The demise of secular autocratic regimes in the Middle East and North Africa has heralded a renaissance for Islamist parties in the region, igniting a rivalry for the hearts and minds of the Sunni world between the Gulf powers of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Although neither country is a bastion of democracy at home, Qatar has proven much more amenable than Saudi Arabia to bolstering democratic Islamist movements abroad.
Tunisia’s Arab Spring is looking more and more like the status quo disguised as a revolution.
Virtually every sector of the Tunisian economy has been on strike and unemployment is worse than during the years of President Ben Ali.
Exactly how far has Tunisia come from colonialism?
At exactly 1:02 pm on December 17, 2011 — one year to the minute that Mohammed Bouazizi lit the match that set both himself and the region aflame — a giant portrait of Zine Ben Ali was rolled out in downtown Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, and burnt to the ground. In its place was raised a giant portrait of Bouazizi, marking the first celebration of his immolation as a national holiday.
But for all that has happened since Bouazizi’s act of rebellion, are the changes in Tunisia deep and enduring, or simply cosmetic? And where there has been real change, has it been for the better?
The Arab revolts that began in December 2010 have immediate, material causes. But their deeper wellspring has been the determination of Arab peoples to reclaim their historical agency from both the condescension of outsiders and the mind-numbing repression of Arab rulers.
North African Jewry has produced great philosophy, history, and medicine, as well as music, art and poetry.
The strange story of one of the few Jewish members of parliament in the Arab world.
Its policy toward Tunisia shows that the United States has finally realized — perhaps too late – how much damage it’s done in the Middle East.
Those who took to the streets in Tunisia and faced down fear are not those elected to the Constituent Assembly.