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April 26, 2011 Tomgram: Shahin and Juan Cole, The Women's Movement in the Middle East
Against all odds, they just keep tottering.
I’m talking, of course, about the autocrats of the Middle East: first,
Ben Ali of Tunisia, then Mubarak of Egypt, now Ali Abdullah Saleh of
Yemen. After two months of demonstrations in the streets of Yemen’s
cities, after the defection to the pro-democracy forces of key elements
of the country’s military, Saleh has seemingly agreed to go within 30
days -- though whether it’s a real offer or a political maneuver
remains uncertain,
and whether that offer, including immunity from prosecution for him and
his family, is acceptable to the demonstrators is also an
open question.
At the same time, in Syria, the Arab Spring has hit in a big way and thousands upon thousands of demonstrators are taking to the streets, again facing an armed regime. The casualties across the Middle East have been startling so far: at least 219 killed in Tunisia, at least 846 dead protesters (and 26 policemen) in Egypt, according to the report of a government fact-finding panel, at least 130 dear in Yemen, and at least 400 killed in Syria. And yet after each set of deaths, emotional funerals follow and then, knowing what they are about to face, ever more people pour unarmed into the streets. We may be seeing a new definition-in-action of what it means to overcome, or even banish, fear. It’s true that Saleh is planning to turn over power initially to his own vice president (much as Mubarak tried to do in Egypt); that these are not, so far, “revolutions” in the usual sense; and that, though autocrats have gone or are going, the political and economic structures that underpinned their regimes remain largely in place. And in some countries -- Bahrain and Yemen, to name two brutal examples -- embattled regimes have moved with some success to crush their opponents. Still, just stop for a moment to take in what has happened: people so determined that nothing seems to stop them for long, demonstrators who stay in the streets for weeks or camp out for months in the face of the imminent threat of death. Whatever the political (or economic) results -- and they may not be known for years to come -- this remains an epochal moment that, almost four months after it began, shows absolutely no sign of abating. And embedded in it is a region-wide story that has been underplayed and so remains to be told. For the first time, Shahin and Juan Cole (whose Informed Comment website is a must-read for those wanting to keep up with events in the Middle East) take up the role of women in the Arab Spring uprisings, not in a single place but across the region. It may turn out to be the most important story of all. Tom An Arab Spring for Women |
