There is rapidly increasing political instability in a broad and globally important region which stretches across North Africa and on into Southwest Asia. There are some common characteristics, but there is no really satisfactory term to refer to the entire region. Most people are presently focused on Egypt and the tense and dramatic developments taking place there. I am going to attempt to provide some reasonably up to date information on the political upheavals that are taking place in other countries of the broader region.
There is a belt of predominantly Islamic nations that extends From Morocco on the Atlantic coast of North Africa to Malaya in the Western Pacific. These countries include over a billion people and include critical supplies of natural resources and strategically important geographic locations. They have a long history of conflict with The West, first with the nations of Europe and then with the US. It began with the crusades and has continued with regular periods of flareups in various hot spots. We seem to have entered a period of heightened instability.
Almost all of these countries have experienced periods of European colonial rule in the past. Most of them probably still have living citizens who can remember colonialism. In most cases violent conflict and protest was necessary to achieve independence. The political evolution which has followed that process has typically lead to political systems that are fundamentally different from the arrangements that are the norm in the US and Europe. Despite having formal constitutional structures, many of these countries are controlled by what are generally considered to be authoritarian regimes. The rhetoric of the present protests has a common thread of demands for broader participation in the political process.
The first eruption of the current wave occurred in Tunisia in December. Its economy has close ties to the nations of Southern Europe. The financial problems of those nations on the fringe of the euro zone washed over into Tunisia and seem to have played a role in exacerbating discontent with government policies and practices.
Tunisia
In what became known as the Jasmine Revolution, a sudden and explosive wave of street protests ousted the authoritarian president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, who had ruled with an iron hand for 23 years. On January 14, Mr. Ben Ali left the country, after trying unsuccessfully to placate the demonstrators with promises of elections. According to government figures issued later, 78 protesters died and 94 were injured during the demonstrations.
The social media of Facebook and Twitter played a role in the organizational efforts of a movement spearheaded by young people. As a result of much higher birth rates than The West the average age of the population of most of these nations is much lower than that of Europe and the US. The economies have not had great success at generating employment opportunities for them. This seems to be a major contributing factor.
On January 14th Ben Ali left the country, allegedly taking with him 1.5 tons of the nation's gold reserves. The prime minister Mohamed Ghannouchi attempted to cease power. When that plan was thwarted he attempted to create a "government of unity". However, very little in the way of unity has been achieved. Protest have continued but finally appear to be simmering down at least for the moment. The country has been operating under a state of emergency and imposed curfew. There are now tentative plans to lift that next week if the relative calm endures.
So far the tone of the revolution in Tunisia appears to have been predominantly secular. Islamic political parties were banned under Ben Ali's rule. According to a website the Muslim Brotherhood is making some attempt to establish an active voice in the on going political debate.
MIDEAST CRISIS: Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood Leader In Exile Calls For National Unity Government
The military has essentially allied itself with the democracy movement which was likely a key event in allowing the pot to boil over. So far the unity government has been highly unstable. The survivors of the old regime and the opposition leaders have found little in the way of common ground. A number of opposition leaders have withdrawn their participation.
As with other situations Wikileaks has played a role in stimulating this revolution. Documents that they exposed revealed numerous details of the financial and political corruption of Ben Ali and his inner circle. These leaks included a number of cables from the US embassy in Tunisia detailing the corruption that they were well aware of while the US maintained supportive relations with the regime. While Tunisia doesn't have the strategic importance for US interest comparable to nations such as Egypt or Saudi Arabia, these revelations and resulting outrage were part of an increasing familiar pattern across the region.
In addition to Egypt there are presently active on going protest in Yemen and Jordan. There are efforts to organize protests in several other countries that can be followed on social media. At the moment these include Morocco,Algeria and Syria. I will attempt to explore and track these situations in other diaries.