Email late posts to rwilliamsATchamplain.edu for partial credit.
Read the assigned chapters above, and then:
1. Provide 3 SPECIFIC observations about the Arab Spring you learned from EACH chapter of our book, using 2-3 sentences combining the book and your own IYOW analysis.
2. Finally, ask ONE specific question you have of the Arab Spring after completing our reading.
Chapter 4:
ReplyDelete1. The number of unemployed graduates had doubled over the past decade. The better educated the individual, the more likely he or she was to be jobless (67). This is a very troubling figure as well as that half of graduates with a master’s degree in Tunisia were unemployed in 2010 (67).
2. The crumbling infrastructure and stretched health facilities, a world apart from the upmarket coastal suburbs that are home to Tunisia’s elite, fed resentment (74). The corrupt government favored Tunisia’s elite instead of providing the country as whole with the same opportunities.
3. One of the biggest factors in Tunisia’s favor is that it is simply not important enough to be interfered with by external actors (95). It seems that the best means towards success are to handle issues internally instead of seeking foreign assistance.
Chapter 5:
1. Egypt was not creating enough skilled jobs that the educated young Egyptians sought for. 35 percent of the 2.4 million unemployed people in Egypt had a university level education or better (101). This is a huge similarity between Tunisia and Egypt that was one of the main causes for the uprisings.
2. By entrusting the transition to the military, Egyptians risk the revolution would only be half complete because the military was a major part of the old order with so many connections to economic and political interests (113). It is tough to say how much change can occur when the military has been such a force in Egyptian politics.
3. Over 500 independent unions sprang up in the eight months after the uprisings. Grass roots activism is good for Egypt’s budding democracy, but could complicate economic recovery (131). Workers continue to strike for better wages and conditions which slows the economy down with the lack of production.
Question: Would Tunisia have been as successful towards democracy as it is, if its population wasn’t so well educated?
Chapter 4 - Tunisia
ReplyDelete1. “The following day, he sacked his government, called early elections and declared a state of emergency. Tour operators had evacuated tourists from the Mediterranean hot spot. A curfew was imposed. Yet the army had refused to use force to quell demonstrations after four weeks of police crackdowns that had only swelled the ranks of protesters now braving bullets in towns from the deepest south to the furthest north of the country.” This last sentence in particular shows how the citizens of Tunisia were down being obedient, they were more than ready for a long-term fight (63).
2. On the eve of the uprising only 7% of Tunisians lived in poverty, but the employment rate doubled in the past decade. Surprisingly, half of the graduates with a masters degree were unemployed in 2010. Tunisia’s frustration seems to be more about employment opportunities rather than hungry and poverty (66-67).
3. I found this excerpt to be very telling about life in Tunisia, “To some extent, Tunisia is a victim of its own success. Its large middle class aspires to the higher incomes and benefits of Europeans just across the Mediterranean, rather than comparing themselves to fellow North Africans.” Tunisia needs to focus on their economy and making sure that their job market continues to expand as more and more students continue to finish their education (90).
Chapter 5 - Egypt
1. Egypt had one of the largest and most diversified economies in Africa, yet in a 2008 poll 21% of Egyptians were below the poverty line. In 2008/2009 more than 2.5 million Egyptians lived on less than $1.25 a day, which is designated as extreme poverty by the UN. This leads to many nutrition problems for the young population of Egypt (100).
2. In 2010, Egypt’s military had an estimated expenditure of $4.6 billion, excluding US aid. The army had 450,000 active personnel, including 250,000 conscripts, which made it the largest in Africa and the Middle East. In 2010, most of the political figures in power had more sort of tie to either the police force or the military. This displays how much power those in the militia had over citizens (111).
3. “More generally, the national identity had been transformed over the past century from an Egyptian identity under the monarchy, to a broader Arab one under Nasser, to an increasingly Islamic one by the early 2000s.” I feel like this played a key part in Egyptians feeling like they should take control of their lives. Since they didn’t have a national identity based on the borders of Egypt it wasn’t like they owed Mubarak anything. They might live in Egypt, but they are Muslim first and Egyptian second (126).
