusive.

    Other protesters are women from Arab countries, who have to vehemently defend their rights in the wake of the Islamist backlash triggered by the Arab Spring. The Islamists that have now come to power threaten to establish radical gender segregation with fixed roles. There is unrestrained debate about female circumcision, and aggression and violence against women are openly exercised on the streets. In contrast, the Arab Spring gave rise to a new anti-patriarchal discourse. The Arab women's movement can fall back on a long tradition of feminist struggles and debates that are barely noticed in this country.

    The struggle between Shiites and Sunnis in the region is also seen as part and a driving factor in the conflict. In particular, Shiite Iran supports the Syrian regime as its only Arab ally. Egypt has drawn closer to Iran since the fall of Mubarak; Saudi Arabia traditionally sees itself as the protective power of the Sunnis and supports numerous neighbors (for example the Sunni monarchies Morocco and Jordan) with sums of billions.

    The press is discussing the effects the democratization of Iraq and the "Freedom Agenda" of George W. Bush had on the Arab Spring. In this context, reference is made to Bush's speech on November 6, 2003. In this he announced a new foreign policy in which the USA will do more to promote democracy worldwide ("Freedom Agenda").

    Assessments of the extent and parallels

    Paul Salem of the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace assessed the consequences of the protests as follows: “The events have changed the psyche of the Arab peoples and the balance of power in the region. The international community has to recognize that it has got involved with questionable regimes and that this is not an Islamist uprising, but a democratic protest. "Of course, there would be special conditions in every Arab country," but now everyone is facing very similar challenges . ”In his opinion, this also applies to the Gulf states , in which monarchies are also in power:“ The oil-rich countries do not know unemployment and poverty like Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Syria, Jordan and Yemen. Political reforms are to be expected in the Gulf, greater participation in power. Kuwait is relatively open about that and is more likely to make concessions. "Bahrain is a special case:" It's more about balancing out denominational differences. That amounts less to revolt than to reform. "

    He agrees with the political journalist Lamis Andoni, who works in Jordan, that the current upheavals would hardly be imaginable without the extensive coverage of Al Jazeera and al-Arabiya . Andoni said, “The satellite channels are all involved in the events. People watched the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions and felt they were there themselves. You practically fought alongside Tunisians and Egyptians. They share joy and fear, and so their success became a victory for all Arabs. "

    In a radio interview with Deutschlandfunk, the orientalist Hans-Peter Raddatz expressed doubts, particularly with regard to Egypt, as to whether democracies would actually emerge as a result of these revolutions. He said democracy could not be sketched on the drawing board, adding that without secularization , Islam would not be compatible with Western-style democracy, with Raddatz doubting the likelihood of such secularization. On the other hand, Kenan Engin , following Samuel P. Huntington's theory of democratization, speaks of a fifth wave of democratization and refers to parallels to the third wave of democratization in Latin America during the 1970s and 1980s.

    In a guest article for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the German journalist Adrian Lobe put forward the thesis that the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East were not a democratic movement, but rather “prosperity revolts”. As evidence, he cited the situation in Saudi Arabia, where the regime is calming down the population with generous gifts and there has been no protest so far. From this Lobe deduces that material factors such as education, work and prosperity were in the foreground during the unrest.

    Fareed Zakaria , publicist and former editor of Newsweek magazine , takes a similar approach to modernization theory. He argues that in order for a revolution to happen, a socio-economic threshold must be crossed. Zakaria applies this to a per capita income of around 8,000 US dollars . Countries like Morocco, in which this level is not reached, would therefore have less chances of a social upheaval than wealthier countries.

    US President Barack Obama delivered a keynote address in May 2011 in which he described the revolutions of the “Arab Spring” as a historic opportunity for the United States: “We have a chance to show that America values ​​the dignity of a street seller in Tunisia more than it does raw power of the dictator. ”Obama drew a parallel between the Arab uprisings and the birth of the US in the struggle against British rule. America could therefore not help but take the side of the Arab peoples.

    In the course of 2013, there were more media reports declaring the Arab revolutions a failure and proclaiming an Arab winter. The ethnologist Ingrid Thurner contradicts such tendencies and demands that one must give the countries and their inhabitants time and support them in their struggle for democracy.

    literature

    Articles and Studies

    On the role of new media for change in the Arab world:

    For historical classification:

    Web links

    Wiktionary: Arab Spring  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
    Wiktionary: Arabellion  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
    Commons : Protests in the Arab World 2010–2011  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
     Wikinews: Portal: Arab World  - In The News
    English

    multimedia

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ Merkel and the Arab League: “No Libya Scenario for Syria” in the FAZ on February 14, 2012.
    2. ↑ Korotayev A., J. Zinkina Egyptian Revolution: A Demographic Structural Analysis. Entelequia. Revista Interdisciplinary 13 (2011): 139-169.
    3. ↑ Amnesty: Arab Spring is encouragement in the fight for human rights (article from December 9, 2011 on www.amnesty.de, accessed on August 17, 2015)
    4. ↑ The Arab Spring eats its children (article from April 30, 2015 on www.deutschlandfunk.de, accessed on August 17, 2015)
    5. ↑ tagesschau.de: Dossier "Arab Spring" ( Memento from November 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
    6. ^ Taz “Arab Spring: Welcome to the New World” January 28, 2011, accessed on August 29, 2011
    7. ↑ Al Jazeera Deutsch: “G8 commit $ 20bn to Arab Spring” May 27, 2011, accessed on August 29, 2011
    8. ^ New York Times: "Bullets stall youthful push for Arab Spring" March 18, 2011, accessed August 29, 2011
    9. ↑ In short . In: Blätter April 2011. Retrieved on November 8, 2011: “The Arab Revolution: From Dictatorship to Democracy? ... ". Passim.
    10. ↑ New dictionary of scene languages ( memento from January 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 25, 2011 (dead)
    11. ^ The MENA Protests on the Internet. Nicholas Davis and Florian Ramseger on World Economic Forum blog , archived from the original on February 25, 2011 ; Retrieved June 7, 2011 .
    12. ↑ Management survey analyzes the economic significance of the unrest in the Arab world. Roland Berger , accessed June 7, 2011 .
    13. ↑ Heather Maher: Muslim Protests: Has Obama Helped Bring On an Anti-US 'Islamist Spring'? Retrieved July 30, 2016 (American English).
    14. ^ Learning to Live With the Islamist Winter. In: Foreign Policy. Retrieved July 30, 2016 .
    15. ↑ a b Jan Roß: The way is free. In: Zeit Online , August 28, 2011.
    16. ↑ Washington's incarnate in Cairo . In: Ossietzky . 4/2011; Horst Schäfer comments on the fall of Hosni Mubarak and the involvement of the US diplomat Frank Wisner on behalf of the Barack Obama's government . (last accessed on March 21, 2020)
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    160. ↑ See David Gardner: How the West can get on the right side of history in the re-awakening Arab world. Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Center / Norsk Resource Center for Fredsbygging (NOREF), May 9, 2012. Gardner is Chief Leader Writer and Associate Editor of the Financial Times .
    161. ^ On a knife edge. An impassioned and astute analysis of the modern Middle East impresses James Buchan. The Guardian, May 30, 2009. Quote from Gardner's predictive analysis two years before the “Arabellion”: “Unless the Arab countries and the broader Middle East can find a way out of this pit of autocracy, their people will be condemned to bleak lives of despair, humiliation and rage for a generation, adding fuel to a roaring fire in what is already the most combustible region in the world. [..] It will be primarily up to the citizens of these countries to claw their way out of that pit. But the least they can expect from the west is not to keep stamping on their fingers. " ( After James Buchan).