Introduction:
A recent “bottom-up” social movement that attempted to challenge global inequality is the Arab Spring, which involved many countries engaging in similar protests. A specific case within the Arab Spring movement is the Egypt Revolution, which set out to accomplish specific goals and managed to achieve many of them including the resignation of government officials and regimes as well as the abolishment of oppressive laws. The Egypt Revolution is an example of how “bottom-up” social movements can be successful in many ways, while also emphasizing how major social change does take time, perseverance and nurturance.
Background:
The uprising began on January 25th, 2011 and is still ongoing. On January 25th, known as the “Day of Revolt”, thousands of protestors gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square (the epicenter), as well as many other Egyptian cities, including Alexandria, Mansoura, Suez, Luxor, Dairut, Shebin el-Kom, El-Arish, Sohang, Minya, Ismailia, Zagazig and the Sinai Peninsula, to protest the current government regime and form a new democratic government.
It has been speculated that aside from societal issues, the revolution was inspired by the Tunisian uprising that occurred up until a month beforehand. The Egyptian protestors were individuals from labour unions, as well as people of all socio-economic and religious backgrounds, whose demands were within the realm of political and legal issues. The protestors primary demand was the removal of the Hosi Mubarak regime from power, as well as the abolishment of the Emergency Law, which has been in effect since 1967 and suspends constitutional rights, limits non-governmental political activity such as demonstrations and gives the government the ability to impr...
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... changes. This umbrella movement inspired the Occupy Wall Street movement in September 2011, which in turn initiated the global occupy movement, which maintained many similar ideals to the that of the Arab Spring.
Overall, the Egypt revolution and Arab Spring as a whole were successful in many ways within their own countries, and whether intentionally or not they were successful in bringing issues of social inequality into the spotlight, with awareness and understanding being the result.
Works Cited
Al Hussaini, A. (2011, 02 10). Egypt: A list of demands from tahrir square. Retrieved from http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/02/10/egypt-a-list-of-demands-from-tahrir-square/
Kanalley , C. (2011, 01 30). Egypt revolution 2011: A complete guide to the unrest . Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/30/egypt-revolution-2011_n_816026.html
A revolution takes place when a group does not agree with the current government and the policies they have in place. In some cases, revolutions turn violent during the attempt to overthrow the government. This is exactly what took place during the French Revolution, 1789 and the Bolshevik Revolution, 1917. Overall both revolutions found the beginning in the poor. The poor struggled under the rule of the monarchy; there was a strain on resources and high taxes. There were famine and food shortages due to bad weather, and WW1 respectively. In France, the nobility, first and second estates, did not have to pay these high taxes which further angered the poor. Both French and Russian nobility and monarchy were to blame for the suffering experienced. In the French and Bolshevik Revolutions there were philosophical ideas that guided the people to put a stop to their suffering, these ideas fueled extremist groups that brought upon violence and overall the goal of these Revolutions were not permanent. French and Bolshevik Revolutions had revolutionary ideas that went hand in hand with revolutionary violence and ultimately left the countries in chaos for some time after.
Demonstrating a form of protest that was more of an art form and a statement than riots and violence, in September 2011, people occupied New York 's financial district of Wall Street over issues that Henry David
Ridel, B, 'The real losers in Egypt's uprising', The Daily Best Online, 13 February 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2011< http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-13/al-qaeda-absent-in-hosni-mubaraks-fall-and-egyptian-revolution/>
"Arab Uprisings: 10 Key Moments." BBC News. BBC, 12 Oct. 2012. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
“Transnational Activism and Global Transformations: The Anti-Apartheid and Abolitionist Experiences” a study conducted by Audie Klotz looks to transnational activism as a social movement to encourage the formation of new socioeconomic systems and overall global transformation. Klotz draws upon two major historical events where transnational activism was relatively successful: the abolitionist movement following the civil war and the contemporary civil unrest in South Africa brought on by the apartheid. Klotz turns to these social movements as critical transnational participants that provide socioeconomic and political changes globally by means of massive mobilization.
