Arab Spring is a misnomer, A pseudonym given in order for the media to talk about what was really happening and remain politically correct. Sticking with the seasonal theme, the real name that i would give this period is the Islamic winter or even more foreboding the Islamic Fall.
Sounds awful does it not. Im sure if i had a higher reader count, I would be spammed with comments about islamophobia and whatnot but let me be clear.This position is coming from a very logical analysis of events. Even though I hate all religions equally, hate their institutions, their practices and anything else they do, I am not one to discriminate between any of them. The position i find myself adopting is one coming from looking at the trends that started in 2010 and are still continuing to now.
Tunisia was the epicenter of it all. Major protest started occuring all over the country demanding the resignation of Ben Ali who some might say was somewhat despotic. This was a somewhat innocent beginning but then the religious organizations joined in and turned the political aspirations of the protests into the doctrinal fervor culminating into a religious uprising. Key among these organizations was the Islamist Ennahda party. Ben Ali abdicates, The country votes, The islamist are unable to acquire power, they revolt again and finally they get their desire; political power.
All the meanwhile, the other islamic integrists in the other countries are watching. They see an opportunity to increase their power. Starting in egypt, When riots begins occurring, The Muslim brotherhood which had been banned from politics fans the flames of revolt in the city, Alexandria and Suez, forcing the armed forces to act and overthrow Mubarak, And when elections occur, it is not surprising that the Muslim Brotherhood have not only won the presidential election but many of the local elections.
In Algeria, the situation seems even plainer. We have an actual religious terrorist group, The Islamic Salvation Front which somehow had won power in the 1990’s but then lost it due to popular revolt , civil war and democratic action. They are largely recognized as one of the key movements behind the 2010 protests. However, unlike the other countries algeria was able to resist the Fighting of the other countries mainly due to the memories of the civil war.
In Jordan, the Muslim Brotherhood essentially forced King Abdullah II to dissolve parliament and involve them in it. In Syria, Isis was a key part to the unraveling of the country, In Libya again we have the Muslim brotherhood. In Nigeria, We have Boko Haram going through a resurgence since 2009. The only noted exception to this is Mauritania which was not Arabs protesting but blacks protesting against the largely Arab government. The thing tying all these things is not Arabic descent rather Islamic religious organizations fighting for power, as such Islamic Fall is a more fitting term to it than Arab spring.
