All you need to know about Arab World Protests: Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Algeria, Jordan

The entire Arab region is engulfed in popular uprisings sparked by the success of Tunisian Revolution. And it is all happening at lightning-fast speed, fuelled by Social Media and angry emotions. Here is a quick and dirty introduction to why and how this is happening.

Today hundreds of thousands of protesters are on the streets in capitals around Arab region, protesting for removal of incompetent dictators and governments. Starting from Tunisia, the anger has spread like wild fire and is constantly being fed by Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Overnight, dictators, who have ruled their countries for decades, are finding their position shaken. But for rest of the world, it is difficult to understand how a region that has not seen a government overthrow since 1979, is witnessing so many revolutions at once. Here is the explanation.

As had been pointed out by this blog, some time before these protests began, the catalyst for all of them is the rising food prices, unemployment and inflation, which has left these poverty-stricken countries in deep crisis. And to top it all off, each country had its own political baggage to exacerbate the anger. Here is how it all began.

Tunisia. Tunisia was the first to go. On Dec. 17, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi lit himself on fire in the small town of Sidi Bouzid, protesting the harassment from police. His name soon became the symbol for the revolution that swept the country (#SidiBouzid is still the rally point for all protesting tweets from Arab world). The wave of unrest, primarily due to unemployment and the rising prices, was worsened by recent Wikileak-ed US Government cables on Tunisian President Ben Ali’s corruption: “Whether it's cash, services, land, property, or yes, even your yacht, President Ben Ali's family is rumored to covet it and reportedly gets what it wants...The economic impact is clear, with Tunisian investors...fearing the long-arm of "the Family"...forgoing new investments, keeping domestic investment rates low and unemployment high.”

Beginning from disorganized rallies and sit-ins, the protests eventually grew so widespread that the president had to leave the country and go into exile.

Egypt. Since the success of Tunisian Revolution, at least six people have set themselves on fire in Egypt. On 25 January, Egyptians organized themselves on Facebook to protest the death of Khalid Said, a young man brutally tortured and killed by the Police last year. The protests quickly spread all over the country and shook the 29-year-old reign of Hosni Mubarak. While the protests have not been as widespread as in Tunisia, they have been going for three days.

The protests have come in an inconvenient time for 83-year-old Mubarak who was hoping to install his son Gamal Mubarak as his successor in the upcoming elections. As of now, the world and especially dictators around the planet are watching Cairo because if Mubarak regime falls, the juggernaut of these protests will not stop in Egypt.

Yemen. The protests have spilled over to Yemen which has been ruled by Ali Abdullah Saleh for the past 32 years. The country, one of the poorest in the Arab world, saw protests on the streets of its capital, Sanaa, last week, inspired by Tunisian. They ended up with the arrest of Tawakul Karman, a well-known female activist. To add fuel to fire, a rumor (unconfirmed) spread around Yemen that President Saleh, personally threatened Karman’s brother to rein his sister in.

As the Egyptian protests continued to spread, on 27 January Yemen too saw thousands march the streets of the country. The anger over poverty has been added to the contempt that the public feels over their government’s anti-Al Qaeda alliance with the US Government. In the past year, US has hit many parts of the country with drones, cruise missiles and special forces, all as its shadow war against terror, causing many civilian causalities.

Algeria. Technically, Algeria was the first one to see protests, as far back as 6 January. The protests broke out over fuel and food prices after a sudden hike in the beginning of the year. Since then riots have broken out in many parts of the country taking shape of a larger political agenda. The president of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has been in power since 1999. In 2009, he amended the constitution for him to run for a third-time for president.

To the date, at least five protesters have set themselves on fire. Yet, at present, Algerian protests are not widespread to affect the government or shake its grip over the country. The government has been relentlessly importing food at very high prices to keep the public happy and pre-empt any revolution.

Jordan. In the last two weeks, more than 5,000 people have rallied in Jordan to protest over high prices and unemployment. Jordan, which in the past has displayed good economic growth, has been hit by Global Economic Crisis, effects of which still continue to push the inflation higher in the country. The new government, which was brought in after removal of the last in 2009 amidst allegations of corruption, has been facing anger from the public for the last month.

Jordan is a constitutional monarchy and the king, Abdullah II, is a much beloved sovereign. However, the elected government does not share the same adoration from public. Faced with protests, the government introduced measures such as subsidizing the prices and raising wages of the civil servants. However, this is not considered enough by the people. The largest protest that Jordan saw was the day after announcement of the package. While completely overthrow of the government along with its monarchy is unlikely, parliamentary overhaul may happen sometime soon.

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