Revolutions across the Middle East have been much appreciated by the political arena, media, and people. People taking to the streets in what is now called “The Arab Spring” protesting against their oppressive regimes which they have been ruled by for decades sounds very heroic, courageous, and perhaps rational; and when you think about it, it does reflect the unity of people and their willingness to sacrifice for the sake of justice and freedom.
However, when we look at the bloodletting, sectarianism, and divisions which resulted from these revolutions, a question comes to mind: was revolutions the only solution to end those dictatorial regimes? Was there a better alternative that could have preserved people’s life and narrowed the chances of falling into chaos and upheaval?
First of all, if a nation is ought to overthrow a president, they should consciously realize that the corruption which they have been living under was not caused by this single person, rather by the entire regime, the entire government, the entire system. To think that Mubarak, Assad, or Gadhafi were the masterminds behind the political, social and economic disasters the country has fallen into, and that by ousting them the people can elect a new president who will fix the situation is rather irrational. These oppressive regimes were not born in a day and night. It took years for this corrupted ideology to develop, spread, and be absorbed.
Therefore, the counter alternative of revolutions is a process that will take not days or weeks, but a number of years that is equivalent to the years lived in corruption. People must realize that in order to solve the crisis, the ideology behind their suffering must be brought to an end peacefully and without meeting chaos with chaos. The suitable solution would be to take a soft transitional process to fix the situation inside-out, not the opposite. Starting by fixing the non-political entities in the country: education, health, judiciary… etc. the reason is, a corrupted system means corruption reached those non-political elements, it means the society has been drowning in corruption for years which people have become part of, and it is impossible to eradicate it in a short period of time.
Through this process, people will not only contribute in the making of a better future, but will also spread awareness among people and raise a responsible generation that does not accept corruption and is willing to preserve its values and morals in the face of a dictatorial regime. Slowly over the years change will inevitably reach the political domain and the regime will fall subsequently.
Undoubtedly, it will take many years, perhaps generations, to witness the change. But what have been subverted throughout the years cannot be reversibly fixed by a revolution that lasts a week, a month or even a year. The consequences of a revolution will lead to drastic circumstances, civil war, bloodletting, subversion, and yet worse another tyrant might seize power. These drastic events, again, will not end in a day and night; years might pass before peace is finally restored.
Looking back at countries that were part of the Arab Spring, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, and Syria, none of these countries are living a “spring” after the successful ouster of their presidents. Most if not all of these revolutions suffered, during and after the revolution, from violence and killings. Peaceful protests in Syria drifted into a civil war with the Assad regime clinching to power for more than two years, and now a sectarian conflict has evolved leading the country into more turmoil. In Egypt, though the revolution seemed successful and promising after the Egyptians had their first democratic elections, it is as if they are going back to square zero after the military coup that ousted the first democratically elected president. The military is now violently dispersing sit-ins killing hundreds of people. Other countries are not far better, old regimes are trying to get back to the political scene or are already back, divisions among political groups are causing more instability and there is this struggle to find a national political process that will unify the country.
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