Paul Dook October 29, 2011 Arab spring fact sheet

The Nature of the Arab Spring The Arab Spring is the name that has been given to the recent wave of protests and political unrest in the Arab region of the world. This phenomenon began with the Jasmine revolution in December 2010 that overthrew the authoritative Tunisian government and has spread to neighboring countries including Egypt and Libya. The Arab Spring has exhibited a common demand for democracy and civil rights from the nations involved and has already lead to revolutions in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and has caused political changes across many other Arab Countries (Thomas).

Egypt What where the students goals? The Egyptian revolution began on the 25th of January. Tens of thousands of marchers occupied Cairo's Tahrir Square to protest against President Hosni Mubarak and his government. Egyptians had been growing angrier over a number of issues including government corruption, rising prices, poverty, and social seclusion. The major point leading to the revolution was the overthrowing of the Tunisian government by fellow Arabs. As the demonstrations in Egypt grew more violent, protestors rallied behind a common goal, the complete overthrow of the President Hosni and his government (Asser). How did they communicate? The protestors consisted mostly of young tech-savvy Egyptians. On January 28, in an attempt to prevent the protestors from communicating, the Egyptian government shut down internet access and some mobile phone services were shut down in certain areas. This only fueled public anger with the government demonstrators begin using non-wireless dependent devices to communicate. Through fax machines, land lines, and radio broadcasts, the protestors have been able to still coordinate their movements and get information out of the country (Daily Mail Reporter). What were their activities?

Isolated pockets of protest erupted into country wide demonstration on January 28 as thousands protested the government in Tahrir Square. They were met with repressive opposition by police forces (Asser). The government responded to the protests by shutting down all internet providers in order to cut off communication among the protestors. This only fueled public anger. Protestors turned to land lines connections, fax machines and in some cases dial up connections through foreign nations such as Sweden and France to spread information (Daily Mail Reporter). Quickly, police forces melted away and the army was called in to keep the peace. On February 1st the demonstrations in Tahrir Square had culminated into the March of The Million. Looting soon became rampant through the streets and neighborhoods set up armed night watch groups to protect their homes. The protestors had been relatively non-violent, but on February 2 progovernment demonstrators marched in Tahrir Square to meet the anti-government forces. The Scene soon erupted into violence as both sides began throwing stones and petrol bombs. Since then, the anti-government Forces erected barricades around Tahrir Square and voiced their refusal to leave until President Hosni Mubarak finally stepped down from power (Asser). Were they successful? The Protestors were successful. Under mounting pressures, President Hosni Mubarak resigned from presidency, finally ending his nearly 30 year rule. Power was then given over to the military which began drafting a new government and constitution (Asser). What has happened most recently? Since the resignation of President Mubarak, power has been given to the military which has dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution. The military said that it would give up control after a parliamentary election in the fall and a referendum was released in March for the public to vote and ratify amendments to a new constitution. Since then however, the military has been blamed for slowing the pace of democratizing the nation and remaining loyal to the core of President Mubaraks government, leading to fresh protests in the recent months. In august, Hosni Mubarak was brought into court to be tried for the deaths of those who died in the protests. In October, the military released a statement saying that an election would be held for parliament in November followed by a separate election for president. The military also announced they would now retain power even after the elections in order to see the transfer to democracy through. The Parliament will play a subordinate role to the military council for the time being until the new government is fully established and a new constitution is ratified, a process which might last until 2013. At the moment the future of Egypt has promising potential, but is still unclear (Egypt News- Revolution and Aftermath). What would I have done? I would have joined the protestors in the streets. I love that I live in a democracy and if I lived in country like Egypt that limited my rights, I know I would jump at a chance to change things. However, if I heard that looters were out, I think would go home and help be part of a

neighborhood watch to protect my friends and family because I feel that they should come first before government.

