The Arab Spring Is Not a Coincidence

By Brahim Koulila

Morocco World News

Kenitra, Morocco, April 30, 2012

Since the beginning of the “Jasmin Revolution” in Tunisia at the end of 2010, the world has been talking about “the Arab Spring” and the metamorphosis occurring in the Middle East and North Africa. No other event has, actually, been able to overshadow this historic change. As such, it has preoccupied people from all walks of life: politicians, journalists, lay people, businesspeople and thinkers/academics. The different revolutions that some Arab countries have witnessed foreshadow a big change in the Arab world. Doubtless, they are not coincidences at all—they occurred after the Arab nations had suffered from too much pressure and could no longer tolerate their leaders’ foolishness–, and a divine hand seems to be behind all what is happening.

Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation was just a trigger. It would be naive of us to believe that all the uprisings and chaos that have occurred in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Yemen…happened just because a certain man called Mohamed Bouazizi had set himself on fire and that these nations rebelled against their tyrannical leaders just to imitate the Tunisians and not to be described as cowardly nations. No! The truth is far different from this.

The Arabs have been suffering from tyranny, oppression, marginalization and slow killing at the hands of their rulers for many decades. The Arab despots have always exploited their peoples and presided over them as if they were the owners of their countries and their subjects were their slaves who had to worship them and obey everything they said. Before uprising against their leaders, the Arabs had never enjoyed real freedom. Arabs lived under the yoke of colonialism for many years and fought tooth and nail to obtain their freedom; still, their leaders made them live another type of colonialism, even after independence. Actually, the Arab rulers’ tyranny was more bitter than colonialism—when you are oppressed by your own brother, sufferance has a different taste, so to speak.

Arabs have always longed for freedom and democracy. When the Tunisians obtained their “second independence” by ousting Ben Ali, the other Arab nations, who had always thought that toppling an Arab leader was practically impossible, realized that the status quo could be changed and that it would not be a futile effort to try to kick the other despots out. As such, the Egyptians, Libyans, Syrians, Yemenis, longing for freedom, went on the same track. Simply put, they were waiting for the least incident to ask for their rights; they just needed someone to push them to the battlefield. That, certainly, was done by the Tunisians when they showed they could topple Ben Ali. In science, there is a principle that says: Too much pressure leads to explosion. “The Arab Spring” is the explosion that resulted from decades-long pressure. It was surely a logical result. Most revolutions occur because of too much pressure. Indeed, the Arabs have not been totally freed yet, but now seem to have tasted freedom. They have become determined to change the status quo more than ever, and a divine hand seems to be supporting them.

The Arab world is on its way to an “Arab Renaissance”. Certainly, things will not be as they were. The Arab spring is another Renaissance that will start a turning point in the history of the Arabs. the set of successes that some nations have achieved so far – the toppling of Ben Ali, Mubarak, Gaddafi and more to come—would not have occurred had not the Arabs been helped by a divine hand; History is full of stories of (real) despots who even claimed to be Gods and ended up ousted by their subjects. On one hand, Ben Ali, Mubarak and Gaddafi were ousted because of their tyranny and foolish holding on to power for many years. On the other hand, that such people end up in prison, beheaded, executed or encounter other similar ends has always been a logical, universal rule. In the Quran, Allah says, “Don’t bully one another; Allah doesn’t like bullies (the cow: 190).” In other words, what happened to these people was, surely, a divine punishment, namely for their sticking to power and abuse of it.

Again, I insist that the Arab world is not churning because of a coincidence, but because there is a divine secret behind all this political, cultural and social labor. Incidentally, if the West is today enjoying democracy, economic prosperity and social justice, it is partially because of the different revolutions that occurred in Europe and America in the three past centuries: the American Revolution, The French Revolution, and the Russian Revolution, among others. That is, God wants the Arabs to get out of benightedness and go into enlightenment.

Mohamed Bouazizi, indeed, kindled the first fire of revolution in the Arab world. His act helped the nations that had been longing for freedom and dignity for many years to sober up and start a long journey towards this. What is happening today in the Middle East, the Gulf and North Africa seems to have even inspired the West. Some countries have been churning because of the Arab Spring— the kind of chemical reaction that had already been there before Bouazizi committed suicide. it just needed the slightest sparkle to work. More than that, it seems that God wants the Arabs to move from one era to another.

Koulila Brahim is a Moroccan teacher of English and essayist. He lives in Kénitra, Morocco. He obtained his M.A. (Studies in English language and culture) from Ibn Tofail University, Kénitra (Morocco) in 2010. He is interested in Morocco’s politics.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy.