His name is Mohamed Bouazizi. He’s the guy who is credited for initiating the uprising in Tunisia, and subsequently in Egypt, and then many other Arab nations. Based on what I have read, his action was not premeditated. He was a hardworking guy who was trying to help his family. He had plans for their futures — hopefully better ones than his. But something happened. Someone pushed him too far, beyond what he could take. His action was not premeditated, his action was out of desperation. He simply lost hope in a system which would not listen, let alone change.
Such system exists all around the world, with different levels of discrimination and at different stages of severity. For these Arab nations, Mohamed’s action was the tipping point.
As a Muslim, I would think that Islamic countries should have leaders who fear only Allah. And because of this, they would be just. But I was far off the mark. These people fear nothing. They are modern-day Pharaohs.
I was in Egypt at the end of 2008 and in Tunisia almost a year ago. I didn’t like what I saw, in Cairo especially. I noticed people were too money-crazy. Halal/haram seemed to matter very little, if at all. Swindling was rampant, and tourists (most gullible victims) were aplenty. People looked poor, lives appeared tough, younger generations were scrambling for jobs. I didn’t want to go there again.
I was rather shocked when I learned that one of my nieces was going to Cairo to further her studies (starting September 2010 in Al-Azhar). I voiced my concern, but plans had already been made for her. She had many nervous days during the uprising. She was stuck in Cairo International Airport due to multiple flight cancellations. Ideas were thrown onto the table on how to get her out, including my traveling there to get her. At last she managed to fly out, courtesy of Portuguese army plane (Malaysia still thought evacuation was not necessary at that point) with several other Malaysians (business people and staff of the Malaysian embassy in Lisbon).
The entire episode was nerve-wrecking. But none of what my family experienced could ever compare to what Egyptians had to go through on daily basis.
There are a few underlying issues, I believe. Number one is the (un)sharing of economic pie (due to corrupt practices). Number two is the size of the economic pie itself. It may not be enough for everyone (economy not growing in tangent with population). And number three is (the lack) of respect for basic human rights, which I think is closely related to the economic pie above — I mean, a man must eat. He must have money to buy food, and he must have a decent job to earn enough money to buy that food.
Riot or amok or setting oneself aflame are all desperate attempts to be heard. We don’t think these are appropriate actions under normal circumstances and we are correct. Humans will only resort to these once the alternative is grimmer. Example is when your basic human right is not fulfilled or under severe threat. It is just survival instinct. Read Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
To Mohamed Bouazizi, I pray that Allah forgives your sins and place you among the mukminin.
Nice post – I’ve never been to Egypt so your descriptions of what it was like on the ground were very informative. I’m from Turkey and to some extent we also have a similar money-hungry culture (which has its good and bad points).
With regard to the Arab Spring, in my opinion there were three root causes:
1. Poor business climate. Endemic bureaucracy and corruption stifled free trade and entrepreneurship. Hence business/job growth never kept par with population growth. The government cannot and should not create jobs – it should focus on creating the right business conditions so that the private sector can create them. When governments “create” jobs it reduces the amount of funds that can be spent on other areas of the economy and it can quickly lead a nation down the path of bankruptcy (a la Greece and most of the Western world today).
2. Over education of the masses. Popular thought had it that high levels of education would make people and the nation wealthier – wrong! Young folk in these countries went to uni until the ages of 25 – 30 (especially in Tunisia and Iran). They are as well educated if not even better educated than their peers in the West. However after their degrees many couldn’t find work all together, let alone in their specialist fields. Instead the education system should have been more relevant to the economy (a greater emphasis on entrepreurships, engineering, agriculture, and basic industries). Also by reducing the number of university positions, the Government then has more money to focus on other areas of the economy. There should have been less people wasting an additional 10-years of their lives (at a great cost to national productivity) to attend universities if they were to become farmers and fruit sellers at the end of the day. Over education (and misdirected education) is a big problem all over the world today including in the West.
3. A rapid rise in food costs. Since the GFC, thanks to the easy money policies of central banks from around the world, there is a wall of speculative money floating around from asset to asset. In the past two years a lot of that speculative money found its way into soft commodities (such as wheat, rice, etc). As a result the prices of these commodities exploded. Many people in the developing countries could no longer afford to completely feed their families.
Ps. Apparently Mohamed Bouazizi’s family are in trouble with the Tunisian people now. I’ve read that they accepted compensation money from the former President and are now seen as “sell-outs” by the revolutionaries.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13800493
Thanks & Selam,
E
Wow. You seem to know a lot about world news and economy. Thanks for your comments.