Libya What were the goals of the students? The major protest credited with starting the revolution was a demonstration held in the city of Benghazi. The protestors were angry over the imprisonment of a human rights activist named Fethi Tarbel. Tarbel openly spoke out against the government, especially in regards to the 1996 massacre at Abu Salim prison where more than a 1,000 prisoners were executed. The protestors were met by police forces that used water cannons to break up the crowds and eye witnesses reported that police were driving their cars at high speeds into the crowds. The situation quickly erupted into an anti-Gaddafi protest that spread to neighboring towns. Public anger over the nations rampant unemployment, poverty, civil rights violations, and lack of free speech fueled the protests which demanded an end to Gaddafi and his regime (France 24). How did they communicate? Revolutionaries had to be careful about communicating online because the government was monitoring sites like face book, twitter and other social networking sites. Some groups adapted and began using Mawada, one of the biggest dating sites in the middle east, to secretly recruit new members and communicate. They would pose as couples on Mawada and swap coded messages to each other disguised as poetry and love letters (Heussner). For the most part however, Libyans did not embrace the internet for communication as Egypt and Tunisia did in their revolutions. According to Nasser Wedaddy, a civil rights outreach director for the American Islamic Congress, Libyans were very afraid of the government monitoring the internet. What got information spread around was actually people outside of Libya who, free from Libyan jurisdiction, were able to take what photos and videos were uploaded and spread them around the media, creating much of the support for the anti government forces (Heussner). What were their activities? The protests that began in Benghazi evolved into a revolution and soon rebel forces consisting of civilian recruits and army personal that had defected made the city of Benghazi their base and quickly forced all security forces out of the city. Riots spread to neighboring cities and rebel forces burned down police stations and seized local radio stations to spread propaganda against the government. Pro Gaddafi forces moved to open war with rebel forces, engaging in ground assaults and bombing raids. Anti-government rebels were forced to retreat from the better armed pro-Gaddafi forces. Due to attacks on civilian targets, the western nations of the world gave their support to the rebel cause and began launching air raids on government strong holds and military convoys. With military advice and equipment provided by NATO forces, the rebels began slowly

advancing on the capital of Tripoli and held the city of Misrata in western Libya which was under heavy siege. After months of little progress, the rebels pushed forward with a new offensive and captured Tripoli. The rebels established the National Transitional Council which was recognized as the new legitimate government of Libya. Rebel forces went on to capture the rest of the loyalist held cities which finally resulted in the death of Gaddafi (Libya: the fall of Gadaffi). Were they successful? The rebel forces were successful. In their last major offensive, which took place from August 13 to October 20, they captured the capital city of Tripoli and all other cities still held by loyalist forces and on the 20th of October Gaddafi was finally killed in a rebel attack on his strong hold (Libya: the fall of Gadaffi). What has happened most recently? In recent events, the National Transitional Council has secured the capital of Tripoli and has begun the process of healing from the countries 8 month long civil war. In order to secure the nations stability, it is now trying to collect weapons from and disarm rebel militias that have sprung up all over the nation. Many weapons from Gaddafis military are unaccounted for such as thousands of surface to air missiles and money from western aid packages are going into the finding and destroying of these weapons. Libya has also begun reopening some of its oil fields to help stimulate the economy. Water lines and power grids that were damaged in the fighting are being repaired and schools and businesses are slowly reopening. In terms of politics, Libya is expecting difficulties with healing tensions between both sides of the conflict. The NTC has announced its plan for democratic elections in 2013. The elected group will help write up a new constitution for the nation. At the moment Libya is still in the early stages of rebuilding and its future as a democracy is unclear (Libya: Challenges Ahead). What would I have done? I personally would have supported the anti- government forces in Libya, but unlike my case with Egypt I am not sure if I would have taken to the streets. The Libyan conflict was much bloodier than Egypts and I would have had to have done what was right in order to protect my family. If I was in a city comprised mostly of loyalists, I would never take up arms out of fear for my family. If however, I was surrounded by a strong presence of anti-Gaddafi forces and I knew my family would be safe, I would join the rebel forces to help liberate the nation from Gaddafi.

Arab Spring Bibliography

Asser, Martin. Q&A: Egyptian protests against Hosni Mubarak. BBC. BBC. 17 March 2011. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. Daily Mail Reporter. How the Internet refused to abandon Egypt: Authorities take entire country offline... but hackers rally to get the message out. Mail Online. Associated Newspapers Ltd. 30 Jan. 2011. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. Egypt News- Revolution and Aftermath. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 17 Oct. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2011. France 24. Violent protests rock Libyan city of Benghazi. France 24. France 24. 16 Feb. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2011. Heussner, Ki Mae, Jeffrey Kofman. Libya's 'Love Revolution': Muslim Dating Site Seeds Protest. ABC News. ABC News International Ventures. 24 Feb. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2011. Libya: Challenges Ahead. BBC. BBC. 21 Oct. 2011. Web. 2011. Libya: The fall of Gaddafi. BBC. BBC. 20 Oct. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2011 Thomas, Lyn. Latest on Arab Reform Wave. The Tropic Post. 2011. Web. 29 Oct. 2011.