Question: How does literacy and education play a part on the success or defeat of both the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions?
Chapter 4
ReplyDelete1.) Overnight, the United States, France and Britain found that their longstanding foreign policies required a hasty rewrite,. They appeared to dither and agonize, seemingly caught between their populist instinct to support protesters and their interests in propping up the dictators on whom their foreign policies had for so long relied.
2.) It was no longer a call for jobs and freedom, nor for an end to corruption and police brutality, 'Degage!', or 'Get out!', had become the rallying cry of the Tunisian revolution, while The Will to Live, a rousing liberation poem written by Tunisia's Abu Qasim al-Chebbi when the country was still a French colony, became the anthem of a revolution, sung by hundreds during peaceful protests.
3.) In the months that followed the overthrow of Ben Ali, more than one hundred political parties registered for the elections. Most of the new parties won no seats in the assembly and were quietly wound down after the elections. Those that performed well were opposition parties that had existed, legally or illegally, before the uprising.
Chapter 5
1.) Despite living in one of the largest and most diversified economies in Africa, many Egyptians were on low incomes, with over 21 per cent below the poverty line in 2008 compared to 16 per cent at the start of the decade. In 2008/9, more than 2.5 million people lived on less than $1.25 a day, designated as extreme poverty by the UN.
2.) NGOs were becoming so outspoken that Egypt revised its association law in 2002, banning them from receiving foreign funding and requiring all 16,000 to register with the Ministry of Social Affairs, which rejected the applications of some already well-established rights groups.
3.) It began, by the accounts of the protesters themselves, as a peaceful gathering outside Cairo's Maspero building to demand justice over a church attack in the southern province of Aswan. By midnight on 9 October 2011, at least twenty-five people were dead and more than two hundred wounded. Protesters who were running back and forth from Maspero armed with small rocks, exhausted, sweating, eyes red from tear gas, said the violence started when a demonstration coming from the Shubra area of northern Cairo, where many Christians live, was attacked first by thugs, then by the army, sparking pitched street battles.
Question: If other countries soon followed Tunisia in the uprisings, why was Egypt next? Why did it take so long for other countries to follow?
Chapter 4
ReplyDelete1. Ben Ali’s departure was covered as a religious pilgrimage with his family. This caused more anger because it left the notion that he plans on returning, despite having said he’d step down.
2. Called the Jasmine revolution in western press because it is the national flower of Tunisia.
3. “Success sells” (65). The success of the peaceful protests, at least on the protesters’ sides, showed that it was possible in the Arab world. As I mentioned in class, the domino effect used to describe the world during the Cold War can be used here as well; after one dictatorship in the Arab world fell, others soon followed suit. It also spread to Ukraine and Venezuela.
Chapter 5
1. When the army did not hand over the power it received after Mubarak stepped down, new protests started which eventually led to a full-fledged revolution and coup of those in power.
2. Despite being in a nation with a large, booming economy, over 21% percent of Egyptians were below the poverty line in 2008. This is up 5% from the beginning of the decade. More than half the population lacked proper sanitation facilities.
3. Despite changing election policies to allow multiple candidates to run, Mubarak did not wish to compete in the elections; any opponents were jailed and or received the vast minority of the votes.
Chapter 5: Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution:
ReplyDelete1.Imbalance of resource allocation delayed the development of New Tunisia. New Tunisia administration had to work new plans. Administrators had self-interest.
2.Ben Ali and his family acquired resources illegally. This angered most Protestants. It also caused hatred.
3.French were keen on solving the unrest in Tunisia since it was a trade partner. Consignment of teargas was meant to quell violence. They were after the people’s interest.
Chapter 6: Egypt: The Pharaohs fall:
1. Rumor played a role in sectarian clashes. It involved Muslims and Christians in Egypt. There was internal hatred in the two religions.
2. Facebook and twitter played a significant role in mobilizing people for the protest in Egypt. People became aware of the protest. They acted as platform for sharing ideas.
3.Loss of US supports for Mubarak lead to protest. It was due to lack of respect to people opinion. US also supported his ousting.
