In a country most can't place on the map, the first successful Arab popular uprising

Tunisia - Arab World's First Popular Uprising -Zvi Mazel

Tunisia was not a country made of revolutionary material. [The] government was stable and the economy prosperous. The country had expelled leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. Since then, the West had seen in Ben Ali a bulwark against radical Islam. What no one wanted to see was that Ben Ali ruled with an iron fist and suffered neither legitimate opposition nor criticism. Corruption was rampant and the Ben Ali family, and that of his second wife Laila, were the principal beneficiaries.

Suddenly the world was looking at a successful popular Arab revolution. There had been revolutions in the Arab world since it became independent of foreign colonial powers, but they were all military coups. What happened in Tunisia was different. It was started by the people, not the leaders, and their spontaneous protest appears to have been an authentic popular uprising. Arab countries are worried. Royal and presidential palaces are wondering whether this revolution will be the harbinger of more.
(Jerusalem Post)


A Sudden Tear in the Fabric of the Arab World -Doug Saunders

The violent events that reached a climax in Tunis aren't just the first full-fledged popular revolution the world has seen in some time - they're a sudden tear in the fabric of the Arab world, an irreparable rupture in the slick logic that has held two dozen countries in half-development limbo for generations. To most outside observers, the Tunisian uprising seemed to appear from nowhere.

The people - and these were clearly ordinary citizens, not bearded Islamists or foreign-funded elites - won the day.
(Globe and Mail-Canada)


Does Tunisia Mark a New Phase in Arab Politics? -Barry Rubin

In Tunisia, a popular uprising fueled by unemployment, economic suffering and long-term discontent has overthrown the dictator, but not necessarily the dictatorship. Is this going to spread? Does it mark some new phase in Arab politics? Probably not.

Tunisia is a very distinctive country. It has been the most Europeanized state in the Arab world, with the lowest proportional support for Islamism among its population. In Tunisia, the opponents' lack of leadership and organization is likely to mean that the same elite and the army will remain in control of the country.
(Jerusalem Post)
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