On 17 December 2010, A Tunisian college graduate and fruit vendor, Mohammed Bouazizi, set himself alight in protest at his mistreatment by Tunisian police. Weeks later the protests sparked by his death brought down the regime of Tunisia’s long time dictator Zine El Abedine Ben Ali. Soon much of the Arab world was convulsed in domestic unrest, as popular uprisings toppled regimes in Egypt, Libya and Yemen and seriously challenged the stability and cohesion of Syria and Bahrain. Even those regimes not seriously challenged by similar uprisings have been forced to respond to both new popular demands for socio-economic and political change and new forms of protest, as opposition movements harness the power of modern telecommunications to challenge stagnating political systems. The consequences of these various national uprisings will be felt for years to come and in probably in ways that it is impossible for anyone to imagine today.
