Why Iraqis and Lebanese have reached breaking point
Anti-corruption protests in Lebanon and Iraq have once again brought to the fore the underlying socio-economic woes that sparked the Arab Spring in 2011. When Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi doused himself with petrol on December 17, 2010, it symbolised the exasperation felt across the Arab world with self-serving elites that had long neglected the public […]Antoun Issa reports for The National:
Anti-corruption protests in Lebanon and Iraq have once again brought to the fore the underlying socio-economic woes that sparked the Arab Spring in 2011. When Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi doused himself with petrol on December 17, 2010, it symbolised the exasperation felt across the Arab world with self-serving elites that had long neglected the public interest.
The uprisings in 2011, which spread from Tunisia to Egypt and Libya, were far different from the largely sectarian conflicts raging across the region today. The main points of contention then were social justice, dignity and lack of opportunity. However, the current wars in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya have served as distractions from the social and economic concerns that caused much of the region’s instability in the first place.
