Something is brewing in the Middle East and nearby Islamic countries. Country after country are under going transformation and the change is coming from the least expected quarter, the people i.e. civil resistance. Democracy in the Arab/Middle-East world is not a fully functional word. In some countries its royalty that rules the roost, in others black as night dictatorship is backed by an unaccountable military.
Some of these dictators have ruled for decades and decades. Muammar Gaddafi as the Libyan head has ruled for 42 years although it looks increasingly unlikely he will manage to stay in power for his 43rd year. Tunisia gained independence from France in 1956 and it has had only two presidents. The first one, Habib Bourguiba ruled for 30 years followed by Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who was President for 23 years until the January 2011 uprising forced him out. President Hosni Mubarak also ruled Egypt for 30 years before being forced out.
In the case of Tunisia and Egypt, it was non-violent civil uprising to led to the ouster for their respectively leaders. The resistance was bloody for the protesting people. Many lost their lives. An estimated 800+ people died at the hands of security forces in Egypt in the first half of 2011. In many ways Tunisia laid down the marker for the rest of the Arab world and will be viewed by history as the catalyst for change. The January 2011 success of Tunisia was followed by non-violent civil resistance and disobedience in countries like Egypt and Syria.
The prosecution of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has largely been an American show. They send their armies and toppled the Iraqi regime. Then they caught Saddam and handed him over to the locals. Saddam's hearing was short, swift and brutal (and well deserved) but none of it would have been possible without the Americans. Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali however became the first ruler in memory to face justice arranged and dispensed entirely by the people whom he ruled for more than two decades. He escaped to Saudia Arabia and was sentenced to 35 years 'in absentia'. Public perception has always been that such powerful men remain out of the reach of law. That the law does not apply to them in the same way it does to the common people. With Hosni Mubarak now in custody and charges laid down against him, this is expected to change. Mubarak's trial will be the next landmark for people from the Arab world. It has garnered the maximum eyeballs from across all the Arab worlds. The rest of them Dictators better watch out. The winds of changes are blowing across the Arab world. Syria and Libya are next in line for revolutions.
* Longest serving rulers in the modern world have not come from Arab countries. Cuba comes first, with 49 years of rule by Fidel Castro. North Korean President Kim-II sung has been in power for 45 years. I am discounting royalty.
* If Tunisia is be regarded as the catalyst for change in the Arab world then Mohamed Bouazizi has a curious role to play. He was an ordinary poor street vendor supporting a family of 8 members. In December 2010 he self-immolated protesting against the humiliation and injustice meted out against him by the local police and bureaucracy. His protest and government apathy and high handedness to public outrage ultimately led to Abidine Ben Ali ouster by January 2011. Sadly he did not survive to see the day.
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