Question
What are difference between Tunisia and Egypt after the revolution? Why?
Chapter 4:
ReplyDelete1. Ben Ali’s family was a disliked family of greed. His daughter and her husband supposedly had a pet tiger that fed on four chickens a day. They ate frozen yogurt that was delivered to them via private jet from France. His wife, Leila, was also well hated as she would seize private businesses and properties. (64)
2. Tunisia’s second largest organization, the Tunisian General Union of Labour (UGTT) apparently represented 500,000 workers throughout the country. However, when Tunisian miners on strike in 2008 were abandoned and found no support from the UGTT, the credibility of the organization was questioned greatly. (69)
3. The once-banned Tunisian Ennahda party was the largest political force in North Africa. Tunisians feared it would Islamitize Tunisian laws as 41.7% of the constituent assembly was made up of the Ennahda party. (79)
Chapter 5:
1. Mubarak lost U.S. support after his speech in 2011 to amend certain offending articles of the constitution. His announcement was a huge disappointment for Egyptians because Mubarak failed to deal with state of emergency that gave Egyptians no freedoms when it came to arrests. (97)
2. Egypt’s military was the largest in Africa and the Middle East. The 2010 expenditure was $4.6 billion. It is thought that the Egyptian military may control up to 40% of the economy and pays no taxes. (111)
3. Egypt has seen alarming illiterate and poverty rates in the past decade. In 2006 about 34% of the population was illiterate and in 2008 over 21% was below the poverty line which raised from 16% in 2000. The UN declared this as extreme poverty. (100)
Chapter 4
ReplyDelete1. After Ben Ali promised not to run of reelection, “he sacked his government, called early elections and declared a state of emergency.” Furthermore, “A curfuew was imposed. Yet the army had refused to use force to quell demonstrations after four weeks of police crackdowns that had only swelled the ranks of protestors” (63)
2. “While the GDP was growing, only 14 percent of Tunisians classified themselves as ‘thriving’ in 2010, down from 24 percent just two years earlier.” (66) “Half of graduates with a masters degree were unemployed in 2010” (67) These economic conditions must have been incredibly frustrating for Tunisians.
3.”To some extent, Tunisia is a victim of its own success. Its large middle class aspires to the higher incomes and benefits enjoyed by Europeans just across the Mediterranean.” (91) This is an unfortunate consequence of success; by aspiring to Europeans the middle class furthers the income gap and unemployment.
Chapter 5
1. “Despite living in one of the largest and most diversified economies in Africa, many Egyptians were on low incomes, with over 21 percent below the poverty line in 2008.” This is compared to the 16 percent below the poverty line at the start of the decade. A five percent gain in unemployment in 10 years does not help the living conditions of the general public. (100)
2. Egyptians faced a struggle by turning power over to the military as it was the same military that had supported regimes for decades. Not only this but the military had business interests. Not exactly a organization on moral high ground. (110)
3. “Over 500 independent unions sprang up in the eight months after the uprising, some of them representing single factories or industrial towns … A growth in grass roots activism that bodes well for Egypt’s budding democracy but could complicate economic recovery.” (130) I think it is more important that Egypt focus on democracy than economic recovery, they have a massive tourist industry and movie industry that can be revitalized once democratic standards and practices are in place.
Question?
What is more important when a country is recovering from revolution, the economy/getting back to normal or getting policy in place.
CH. 4
ReplyDelete"Tunisia possessed more of the homegrown ingredients for a home-grown successful revolution than any other." (65) Such ingredients included; the country's long history of political activism, resilient civil society, education and unarmed people, neutral army, relatively religious homogeneity and pragmatic Islamist movement
A huge factor that contributed to the solidarity between networks and the ultimate success of the Tunisian revolution was the ability for groups to put aside their "Islamists, leftists or nationalists persuasions". By doing this, civil society could put aside their differences and come together united in one cause, bringing down Ben Ali's regime.
