May 8, 2024

Tunisia and Egypt’s government have now been overthrow. And the contagion spreads throughout the Arab world and possibly even beyond. This is absolutely amazing the scale of these revolts. Who would’ve guessed that the Arab nations would’ve had to deal with such massive revolts from within? Revolts currently have spread to: Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen.

What is causing all this? It seems like the nations share these common problems:
– High unemployment
– Inflation
– Escalating food prices
– Economic inequality
– Tyranical dictators
– Government corruption
– Inefficient bureaucracy
– Lack of freedom of speech
– Poor living conditions

I recently watched an Egyptian film, Terrorism and BBQ, that illustrated these problems as a comedy. I highly recommend watching this to understand the issues from an Egyptian point of view.

Links:
2011 Arab world protests
Time Coverage