Austin Nelson
Professor Williams
Final - Multimedia research paper
Many factors contributed to the 2011 Arab uprisings, the biggest factor being corruption. Arab citizens fought for better conditions and the like, and from there, the goal of some uprisings turned more from fighting corruption to forcing the leader to step down from power. In Tunisia, “Corruption was rampant and the Ben Ali family, and that of his second wife Laila, were the principal beneficiaries.” (Andrew-Gee) In Egypt, some of the main causes for the revolt were torture, corruption, and economic issues. Those issues are almost identical to the issues that Tunisia faced, but Yemen, who also faced similar issues, had the biggest reason to play a part in the 2011 Arab Spring.
TUNISIA
Mohamed Bouazizi, the 26-year-old fruit and vegetable seller/martyr, who lit himself on fire after an altercation with a policewoman is often seen as the man who triggered the Tunisian Revolution. "He would come home tired after pushing the cart around all day. All he wanted was a pickup." Instead, he started a revolution.” (Abouzeid) Tunisia was the first country to overthrow their leader, after a 23-year rule where President Zine Abidine Ben Ali’s dictatorship had perfected its system of repression and censorship. The Tunisian citizens were living with rising food prices, staggering unemployment and a very corrupt system in favor of Ben Ali’s associates which made it very hard to find jobs unless you had some connection to the Family. When Tunisian mobs overran Ben Ali’s mansion, people visit it to remind themselves that they are free and to see the lifestyle their ruler was living. "The smell of fire is also the smell of freedom and happiness," declared Sami Soukah, a retired driver, as he looked up at the carcass of a crystal chandelier. "They stole the people's money. We are not sorry that this happened." (Raghavan) That about sums it up. It was no secret that the Ben Ali family was using the country’s money for themselves.
(Ryan)
(Staff)
The Ben Ali Family controlled many businesses and real estate, often taking them by force making them known as “The Mafia”. Rumors had been made, some confirmed in US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks. One of these being that the Ben Ali Family owned a pet tiger named Pasha that was kept by Ben Ali’s daughter and her husband. This tiger consumed four chickens per day (Noueihed and Warren) when the average Tunisian citizen could barely afford a meal. When this information got out to the public, it just added more fuel to the fire. President Ben Ali’s wife, Leilia was accused of marrying Ben Ali to turn her family, the Trabelsi’s into a powerful business clique. (Freeman) The Ben Ali and Trabelsi families controlled roughly 30-40% of the Tunisian economy, according to Daniel Lebegue, head of the French branch of Transparency International as told by “our Tunisian lawyer friend” “So a simple calculation allows us to say we're looking at about $10bn” This number is made up of all and is significant in all sectors of the economy: banks, distribution, transport, tourism, property. (Lewis) Ben Ali’s extended family seemed to be more corrupt than the president himself, but nonetheless Tunisia set the stage for many more uprisings to come, each with a different set of facts.
(Vacani)http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9763437/Tunisia-auctions-Ben-Alis-luxuries.html
EGYPT
Egypt’s uprisings weren’t all that dissimilar to that of Tunisia’s. Poverty, unemployment and government corruption all played key parts, along with excessive torture. President Mubarak’s first term made him look good, by calming the public, extending the rule of law, and releasing political prisoners. His second term, in 1987 was where things began to turn. He refused to reform the constitution, extended the state of emergency, promulgated laws to exclude opposition parties from local councils, and tightened the grip of the ruling NDP over parliament.
http://jimbovard.com/blog/2011/01/29/egyptian-uprising-an-inspirational-video-and-great-photo/
Privatization occurred in both Tunisia and Egypt, with Ahmed Ezz, a close friend of Hosni Mubarak’s son Gamal Mubarak controlling 60 percent of the Egyptian steel. The former minister of agriculture, Amin Abaza was the largest exporter of Egyptian cotton. There were many examples such as these, with close ties to the family owning all the businesses. Wael Ghonim, in his book Revolution 2.0, describes the conditions of being a prisoner and being mentally tortured, asking him questions over and over, having him stand, then sit and stand again. (Ghonim) “In both Tunisia and Egypt, the state put in place an all-pervasive security apparatus to monitor, frighten, and repress the population” (Gelvin) Gamal Mubarak. This was one of those security forces in action. It made everyone fearful, and so they kept to themselves, prior to Ghonim stepping into the scene.
YEMEN
Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, followed suit after the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, taking their chance to finally end the 33 year autocratic rule of President Ali Abdulla Saleh. “Corruption in Yemen ranges from financial and administrative, to the petty. We see money given to policemen to let traffic flow or to government employees to process paperwork that is their job to do anyway. We can even see it in in the personal contacts and favors that are given to certain people to move ahead in life. These acts too, constitute corruption where official power is abused.” (Aly) the citizens of Yemen are fed up with the corruption, and as with Egypt, saw the Tunisian uprisings as a glimmer of hope.
