Arab Spring-Revolution OR Chaos?
The set of uprisings that started in 2011 and continued till mid 2012 in the Arab countries are of as much interest as they were almost five years ago. Many critics, foreign policy makers and writers have viewed the uprisings instigated in Tunisia followed by large scale conflicts that resulted in Syrian Civil War, Iraqi Insurgency leading to civil war as well, the Egyptian Civil Crisis and coup, Libyan Civil Crisis and Crisis in Yemen with different angle, having a multifaceted approach as to the causes and more importantly its impact in the world. One question when one is studying history regarding the Arab Spring, also dubbed as “Arab Winter” by some journalists, is its repercussions. Perusing through the amount of casualties, genocide, homicide, military oppression and public protests, one cannot help but cringe at all the loss of life, the destruction of economic systems, social injustice and eruption of chaos in general life.
Are the people living in these countries safe? Are they receiving the basic utilities of life? Are they living or just existing? Hanging on to life's last hinges, What has their revolutions and protests brought them? Was their economy strong enough to withstand such mass level of dysfunction in political machinery? Have their protests reaped some benefits? In a plethora of questions, one seems at a loss for words. What to ask and what to expect, one never truly knows. As the World Wide Web states, nothing much has changed in these countries. There is still poverty, corrupt leaders and power hungry Military Generals still run the governments, people are still dying of hunger, educated students are still jobless, their future is as bleak as it was in the presence of the autocratic leaders. The only difference that seems to have actually occurred is that people have been robbed of their hope; hope that if they stood up for their rights, if they raised their voices and united, they can carve a better life if not for themselves, then their children. The Arab spring seems to have only brought chaos into these people’s lives, reinstating our belief in the fact that “Evolution, not Revolution is our supplication”.