Someone told me a few years ago that the Middle East will « blow up » some day, due to the massive poverty and corruption. Later on I read that Arab intellectuals said the western model of democracy will never work in the Arab countries. I suppose they hadn’t asked what the “regular” people thought. Right now we do not know whether democracy will be implemented or whether it will work. But we know that the Arab people want change.
I think they have been rather patient. Libya’s military leader has ruled for 40 years, Tunisia’s president for 24 years, Egypt’s president for 30 years, Yemen’s president for 33 years (if you count his presidency of North Yemen) and Algeria has been at “state of emergency” for almost 20 years.
I believe we humans are extremely adaptable and that we do the best of the situation we are in, and I suspect that this ability has been a contributor to the Arab people living with their dictators for so long. But then again, there is a limit for everyone, and with the access to uncensored media (Facebook and Twitter for example) that we have these days – I think more and more people realized that a country’s riches can be more evenly shared, and that leaders should to be changed out now and then.
Who knows what the changes in the Middle East will lead to? How will this impact the region and the world the next 10 years? We live in historic times..
