The Tunisian revolution was an intensive campaign of civil resistance, consisting mainly of a series of street demonstrations that took place throughout Tunisia beginning 0n December 17, 2010 and led to the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali 28 days later on January 14, 2011 ending 23 years in power. The demonstrations were reported to have started over unemployment, food inflation, corruption, freedom of speech and poor living conditions.
Anti-Mubarak protests in Tahrir Square.The Egyptian revolution was a similar series of street demonstrations, marches, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes that began in Egypt on January 25, 2011, demanding the resignation of the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. On February 11, 2011 Mubarak resigned from office as a result of determined popular protest.
Meanwhile there is unrest in other areas of the Middle East.
Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon are the least likely to witness similar unrest, though the last two obviously face other serious threats. While countries such as Mauritania, Morocco, Jordan and Yemen politically have more in common with Egypt and Tunisia – and in some cases have already seen protests, their low levels of political development suggest that mass uprisings could be hard to sustain.So are we seeing history being repeated? Is this a Middle Eastern version of the fall of the Iron Curtain? Will Arab dictators and monarchs being replaced by democratic systems or will they be replaced by Islamic theocracies similar to Iran?
Anti-Communist protests at the Berlin Wall in 1989The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989. The events that demolished the Iron Curtain started in Poland, and continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romania. Romania was the only Eastern-bloc country to overthrow its communist regime violently. The experience of these regimes under democracy and capitalism has been mixed but their proximity to Western Europe has ensured that the 1989 revolution prevailed.
Islamic anti-Shah protests in Tehran in 1979However, the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran was a totally different experience where Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was replaced with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution. Demonstrations and strikes against the Shah began in January 1978 paralyzed the country. The American government chose to abandon its ally and the Shah left Iran for exile in mid-January 1979. In the resulting power vacuum two weeks later Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran to a greeting by several million Iranians. Iran voted by national referendum to become an Islamic Republic on April 1, 1979, and to approve a new theocratic constitution whereby Khomeini became Supreme Leader of the country, in December 1979.