Tunisia is only mid way through it's "revolution" and has a high likelihood of succeeding. "It has the basic institutions of a democratic state, a bicameral parliament, and a separate judiciary". (94) It is actively building the pillars needed to withstand corruption while striving to create a new political atmosphere and culture that aims to extinguish its presence. .. (as much as possible)
CH. 5
"Egypt had amounted not to a fully-fledged revolution but to a protest-inspired coup that had removed certain figureheads but left the reins of power in the hands of military junta." (99) Egypt still was tied down and under control of forces connected to an ideology of the past, making their transformation and path to "revolutionary success" very difficult.
Egypt's rapid GDP growth from the 2005- to 2010 masked the extreme income disparities and wealth gap in the country. While the country's GDP was rising, the number of job opportunities still wasn't, leaving many of Egypt's youth jobless or forced to work int he informal economy.
Division and discontent created an atmosphere for chaos and clash ad consequentially enabled the military to "sap the momentum of the labour and protests movements". (117) This allowed for the old disconnect between the politically active few and silent majority to remerge, divided and mistrusting of one another.
How did Egypt ever have a chance? It seems the military had already made up their mind/ agenda, how could and will Egyptian's defeat this new kind of tyrant? What does the military stand for?
Chapter 4.
ReplyDelete1. When talking about the United States, France and Britain’s foreign policies I love how the author says, “They appeared to dither and agonize, seemingly caught between their populist instinct to support protesters and their interest in propping up the dictators on whom their foreign policies had for so long relied.” (Noueihed & Warren, 65). I think that best summarizes the United States when they are faced to deal with revolutions happening in other countries.
2. I was not aware that Tunisia had a long history political and civil activism. Considering how young of a country they are, I would not have expected them to be the country to have one of the oldest activist group in the Arab world. The Tunisian League for Human Rights has been around since the 1970’s. (Noueihed & Warren, 68).
3. A cold hard fact on page 91 says that Tunisia’s GDP must expand by 7 percent per year to create enough jobs to satisfy the 60,000 educated young people that are looking for jobs each year. As a young Tunisian, that would make me very nervous, especially since the GDP has dropped almost 2% since the uprisings began.
Chapter 5.
1. “Of the 2.4 million unemployed people in Egypt in 2009, some 35% had university-level education or better, and in the capital, Cairo, the figure was 54%”. (Noueihed & Warren, 100). That is an extremely high number of college educated adults who are not just working regular wage jobs, but are actually unemployed. It is a frightening statistic.
2. Considering the fact that Egypt’s military was the largest in Africa and the Middle East it would make sense that their military would have such a huge role in Egypt’s uprisings. Also they had an extremely high expenditure of 4.6 billion excluding US aid. (Noueihed & Warren, 110).
3. The deal between Morsi and the lower-ranking military officers on page 118 seems a little bit sketchy to me. Even the author says that “The apparent deal raised questions over the depth of the reform the Egyptian system could now undergo…” (118). But, it did allow them to get rid of the old fashioned high ranking officers.
Q: Do protesters have any regret that since the uprisings have begun their GDP’s have dropped?
1.Tunisia
ReplyDelete-Ben Ali’s decision not to outright ban the non government organizations had been a wise move on his part. Hindering their actions by the power of the purse and creating laws that hindered their actions had been an interesting stop gap. Though it wasn’t surprise when things turned south for Ben Ali that had no one turn to in his own country because of his paranoia.
-Before the Arab Spring, Tunisia had been praised as one of the successful countries to not feel the effects of the economic downturn. Though as a country they were praised for it, government associations noticed that the divide between rich and poor cause some trouble later down the road.
-Towards the end of Ben Ali’s reign he had began to lose sight of his leadership and focus more on keep his wife happy. That is one of many reasons why the Tunisian citizens decided to oust their leader. His corruption and fixing the elections gave them the ammunitions to set aside their fears and stand against him.
2
-With the fall of Mubarak, once oppressed radical groups like the Muslim Brotherhood have been able to gain an incredible foothold in Egyptian politics. This is concern because as a country Egypt has the potential to shift from a liberal state to a conservative and religious dominated nation.
-The internet played a tremendous role in Egypt’s Arab Spring. It’s amazing just how ignorant governments are of the internet and its power it wields.
