First Arab Spring (dec 17, 2010 – dec 17, 2012)
Description:
A series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions sweep across the Arab world in SWANA beginning with a protest in Tunisia in North Africa in which a street vendor, Mohamad Bouazizi, lights himself on fire (self-immolation) in protest of government corruption and slow economic growth. This event and the series of protests that follow will be known as Arab Spring and initially spreads to the countries of Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, and Bahrain before expanding even further throughout the Arab World (Morocco, Iraq, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Sudan, Djibouti, Mauritania, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and the Western Sahara).As a result, 61,000 are killed and world leaders are removed from office, such as Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (President of Tunisia), Muammar Gaddafi (Prime Minister of Libya), Hosni Mubarak (President of Egypt), and Ali Abdullah Saleh (President of Yemen). These series of protests are significant due to the historical limitations of authoritarian regimes within SWANA which restrict political dissent, making them extremely rare.
Added to timeline:
Date:
dec 17, 2010
dec 17, 2012
~ 2 years