Arab world? Democracy? Huh?

The news in Egypt as of this morning on Google News is about everything but Egypt. While there is a huge upheaval underway in Egypt, the rest of the world is discussing Egypt, not for the sake of Egypt or any of those misused words such as freedom and democracy, but for a more realistic reason of how it affects them.

The first headline is how the American politicians are now supporting a change in Egypt, thus risking antagonizing their Israeli allies. The second headline is how crude oil prices have reached USD 103 as tensions in Egypt escalate and then every national daily reporting from their perspective - how India should go on from here, how the Britons are returning home and another big mini-story within this story is the Egyptian government's control of the internet. 

I am really not quite sure how the whole turmoil and the call for democracy started in Egypt, but I am willing to put my money on the hypothesis that it must have started as some protest against some action, or inaction, by the government in terms of price rise, or crime, or any other issue of importance for any common man, and then when everybody realized that this is getting way bigger than a simple protest against the government, somebody must have thrown the D word in.

Anyways, even the first protest in Egypt must have been inspired from what happened in Tunisia. Speaking of Tunisia, whatever happened to Tunisia? Apparently the media has completely stopped talking about the country that actually can claim to be the forerunner in bringing such sweeping change in the Middle East. well, their dictator Ben Ali is gone, and a new government is in, so hopefully the rebuilding of that country is underway now. Egypt, being a bigger economy in the region, is now generating much more interest, and the events that unfold there will probably have a bigger impact in the region.

Okay, so in Tunisia, the rebuilding process is on, rather, should be on soon, as the Tunisian PM urges people to return to work after the "revolution"

Tunisia has had two changes of government since weeks of popular protests ousted former president Zine al-Abdine Ben Ali on Jan. 14. Demonstrations had already brought the country to a standstill but the ouster of Ben Ali has also emboldened many Tunisians to strike to demand better pay and conditions.

"The government calls on you to preserve its independence by returning to work, otherwise the country may collapse," Ghannouchi told privately-owned Hannibal TV.

The security situation is normalising, we have passed the crisis of recent days and we urge you to resume work and defer your claims to meet the challenges."

Marauding gangs of youths have intimidated Tunisians in recent days, rampaging through streets and schools and attacking government buildings.

The chaos was aggravated by a two-day police strike, but security forces returned to work on Wednesday.

Okay, so that's one. Now the latest on Egypt is that we know that currently the Pro-Mubarak and the anti-Mubarak supporters were clashing in the Tahrir Square. Before that, Hosni Mobarak had announced on national tv the he will not run for reelection when the country goes to Presidential polls in September. Egypt was tantalizingly close to being yet another nation with dynastic politics (such as India and North Korea), but Mobarak's son Gamil, who was supposedly being groomed to take over power, totally out of the equation. Of course, the Americans are all for democrazy in Egypt now that their ally's hold has been shattered.

Big churn is still expected in Egypt, but lets move onto other nations which were slated to be the next staging grounds for these "democracy" protests.

Yemen: Another bid for dynastic politics busted in Yemen as the President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, says he will step down in 2013 and will not pass reins to son. If only we could do the same in India, and bring some actual, real democracy in this system.

But back to Yemen,

“No extension, no inheritance, no resetting the clock,” he said, making reference to ruling party proposals on term limits that had been seen as designed to enable him to run again.

 

The move was Saleh’s boldest gambit yet to stave off anti-government turmoil spreading in the Arab world as he tried to avert any showdown with the opposition that could risk drawing people into the streets in deeply impoverished Yemen.

 

Saleh’s remarks came a day before a planned large opposition rally, dubbed a “day of rage,” seen as a barometer of the size and strength of the Yemeni people’s will to follow Egyptians and Tunisians in demanding a change of government.

Lets move onto another country. Which other country's name cropped up but some preemptive measures are under way? Ah yes, Jordan! So King Abdullah has sacked the government, appointed a new prime minister and has called for more reforms. King Abdullah, another of America's great friend in the region, is trying to "tune into" what the Jordanians want. Of course he realizes that sacking the government does not mean the axe over his head is removed, so has undertaken some serious economic reforms.

Next, umm, yes, the media had said something about Bahrain. Let's see what's happening there. Yes, the royalty of Bahrain has indeed gone into action and plans to bring about economic changes in their monarchy. According to this Canadian newspaper, the country was already a fledgling democracy, and the only one in the region to offer a safety net for workers, but still.....

Perhaps seeing the effects of the Tunisian and Egyptian upheavals, though, the King has met with advisers, security officials and Sunni and Shia clerics, pressing upon them the need to abide by the system and respect the law. The Gulf Discussion Forum also reports that the King was clearly worried and called on clerics and mosque leaders to counter calls from those who were trying to agitate in the streets. It did not elaborate.

The King also promised that Bahrain would see political reforms and improvements in living conditions in the coming days, and asked those who'd met to move quickly and take their responsibilities seriously. 

Moving onto another Middle East nation now. Yes, Syria's another candidate for change. But in the end, it might just turn into a damp squib, with people only protesting for the sake of protesting. In fact, according to Al Jazeera, the calls for revolution are strongest on Facebook! I somehow doubt if this will result in anything at all, and as a local journalist quoted above puts it,"I think the day of anger will turn out to be no more than a day of mild frustration." Am i the only one who finds this line to be really funny?!

I read about another country in the news today, Algeria, but it was about the government warning against violent protest against itself. Not that there haven't been protests, and already 3 people have killed themselves by lighting themselves on fire in protests. Being right next to Tunisia, Algeria would have been the first country to feel the heat from across the borders anyways.

So a lot of change has indeed taken place, and even if revolution may be a word that would be stretching the current state of affairs, I have no doubt in my mind that the kings and emirs and dictators (often meaning the same person or family), have been shaken out of their slumber, and we should definitely see many changes in governance in this region. While for the rich countries, it will be easy for the incumbent to employ economic reforms by spending money and keeping the people happy, the non-oil rich nations of the region, should definitely see bigger reforms, economically and even politically. Will all this affect the rich nations of the region, such as the ridiculously fundamentalist Saudi Arabia? Well, nobody knows for sure, but a study by a university in Israel says that at least some shakedown can be expected in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Morocco. Well, lets see how the Middle East emerges from this.