-The difference between Tunisia and Egypt’s military is that one played more of an integral role within the each other regime. That is perhaps the reason why Egypt’s military has been neglect to secede power to the people, they have much more to lose than Tunisia did.
question: Will Egypt make the shift to a more conservative state or will their new constitution appease all the opposing parties and meet their needs?
ReplyDeleteChapter 4
• “With little oil and less clout, this North African country of 10 million had been all but ignored by journalist” It’s crazy to think that a country that provides with lots of oil to the world can be ignore even by their own journalist. P 65
• “When I saw some young people I would never have imagined would stand against Ben Al, young people who have nothing to do with politics” Very powerful message saying how committed the youth was during protest. P 75
• “It was no longer a call for jobs and freedom, nor for an end of corruption and police brutality” The protest had every united that at one point that every Tunisian just wanted peace and tranquility. P.75
Chapter 5
• “Between the middle-class on wealthy young Egyptians, who campaigned for political freedoms on Twitter and Facebook” Once again where would the revolution would be right now without the power of social media. P.101
• “Under the US pressure, Murabak had allowed multicandidate presidential elections for the first time since 2005” If the Us would have pressed not only Murabak but other dictators, maybe other countries could be different. P. 102
• “Union leaders say that more than 3,000 strikes took place between 2006 and 2011” With the amount of people willing to go on strike throughout all of these past years, eventually people had to notice and eventually their demands were meet. P. 105
Chapter 4
ReplyDelete1.) “Astonishingly, perhaps, the better educated the individual, the more likely he or she would be jobless. Half the graduates with a masters degree were unemployed in 2010.” (page 67) This definitely stuck out to me, being in school, attempting to have this not happen to me and here I read that it’s the opposite in Tunisia. It doesn’t make much sense to me that the more education you have, the lesser the likelihood of finding a job.
2.) Boubdelli Bouebdelli describes his 2002 conversation with Ben Ali: 'I told him that I have a lot of demand to set up a pharmacology college and he said…in that case, 50-50. He said it in English not in French. I was sorry insdie that a president puts his hand out like that…I am an educator. I am not a businessman with billions of dollars. I said to myself, a person like this could sell the country…’” Two years later, Boubdelli clashed with Ben Ali once more when he refused to let a failing pupil from ‘The Family’ graduate from her class. Bouebdelli came under pressure from the education minister to change his mind. Soon after, the school was seized by the authorities.” (page 72) – I know this is a large quote, but I thought it best to rewrite the whole thing. This screams corruption on so many levels, and reminds me of the mafia. I mean, some of that stuff happens today in this country but not on this level. If that is just one example of the types of corruption occurring, I can’t even imagine all the other smaller and same-scale ones that are occurring on a daily basis.
3.) What Abdel Jelil Bedoui says on page 91 is pretty interesting because it maeks sense that problems like unemployment isn’t just a simple issue to fix and problems like this, that have been building for many years, among others, take time to fix.
Chapter 5
1.) “Egypt’s economy was motoring ahead in the last five years leading up to the uprising. Helped by emerging markets boom, foreign direct investment multiplied from some $400 million in 2003/4 to about $13 billion by 2008/9, peaking in 2007 before the global financial crisis hit. (page 100) That rise in the GDP is incredible to say the least but the thing that is most incredible is that there is still poverty since a lot of the money went to certain parts of the country and not others where it was needed.
2.) When Mubarak ordered tanks and troops in to restore order, the protesters cheered the soldiers, welcoming them as guardians of the people. Protestors gave the soldiers flowers and clambered on their tanks to have their photos taken. To some degree, this was a tactic used by non-violent demonstrators the world over, aimed at bringing soldiers onside and dividing their loyalties.” (page 109) – This relates somewhat to one of the films we watched in class, where some of the ] soldiers did in fact take the side of the protestors, feeling their pain.
3.) The army became something of a burden to the Egyptians it seemed, similar to something in the film we are watching in class. As it says in the book, “Activists and politicians who has welcomed the army began to ask if it would ever relinquish its new-found power, and allow Egyptian people’s success in removing Mubarak to be completed with a transition to rule by elected civilians.” (page 111) The film in class goes into the fact that first the protestors supported them etc., and the army said they would not fire a weapon at the protestors or something of the like, but then it turned, and they became more violent.
