Protests have erupted across the Middle East after Egypt’s own revolt toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak from power, a departure from a region marked by iron-fisted autocratic rule.”People went out to express and voice their feelings, but didn’t have any expectations, Egyptian student Sayed El Salamony said with respect to Egypt’s first day of protests on Jan. 25. Salamony, who is at DePaul on a student visa and serves as the vice president of the Middle East Politics Association, said the protesters’ low expectations were “why they were able to accomplish so much.”
Protests demanding for better government, social freedom, and in some cases, for government officials to resign, have spread across the Middle East. The political future of the oil-rich region still remains unknown, causing many to worry if it will disrupt the world’s economies.
Egypt’s protests followed in the wake of a Tunisian revolution that ousted longtime dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. The events have been said to be reflections of a deep-seated political unrest with regimes that have ruled many of the Arab states for decades.
“What took place in Tunis is a game-changer,” political science professor Khalil Marrar said. “Regardless of its outcome, it has shown that the status quo of lifelong governance in the region is tenuous at best, and at worst, a concept on the wrong side of history.”
Many of the leaders have taken preemptive steps to provide concessions to the protestors, offering monetary incentives and increased subsidies for food, as well as promises of greater social freedoms to stave off protests. Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa promised a $2,650 check for every Bahraini family, while Algeria ordered an end to the country’s own emergency laws.
“During good times, Arab states could have their governments’ sins overlooked through subsidies and virtually bribing the population into complacency,” Marrar said. “However the global economic crisis and its aftermath have made the cost of conducting the business of state in a way that’s prohibitively high.”
According to Islamic studies professor Khaled Keshk, the protests, which he said are for fundamental human and political rights, could not be extinguished by any amount of monetary incentive.
The increasing number of protests have led some to worry whether they will escalate into greater violence, as many of the countries’ regimes have begun to crack down on demonstrators. According to the Egyptian Ministry of Health, 365 people died during Egypt’s 18 days of protests.
“I think it’s a genuine expression of popular will-‘people power’-that millions in the region have dreamed of for decades,” Marrar said. “However, as any student of history knows, the results will be mixed, oscillating between democratic governance, military rule, outright chaos, and post-revolutionary repression.”
Sayed called on students in the DePaul community to support the popular protests in the Middle East.
“Students can call for the United States to reconsider its alliances with Arab regimes; this does not entail intervention, like the Iraq War,” he said. It is “simply to protest against U.S. support for oppressive regimes in the Middle East,” and added, “We want democracy, not hypocrisy.