Reflections on Violence and Nonviolence in the Arab Uprisings
LSE BLOG
Following the overthrow of the Tunisian and Egyptian presidents in the last two months, the Arab uprisings appear to have stalled. Across the Middle East, the region’s leaders appear to have absorbed the lessons of Tunis and Cairo quickly in order to remain in power. The use of state repression, including security forces to remove demonstrators and the arrest of dissidents has occurred at a growing rate over the past month.
In the wake of Mubarak’s fall, attempted ‘days of rage’ were quashed in Saudi Arabia and Iran. Last week the Bahraini government received support from the Saudi armed forces in quelling the protests. Meanwhile, in Yemen the opposition appears to be heading down the same path as in Libya, where they have taken up arms against an increasingly repressive regime. Indeed, much of the media focus is on events in Libya, where the future of the ‘Arab spring’ may either be sustained through an opposition victory or broken by a successful counterrevolution by Muammar Gaddafi.