Why didn’t the government reduce the army presence following the overthrowing of Mubarak and let it settle down?
Fine work here, colleagues - yalla, we'll discuss in class.
ReplyDeleteDr. W
Ch4
ReplyDelete1. Between the year of 2010-2011 Tunisia was ranked as the 32nd most competitive country in the world based on Economy. Being in a region of economic turmoil we see how Tunisia has broken from this trend and is economically sound.
2. By the time the revolution began the Islamists were seeing great repression from the government, they were unable to meet or organize, but would still hold presence in other civil society organizations like unions, this made me wonder how something like this in America would play out, if one group in our country was not allowed to organize what would people do.
3. Journalists were banned from reporting on demonstrations, preventing the miners from gathering sympathy and support from other parts of the country. The repression that the journalists face is so hard to understand, being here where our media reports on everything it must just be so weird seeing news and wondering if this is the full news or what are they hiding. Even though they do hide allot in our country, nothing to the level here
CH 5
1. During the speech Mubarak gave I liked how they described the atmosphere, first describing the carnival like scene, music playing everything seems great, then silence, everything stops as he begins to talk, and then mentions several amendments none of which were what was needed to be worked on.
2. Even though Egypt was one of the largest and most differsivied economies in Africa, many Egyptians lived very poorly, over 21% under the poverty line. More than half the people lived under extreme poverty, which by the UN is listed at $1.25/day. This also caused for an increase in density in parts of northern Egypt or in larger cities, these cities were also having their infrastructure and services pressured by the enormous amounts of new residents.
3. In addition to Egypts army Mubarak has increased the interior ministry over the decade, during the nights the internal security apparatus would carry out the regimes dirty work. Clamping down on the protestors and other activists, who would be faced with beating and tortures. Since the year 2007 the ranks doubled of these ministry members.
Q. Will Egypt be able to fully recover from this atrocity? and how long will it take? Will their reconstruction period be quick or drawn out keeping many people in poverty?
Chapter 4
ReplyDelete1. One of the biggest factors in Tunisia’s favor is that it is simply not important enough to be interfered with by external actors (95). It seems that the best means towards success are to handle issues internally instead of seeking foreign assistance.
2. “While the GDP was growing, only 14 percent of Tunisians classified themselves as ‘thriving’ in 2010, down from 24 percent just two years earlier.” “Half of graduates with a masters degree were unemployed in 2010” These economic conditions must have been incredibly frustrating for Tunisians.
3. Overnight, the United States, France and Britain found that their longstanding foreign policies required a hasty rewrite,. They appeared to dither and agonize, seemingly caught between their populist instinct to support protesters and their interests in propping up the dictators on whom their foreign policies had for so long relied.
Chapter 5
1. non government organizations were becoming outspoken to the point that Egypt revised its association law in 2002, banning them from receiving foreign funding and requiring all 16,000 to register with the Ministry of Social Affairs, which rejected the applications of some already well-established rights groups.
2. Under the US pressure, Mubarak had allowed multi-candidate presidential elections for the first time since 2005 If the Us would have pressed not only Mubarak but other dictators, maybe other countries could be different.
3. 2. Egypt’s military was the largest in Africa and the Middle East. The 2010 expenditure was $4.6 billion. It is thought that the Egyptian military may control up to 40% of the economy and pays no taxes.
Chapter 4:
ReplyDelete- After promising to not run for election again Ben Ali declared an early election and a state of emergency. He then tried to flee to France but they told him he was not welcome there. This really speaks to the fact that if a country bans someone there is definitely corruption within that person.
- When Bouazizi set fire to himself that was not the first time his cart had been confiscated. It was the seventh time plus years of corruption and a slap on the face by a woman police officer that led him to set himself on fire. I am wondering how morals get so corrupt that a Country’s government and police will simply treat innocent people like garbage.
- Can we call what is happening in Tunisia a revolution or is it simply an uprising? Many Tunisians argue that there has not been much change but according to people who do not live there and only visit there have been vast changes.
