Freedom ?
Start of the Arab Spring
On the morning of December 17, 2010, fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi pushed his unlicensed cart towards the local market in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia.
His cart was full of some of the “best oranges, dates, and apples” he had ever seen. He proudly showed his wares to his mother the night before. “With this fruit,” he told her, “I can buy some gifts for you. Tomorrow will be a good day.”
Bouazizi was desperate to save enough for a pickup truck, so he could retire his hand-pushed cart. He was one of hundreds of salesmen jostling for business in a market that was rife with fraud and corruption.
Unfortunately for vendors like Bouazizi, local Tunisian police were a constant source of harassment and theft.
For years, Bouazizi had told his mother stories of corruption at the fruit market, where vendors gathered under a cluster of ficus trees on the main street of this scruffy town, not far from Tunisia’s Mediterranean beaches.
Arrogant police officers treated the market as their personal picnic grounds, taking bagfuls of fruit without so much as a nod toward payment. The cops took visible pleasure in subjecting the vendors to one indignity after another — fining them, confiscating their scales, even ordering them to carry their stolen fruit to the cops’ cars.
On this particular day, police stopped Bouazizi and tried to take bags of his fruit, but his uncle intervened with the chief of police.After trying to pay a bribe, one of the officers, Fedya Hamdi, retaliated against Bouazizi. She slapped him in the face, spat on him, and insulted his dead father. The police then beat him with a baton in front of more than 50 witnesses. The fact that his attacker was a woman only deepened his humiliation.
“Why are you doing this to me?” he cried, according to vendors and customers who were there. “I’m a simple person, and I just want to work.”
Officer Hamdi later claimed she never slapped Bouazizi, and was acquitted at trial.She did admit to confiscating his cart, and has since blamed herself for her part in causing the tumult that followed.
After the confrontation, Bouazizi went to the local governor’s office to complain, but the clerk ignored him, telling him to go home. Local police dismissed his claims as well.
The deeply humiliated man had reached his breaking point.
Bouazizi returned to the market and told his fellow vendors he would let the world know how unfairly they were being treated, how corrupt the system was.
He would set himself ablaze.
“We thought he was just talking,” said Hassan Tili, another vendor.
A short while later, the vendors heard shouts from a couple of blocks away. Without another word to anyone, Bouazizi had positioned himself in front of the municipal building, poured paint thinner over his body and lit himself aflame.
The fire burned and burned. People ran inside and grabbed a fire extinguisher, but it was empty. They called for police, but no one came. Only an hour and a half after Bouazizi lit the match did an ambulance arrive.
Mohamed Bouazizi died about two weeks later, on January 4, 2011.
Shortly before he died, Bouazizi was visited in the hospital by Tunisia’s authoritarian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. In front of television cameras, Bouazizi’s family was presented with a check for 10,000 dinars ($14,000).
After Ben Ali left, his staff took back the check. “I never got any of it,” Bouazizi’s mother said.
Word of Bouazizi’s self-immolation and violent death went viral on social media, sparking outrage. Tunisian citizens were all-too familiar with the arrogance of local government, and they set their revolutionary sights on the president himself.
Street protests spread immediately, leading to clashes with government forces. Less than a month later, on January 14, 2011, president Ben Ali was ousted as head of the government.
Bouazizi became a legend in the movement known as the Arab Spring. Throngs of protestors stormed into the streets across North Africa and the Middle East.
Seemingly untouchable government leaders were toppled in these countries:
Egypt - Long-ruling autocrat Hosni Mubarak was pushed from office after massive protests in Cairo.
Libya - a civil war led to European and American intervention. Dictator Muammar Gaddafi was killed.
Yemen - a brutal civil war continues to this day. President Ali Abdullah Saleh fled his office.
Civil wars or major protests also erupted in these countries:
- Syria
- Iraq
- Bahrain
Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Palestine saw minor protests, and other governments quickly instituted reforms due to popular pressure.
The consequences of this movement have been vast, and are still ongoing to this day. The Syrian Civil War has produced one of the largest refugee crises in decades, with fleeing families crossing the borders of Europe. Some governments have stuck with needed reforms, while others swiftly and brutally cracked down on their own citizens.
Bouazizi’s dramatic and desperate protest is easily one of the most impactful events of this decade. We will feel its effects for many years ahead.
Happy Reading ❤️
Peace ;)
Further Reading :
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/w...
[2] Bouazizi: The Man Who Set Himself and Tunisia on Fire
[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/w...
[4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/w...
[5] https://www.washingtonpost.com/w...
[6] Mohamed Bouazizi | Tunisian street vendor and protester
[7] https://www.washingtonpost.com/w...
[8] Fedia Hamdi's slap which sparked a revolution 'didn't happen'
[9] This is the woman who blames herself for the Arab Spring
[10] https://www.washingtonpost.com/w...
[11] https://www.washingtonpost.com/w...
[12] Mohamed Bouazizi | Tunisian street vendor and protester