Yemen is at the point of corruption where it’s hard to improve. The corruption in the government is crippling the economy and making it hard for small businesses to start up. Only a select few get access to oil, gas, and subsidy contracts. The corruption also deters foreign investment. Yemen’s political economy is controlled by a small elite, made up of about 10 key players who run more than 80 percent of imports, manufacturing, processing, banking, telecommunications and the transport of goods. This, as mentioned before, leaves little to no room for further growth by the public. You need to know someone. President Ali Abdullah Saleh is worth an estimated $35 billion dollars, which he has gotten mostly through oil along with his cronies, skimming about $2 billion a year for the past three decades through the fuel-subsidy program. (Shakdam) Saleh’s worth is quite higher than that of both Egypt, and even Tunisia combined. Saleh has had 30 plus years of embezzling and extortion to grow that number though. Yemen is already one of the poorest Arab countries, and high unemployment rates, low wages, and rising prices don’t make for a happy citizen. (Raghavan, Inspired by Tunisia and Egypt, Yemenis join in anti-government protests)
All three Arab countries had similar reasons to revolt, Tunisia just happened to be first. Yemen’s president was in power for more than 30 years, where as Tunisia’s was in power for 23. Out of the three countries it would seem that Tunisia was the most corrupt, but Yemen, was corrupt on a deeper level. The roots of corruption run so deep that even after the revolution, the citizens of Yemen have seen or felt no tangible benefits. (Aly) Just because the Yemenis community wasn’t speaking out, didn’t mean corruption wasn’t being seen in all aspects of life. It was so bad that it became a way of life. A way of life that people were fed up with, and after they saw that Tunisia could topple their ruler, they fought back. The difference between Ben Ali, Mubarak, and Saleh, is how they ran their country. President Saleh took a different route, which in turn allowed him to stay in power for a decade longer than the other two, but didn’t decrease the corruption. “He has maintained power by cleverly playing off rivalries among tribal, religious and political divisions.” (Varisco) It will be a process for all three countries to rise up from their corrupt state, but NGO's and wide spread, awareness should help this process.
Works Cited
Abouzeid, Rania. Bouazizi: The Man Who Set Himself and Tunisia on Fire. 21 January 2011. 10 April 2014 <http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2044723,00.html>.
Ajmi, Sana. Tunisian Leaders: Tunisian Revolution Mainly Due to Youth Discontent, Not Wikileaks. 21 December 2011. 12 April 2014 <http://www.tunisia-live.net/2011/12/21/tunisian-leaders-tunisian-revolution-mainly-due-to-youth-discontent-not-wikileaks/>.
Aly, Hamdan Al. CORRUPTION IN POST-REVOLUTION YEMEN. 27 June 2013. 14 April 2014 <http://www.yementimes.com/en/1689/opinion/2556/Corruption-in-post-revolution-Yemen.htm>.
Andrew-Gee, Eric. Making Sense of Tunisia. 11 January 2011. 10 April 2014 <http://www.newrepublic.com/article/world/81611/making-sense-tunisia>.
Freeman, Colin. Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and his family's 'Mafia rule'. 16 January 2011. 12 April 2012 <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/tunisia/8261982/Tunisian-President-Zine-el-Abidine-Ben-Ali-and-his-familys-Mafia-rule.html>.
Gelvin, James L. "The Beginning: Tunisia and Egypt." Gelvin, James L. The Arab Uprisings. New York: Oxford Universtiy Press, 2012. 34-66.
Ghonim, Wael. "The Dungeon." Ghonim, Wael. Revolution 2.0. New York: Hougton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. 218-221.
Hope, Bradley. Mubarak Family worth hundreds of millions, not billions, investigators say. 24 October 2012. 12 April 2014 <http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/africa/mubarak-family-worth-hundreds-of-millions-not-billions-investigators-say>.
Lesch, Ann M. "Egypt's Spring: Causes of the Revolution." Middle East Policy Council XVIII.3 (2011).
Lewis, Aidan. Tracking down the Ben Ali and Trabelsi fortune. 30 January 2011. 14 April April <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-12302659>.
Noueihed, Lin and Alex Warren. "Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution." Noueihed, Lin and Alex Warren. The Battle for the Arab Spring. Yale University Press , 2012. 63-95.
Raghavan, Sudarsan. In Tunisia, luxurious lifestyles of a corrupt government. 28 January 2011. 12 April 2014 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/28/AR2011012801921.html>.
—. Inspired by Tunisia and Egypt, Yemenis join in anti-government protests. 27 January 2011. 12 April 2014 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/27/AR2011012702081.html>.
Ryan, Yasmine. How Tunisia's revoltion began. 26 January 2011. 2014 April 2014 <http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/01/2011126121815985483.html>.
Shakdam, Catherine. Following the Saleh money trail. 29 April 2013. 14 April 2014 <http://www.yourmiddleeast.com/features/following-the-saleh-money-trail_12470>.
Staff, CNN Arabic. How a fruit seller caused revolution in Tunisia. 16 January 2011. 12 April 2014 <http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/16/tunisia.fruit.seller.bouazizi/>.
The Atlantic. Deadly New Clashes in Egypt's Tahrir Square. 21 November 20111. 14 April 2014 <http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/11/deadly-new-clashes-in-egypts-tahrir-square/100192/>.
Vacani, Contessa Isabel. Lifestyles of the Rich and Tyrannical. 13 February 2011. 2014 April 2014 <http://isabellavacani.blogspot.com/2011/02/lifestyles-of-rich-and-tyrannical.html>.
Varisco, Daniel Martin. Yemen is not Tunisia or Egypt . 31 January 2011. 13 April 2014 <http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/31/varisco.yemen.protests/>.
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