Chapter 5:
- Although there were massive economic growth rates in Egypt the only people who were benefiting from this were the rich. This created an even bigger imbalance in the distribution of wealth that what was already present. The rich only get richer as the saying goes.
- We talked about this a lot in class but the protest in Egypt started on social media but once it gained momentum there it took to the streets. The book gives a reason not as much talked about which was the Egyptians took to the streets in order to evade the police. Which was interesting to think about how much less information the police might get if things weren’t posted on the internet for everyone to see.
- When Morsi a civilian and a member of the muslim brotherhood was elected president he had to prove his credentials. He had to fight the military rule and there was a lot of pressure to do the right thing. I can’t imagine anyone wanted this position you’re instantly a hero and a villain at the same time depending on who’s shoes you're walking in.
Question: Is there a way to run a government in which everyone can come to a consensus or will there always be these extremes?
Chapter 4
ReplyDelete(1) The arrogance and easily noticeable corruption is something I’m surprised the Tunisian people put up with. The list of extravagances was ridiculous especially the privately flown in jet of yogurt.
(2) The stage seemed to already be set for this revolution. “By the time Bouazizi set himself alight, the UGTT leadership’s reluctance to stand up to the state had already undermined its authority”. Even though it was off to a rough start in 2008 Tunisia has made their Arab spring the most successful to date.
(3) I am severely happy that Tunisia appointed the speaker rather than the prime minister. Also the fact that they knew they still wanted government just not the regime that had.
Chapter 5
(1) As we have learned many times in class Egyptians were once against the idea of rebellion. However, with this new idea of rebellion and freedom along with a different generation things were ready to be changed.
(2) It’s funny how when I previously thought of Egypt I never considered it to be a country that had such restraints on rights. I never knew such freedoms such as freedom to religion ad speech were squashed there.
(3) Also I never knew that other candidates were never allowed before 2005 when Mubarak was in power. Just because you are called a president doesn’t automatically make your country democratic.
Chapter 4:
ReplyDelete• Throughout Ben Ali’s presidency, he had not only made an enemy of the average citizens, but he had also removed many officials from office in order to concentrate the ruling power within his family. This power was used to keep his wife and family happy. One of the ways that he exercised this power was to give ownership of many large businesses to his wife. These actions served to breed contempt in the upper and ruling classes.
• After the uprisings in Tunisia a conflict erupted between the group of citizens who wanted a secular government and the citizens who wanted an Islamic government. The main extremist Islam group Hizb al-Tahrir worried secular Tunisians by segregating men and women on the road. There were also many who were concerned that Al-Qaeda would use the current state that Tunisia was in to recruit and mount attacks.
• Economic growth in Tunisia stagnated following the uprisings. Whereas the GDP needed to grow by 7% per year to satisfy the need for jobs. Prior to the revolution it had been at 5% per year and after the uprisings, the year 2011 saw no growth in the countries’ GDP.
Chapter 5:
• Following the uprisings, the 2011-2012 parliamentary elections where characterized by the short amount of time that candidates were given to prepare themselves and their support. Hundreds of candidates where running for positions so the only candidates able to get a significant amount of votes were the well-funded and already well known politicians.This election had a much larger voter turnout with about 62% of the adult population than the previous election casting their vote. The previous election in 2010 only had about 10% voter participation since most Egyptians knew that the ballots where already fixed.
• The citizens of Egypt started protesting the government’s rule the day after the annual celebration of the Egyptian military. This caused many Egyptians to feel unsafe even though the number of thefts and assaults reported had dropped. Many Egyptians did not support these protests and through that the military was doing well enough at running the country.
• The Muslim Brotherhood competed in the elections with the goals of using Islamic law to govern Egypt and equality among all citizens. These goals contradicted each other in that Islamic law gives more power to men in multiple occasions such as marriage decisions and the amount of inheritance that one receives.
Question: It seems like the book mostly focuses on the things that Islamists have done to support their cause. Have the secularists in Tunisia and Egypt done anything to offend the citizens supporting Islamic government?