A decade of spring

As tumultuously as it may have begun, the Arab Spring elicited much optimism among the people during its initial months. Catalysed by a social media landscape that was still emerging, the spark that lit up in Tunisia, the North African Arab country, soon fanned flames of revolution across the whole Arab region. A world that was still coming to terms with unprecedented interconnectedness watched on and hoped to see a new Middle East – one that would be considerably more democratic and inclusive.

Ten years on, the results of those winds of change seem drastically different from what anyone back then hoped or expected. They also appear considerably bleak. Much of the Middle Eastern region is still firmly under the stranglehold of autocrats, and those nations, ironically enough, are better off. Others, like Libya, Syria and Yemen, continue to be the site of violent civil wars that, far from waning, have drawn in powers both new and old.

Polls have revealed a majority of those living in the nine countries engulfed by the Arab Spring feel they have been left worse off than before. Even Tunisia, where democratic change proved rather resilient, there continues to be widespread disillusionment among the people. There is no doubt that we deserve better from our leaders and regimes, in the Middle East and beyond. Still, the ultimate fate of the Arab Spring tells a cautionary tale about the intoxicating effects of revolution.

If the world were ‘perfect’, nations would chart their path to progressiveness in vacuum. The real world – needless to say – is far more complex. There are far too many vested interests, especially when the region in question holds immense strategic value. Even those with the best intentions can become unwitting proxies for those that would value soil over life.