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Arab Revolutions in Focus

Fathi El-Shihibi - 7/7/2011

Revolutions do not come from a vacuum but they always create their own novel phenomena. Despite the Arab and Islamic motifs that characterized recurrent Arab revolutions the reasons behind such mass movements in the Arab World are neither a desire to create Islamic orders nor expressions of anti-Western sentiments but rather the impulse to demand human rights and solutions to worsening economic blights.

While the people of Bahrain and Syria are more adamant about the implementation of human rights rather than resolving endemic economic blights, the people of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya revolted to secure both. Arab revolutions in this regard are as unique as the Russian 1917 Revolution, the French 1789 Revolution, the Chinese 1949 Revolution and the American 1763 Revolution which erupted in reaction to chronic sociopolitical injustices and economic grievances. The sudden outburst of anger which characterized Arab uprisings from Tunisia to Yemen after decades of brewing yet bottled up indignation and resentment can be described in my opinion as the revolutions of “Arab outrage” or in Arabic, “thawrat al-Ghadhab al-Arabi”. Such spontaneous and simultaneous unleashing of outrage that sparked Arab revolutions and the eruption of self-awareness within the consciousness of the revolutionaries can be understood through particular aspects of political and social theories. On the one hand the aspect of political theory that may shed some light on the Arab revolts is the one describing the delicate and precarious relationship between political authority and the general population. On the other hand the aspect of social theory that may help clarify the cohesion and affinity that consequently developed between demonstrators is the one focusing on the nature and function of collective consciousness.

The literary critic Terry Eagleton in the conclusion to his book “Literary Theory” writes “We know that the lion is stronger than the lion-tamer, and so does the lion-tamer. The problem is that the lion does not know that”. The allegory to which he alludes is meant to capture the essence of the precarious relationship between intellectual freedom and political authority yet it can also be utilized to define the relationship between people in general and their political authority especially if such authority is despotic and oppressive. The specific similarity between the lion and people that I would like to point out here is the moment of self-realization. It is this moment that captures the full potential of either the enraged lion or outraged people and propel them towards a point of no return. This course of action undertaken to exact revenge for persistent psychological and physical humiliation and torture at the hands of their tormentors be they brutal dictators or cruel lion tamers is triggered at a moment when ultimate and selfless courage transcends all other emotions and considerations. As a matter of fact this allegory could also be instrumental in understanding the escalation and de-escalation of tension between the coercive authority of the state and the subversive power of the general populace. Once we come to an understanding of such forces then we may also be able to develop an understanding of such apparently unpredictable and spontaneous revolutions sweeping the Arab world.

While utilizing political theory to understand the monopoly of the state versus the mobility of the street, the social theory that identifies popular uprising in terms of the presence or absence of social consciousness can also be utilized to determine the initiation and course of popular uprisings. Social consciousness as coined by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) refers to the potentially overwhelming and unifying force that comes from shared moral values and common beliefs. According to both theories, self-awareness on the part of the Arab populace concerning the extent of their power vis a vis the sate eventually led to the eruption of a collective sense of indignation which was then transformed into popular revolts thereby tearing down the wall of fear and silence that surrounded them for so long. What exists at the heart of any revolution is the interplay between people power and state power and in the case of Arab Revolutions people power is gradually regaining the momentum.

Fathi El-Shihibi is a professor of Arabic culture, Islam and Arab and American comparative history, literature and culture. He is also the author of several books including “Journey of Islam” and “Arab, Muslim Travelers and the West”. Along with writing books professor El-Shihibi is a free lancer whose article are published in the United States of America and abroad.