Alcantara 1

Ahtziri Alcantara
Mr. Lopez
Block 3
August 20, 2015
It seems that when we talk about being oppressed by our government, we
assume that that doesnt happen anymore, but it continues to occur all over the world.
For instance, the Arab Spring is a revolutionary wave that lead to a series of chaotic
events lead by anti-governments across the Middle East that began in early 2011.
Various parts of the Arab world decided to confront their governments with a spark of
fear, but the desire to acquire liberty was a lot more massive. The perseverance and
optimism in the middle east became contagious and everyone was ready to stand up for
their own opinions and believes.
The oppressive dictatorship and tyranny has been part of the Arab countries for
many years; However, a couple of years ago the people arrived to a point where they
could no longer take the feeling of being treated like the governments puppets. Many of
the Arabs of the region have become educated and are aware of the injustice that they
are living in. The principles of democracy are clear to them and they are not willing to
adapt into a dominating country; instead, they want reforms to occur. Consequently,
citizens in countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Syria are battling to obtain a limited
government who will respect each and one of their rights while obtaining a rule of law
that the whole nation should follow.

Alcantara 2

A middle east analysts at Lebanons An Nahar newspaper stated, All the

people in those countries live under similar suppression despite the differences in their
regimes This is a way to prove that the Egyptians were actually being abused and
this is a reason why they werent satisfied with their governments; they were simply tired
of being controlled. As a matter of fact, there is a part in the Egypt in Crisis video where
a Brotherhood motivates the Egyptian protestors by making them repeat, We dont
want more traitors. This is a reflection of how the people felt betrayed by both the
government and the army. The people were not willing to accept a system of
government that would try to manipulate them with lies and corruption.
The protesters were able to reach one of their goals which was to reinforce the
creation of new governments. They achieved this while being influenced by Locke's
ideology. On the other hand, the Dictators keep relying on the ideas of Hobbes because
they are not willing to change the dominating way in which they govern their people.
Even though it appeared like the government and the citizens had been able to
compromise and make a social contract, the dictators, eventually, betrayed them and
the intentions to restrain the Egyptian citizens persisted. The government did not trust
the capability of the citizens to obtain authority; this caused an immense disappointment
within the Arab World since they realized that Hobbes's ideas were still blocking the
opportunity for them to obtain the liberty and rights that they deserve.

Alcantara 3

Obviously, the Egyptian citizens were the individuals that prompted the making
process of new governments because they were desperate to obtain a positive
reformation. Little did they know, that as soon as the new government received its
position, they would lose their opportunity to get involved in the decision making of their
countries. Even though, most of the Arabian countries had had the ability to remove
unjust dictatorship, they are still far away of attaining democracy, human rights, rule of
law, and economic growth. The new governments were still restricting the principles of
democracy and it appeared like they were becoming the reflection of the Islamic laws.
From my point of view, i think that these former tyrannical governments resist to
embrace democracy because they are closed minded and ignorant. I assume that they
are afraid to lose their power and authority over the country they govern, nevertheless
there are different techniques to achieve this. Getting the citizens of a country involved
in the decisions that affect their own lives should be a governments priority. No one has
the right to control and dominate other human beings; we should all be able to share our
opinions and create a difference in the country that we own.