Essay Question 1. What role did identity politics, culture, religion, ethnicity, and nationalism play in the Arab Spring of 2011 and its immediate aftermath?
It could be said that globalism enabled the first events of unrest that led to the onset of the Arab Spring that caught most of the intelligence community unawares. It was on 17 December 2010 when a severely distraught street vendor by the name of Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself ablaze in an act of self-immolation. This was done as a result of the confiscation of his cart and merchandise, and the subsequent harassment and humiliation that was inflicted on him by a female municipal official and her aides. From a cultural aspect, all he was trying to do is recover his cart and merchandise so he could continue to sell his goods and support his family. He had repeatedly tried to recover his property, and the government basically shunned him, and then to be humiliated by a female, which in his religion, society, and culture was debasement beyond all imagination. These are just some of the …show more content…
Religion did play a role as the emergence of Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist leader in the Muslim Brotherhood, would ascend to be democratically elected as president of Egypt on 30 June 2012. Although trying to be a religiously tolerant nation by diversifying the government leaders, Morsi’s Islamic tendencies bled through and the populace started to take notice. It would have appeared that nationalism was being replaced by religious affirmation after Morsi assumed the presidency. Morsi’s term on office was prematurely cut short on 3 July 2013 after he was charged with numerous indictments including spying for Qatar that could have led to the death penalty. After Egypt, the protests spread to Bahrain, Yemen, and Syria. The protests in Bahrain were of short duration and were squashed rather rapidly with the royalty making some
It could be said that globalism enabled the first events of unrest that led to the onset of the Arab Spring that caught most of the intelligence community unawares. It was on 17 December 2010 when a severely distraught street vendor by the name of Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself ablaze in an act of self-immolation. This was done as a result of the confiscation of his cart and merchandise, and the subsequent harassment and humiliation that was inflicted on him by a female municipal official and her aides. From a cultural aspect, all he was trying to do is recover his cart and merchandise so he could continue to sell his goods and support his family. He had repeatedly tried to recover his property, and the government basically shunned him, and then to be humiliated by a female, which in his religion, society, and culture was debasement beyond all imagination. These are just some of the …show more content…
Religion did play a role as the emergence of Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist leader in the Muslim Brotherhood, would ascend to be democratically elected as president of Egypt on 30 June 2012. Although trying to be a religiously tolerant nation by diversifying the government leaders, Morsi’s Islamic tendencies bled through and the populace started to take notice. It would have appeared that nationalism was being replaced by religious affirmation after Morsi assumed the presidency. Morsi’s term on office was prematurely cut short on 3 July 2013 after he was charged with numerous indictments including spying for Qatar that could have led to the death penalty. After Egypt, the protests spread to Bahrain, Yemen, and Syria. The protests in Bahrain were of short duration and were squashed rather rapidly with the royalty making some