Early 2011 uprisings swept across the Middle East and North Africa, and many rebellions are still going on today. The Arab region has seen revolts and conflict since the 1800‘s, but only recently have these revolts been redirected to the problems of Arab society (Ghannam, J. 2011 pg 4-5)The Arab Spring Uprising was first sparked in Tunisia and eventually struck Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen and then spread to other countries. Citizens throughout these countries were dissatisfied with the rule of their local governments. Issues like human rights violations, political corruption, economic decline, unemployment, extreme poverty, dictators...
BACKGROUND: In March of 2011, the unrest in Syria was just beginning, with protests g...
Chenoweth seeks to explain why “nonviolent resistance often succeeds compared to violent resistance, and under what conditions nonviolence succeeds or fails”. In recent years, organized groups conducting civil disobedience have been successful using nonviolent tactics such as, “boycotts, strikes, protests, and organized noncooperation”, in order to challenge the current power they were facing.1 Some successful examples of regimes that have been removed from power in recent years are, “Serbia (2000), Madagascar (2002), Georgia (2003), Ukraine (2004-2005), Lebanon (2005), and Nepal (2006)”.1 More recently in 2011 there were major uprising in both Egypt and Tunisia that were able to remove regimes that had been in power for decades, showing that nonviolence can work even if the regime has been in power for years.1
The literature on social studies enjoys a wide range of social movement’s definitions (Christiansen 2009). This diversity of such a definition is due to the fact that theorists tend to define the term of a social movement depending on their particular theoretical formulation (Diani 1992). Therefore, this section will first consider definitions proposed by group of scholars that represent four major trends in social movements analysis. These trends are as follow, the ‘Collective Behavior Perspective’ (Turner and Killian), the ‘Resource Mobilization Theory’ (RMT) (ZaId and McCarthy); the ‘Political Process Perspective (Tilly); and the ‘New Social Movements Approach’ (NSMs) (Touraine, Melucci). Then, a definition by Della Porta and Diani is selected as this definition has been centered on the most important characteristics of the social movements and oft-cited by researchers.
The protests and dissent raged on, eventually leading to a notable amount of radical protesters (Skarda...
Since the beginning of time, revolutions have directed the progression of most societies. Not only have they improved the lives of many, but they have also been the cornerstones to building some of todays most powerful and democratic countries. Most people have heard of the French and American Revolutions, however history tells us there have been hundreds more, from small town Revolution to major countries. Revolutions are justified means of change because they help to motivate and inspire people to press for rights that in turn will benefit the country and future generations as a whole.
“A-28- year old construction engineer, Maher heads the April 6 youth movement, which began as a Facebook group in spring 2008 to support a workers’ strike in a northern industrial town in Egypt. This youth opposition coalition was the main organizing force behind last week’s demonstration. Their demands included the departure of the interior minister, an end to the restrictive emergency law, and a rise in the minimum wage. The member, who include many young well-educated Egyptians, have shown a greater willingness than others to risk arrest and start public protests. The group uses popular social websites to alert its networks about police activity and organize demonstration.”(Branch of the China Daily)
In the Arab world in late 2010, starting in Tunisia and flowering in Egypt, a movement of people frustrated by their governments, corrupt leaders and a lack of jobs suddenly felt safe to take to the streets. The Arab Spring began when a young Tunisian man set himself on fire to protest government corruption and poor economic conditions. This action inspired a wave of protests across Tunisia, which ultimately resulted in the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power.
Throughout history, countless uprisings have occurred. Historians classify any forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system as a revolution. The success or failure of a revolution is directly related to the revolution’s causes and courses. The French Revolution was more successful than the Nicaraguan Revolution, because the Nicaraguan Revolution left the country in social and financial ruin, foreign powers had much greater interference, and it precipitated a period of political unrest with multiple leadership changes.
Researchers classify social movements according to the type of change they seek (Aberle, 1966, Cameron, 1966, Blumer, 1969, as cited in Macionis, 2007). According to John Macionis, a social movement is when people commonly band together to create an organized activity that encourages or discourages social change (Macionis, 2008). In the case of this radical society, Hippies were typically ...