by Zaid Jilani
12 February 2011
from
Truth-Out Website
Last month, the world was shocked as the Tunisian autocrat Zine el-Abidine
Ben Ali, who had ruled his country for 23 years, was overthrown in a
protest movement that lasted only 29 days. The event was soon dubbed the
“Jasmine Revolution,” a symbolic reference to a blooming flower.
While many doubted that this revolution would
spread, it was only days later that massive protests rocked Cairo, resulting
in the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who had been
in power for more than 30 years. While the fate of both countries is still
unresolved, one thing is clear: the people are demanding democracy, and they
have forced massive changes in their government to get it.
Now, many are wondering if this pro-democracy movement that swept Tunisia
and Egypt will spread throughout the rest of the Arab world.
ThinkProgress has assembled a short list of
other autocratic regimes in the region that are facing protests,
particularly today, and which may soon be the next to go in the Middle
East’s next “Jasmine Revolution”:
ALGERIA
Algeria has been in the iron grip of a
military government since 1991, when the regime cancelled elections
after an Islamist party won the first round.
This set off a
bloody civil war in the
country, which peaked in violence between 1993 and 1997.
In recent days, Algerians, inspired by their
Tunisian and Egyptian neighbors, have organized large protest marches
demanding democratic reforms. Saturday, despite officials outlawing the
protest, nearly
10,000 people marched in Algiers anyway, facing off with
three times as many riot police.
Perhaps fearing that they will be the
targets of the next revolution, Algerian officials recently announced
that they will be lifting the country’s own emergency law - which has
been in place for decades - in the “very near future.”
BAHRAIN
Bahrain’s Sunni leader, King Hamad bin Isa
al-Khalifa, has long oppressed his country’s Shi’a-majority population.
Last August, his ruling party arrested
hundreds of Shi’a activists and shut down the main opposition party’s
websites right before the parliamentary election, fearing that it may
lose its grip on power. Yet recent events in the Middle East have the
king fearing for his rule, too.
He has ordered “a hike in food subsidies and
reinstated welfare support for low-income families to compensate for
inflation,” and plans to deliver a speech today where he will offer
further concessions.
Additionally, Bahrain’s government announced
that it will be
giving $2,650 to each Bahraini family yesterday. Yet
pro-democracy activists
plan to march Monday anyway, demanding real
reforms in the country.
JORDAN
Likely also fearing a Tunisian-style
revolution, Jordan’s King Abdullah
sacked his government and appointed a
new Prime Minister at the beginning of this month.
Yet some of the largest protests in modern
history have
rocked the nation in recent weeks, indicating that
Jordanians do not see the concessions as enough. In perhaps a sign of
the regime’s weakness, President Obama
dispatched Adm. Mike Mullen, the head of Joint Chiefs of
Staff, to meet with Abdullah this weekend.
SYRIA
Earlier this month, protesters planned a
“day of rage” where they would protest their grievances against the
unelected president Basher al-Assad.
While the protesters ended up being few in
number, the regime did deploy its security services in increased numbers
across the country, visibly fearful of a protest movement like the ones
in Egypt and Tunisia.
The government also
lifted a five-year ban
on Facebook, in a move widely seen as appeasing a nascent protest
movement.
YEMEN
The president of Yemen, “one of America’s
foremost allies” in the region, promised to step down in 2013, as his
people began to demonstrate against the ruling elite.
Today, thousands of pro-regime demonstrators
attacked anti-government demonstrators with clubs and knives, an eerie
parallel to an Egyptian tactic that failed to quell protests and
destroyed the regime’s public reputation and international support.
An American abroad in Yemen captured the
protests there, where Yemenis spontaneously erupted in protest and began
marching to the country’s own iconic capital square - which is actually
named Tahrir, just like Egypt’s.
Watch it:
This list is far from comprehensive, as movements are being organized in a
number of other countries such as,
Whether these movements will ultimately be
successful is unknown, but they symbolize a growing grassroots call for
democracy that has been virtually unseen in the region.
Given that the United States is a sponsor of
many of the intelligence and military apparatuses of these countries and a
close ally to their governments, we have not just an opportunity but a
responsibility to work with the people towards a more democratic future.