What Caused the Jasmine Revolution?
The Jasmine Revolution was an uprising in Tunisia and it protested against political repression, poverty, and corruption. This compelled President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali to retire in January 2011. The Jasmine Revolution inspired some similar protests throughout North Africa and the Middle East that are recognized as the Arab Spring which led to the name Jasmine Revolution Arab Spring.
Jasmine Revolution as a Civil Society Movement
Jasmine Revolution is also known as Tunisian Revolution and it was an intensive twenty-eight-day campaign related to civil resistance. This comprised some street demonstrations that took place in Tunisia. It resulted in the ousting of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the longtime president. The demonstrations were the result of food inflation, corruption, high unemployment, poor living conditions, and a shortage of political freedoms, like freedom of speech. Mostly, the protests comprised the highly dramatic gesture of political and social unrest in Tunisia for 30 years.
This revolution brought forward many injuries and deaths, and most of them were the outcomes of security forces and police actions. Again, the protests were excited by Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation on the 17th of December, 2010. They resulted in Ben Ali’s ousting on the 14th of January 2011. During this time, he resigned officially after he fled to South Arabia.
Labor unions happened to be a vital portion of the Jasmine Revolution timeline and results. The protests inspired many similar actions all through the world of Arab in a kind of chain reaction that was recognized as the “Arab Spring Movement.”
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The Protests of the Jasmine Revolution
After Mohamed Bouazizi, a young person from Tunisia set himself on fire outside Sidi Bouzid, some unrest started. Bouazizi used to sell fruits from a cart to support his family. He became furious when local officials demanded bribes, as well as confiscated his merchandise repeatedly. When authorities didn’t pay heed to his complaint, he flooded himself with gasoline before setting himself alight.
His troubles symbolized the economic hardship and injustice that afflicted hundreds and thousands of Tunisians. This also inspired many street protests all through the country.
The Role of Social Media Played
Social media happened to be an important supporter of the Jasmine Revolution. It did keep on playing a useful role in some political changes because it was easier to access and tough to control. The authoritative government isn't capable of controlling social media, the method in which they could control the customary media. And so, social media enabled the opportunity for arrangement even though it was engulfed by huge confusion.
Social media is also helpful in achieving something important, like a link with the outside world. This becomes an easy process for an authoritative government to censor or ban different customary media platforms. And so, it influences the types of news that the outer world hears. However, utilizing social media which is tough to ban or sensor is impossible. The original image of the happenings that continue in a nation can get portrayed to the whole world.
It can also enable the nation in question to get help and support from outside to strengthen the whole movement. A highly interesting feature of internet-based movements is considered the flat structure and only one specific person-organization does not lead it.
So, it seizes to possess a hierarchy. Anybody regardless of his gender, colour, size, or age group could turn into a vital portion of this movement as nothing is capable of breaking down this flatness.
The Jasmine Revolution Started in Which Country? What Caused the Jasmine Movement?
Since 1987, President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali has ruled Tunisia commonly in the form of a one-party state with RCD. His government was featured by the growth of the private sector of Tunisia besides the repression of some political opposition. NGOs and foreign media criticized his government, but the US and France supported it. Due to this, the reactions to the abuses of Ben Ali by France and the US were muted.
Tunisian riots were noteworthy and rare, particularly because this nation was commonly acknowledged as stable and wealthy in comparison to other nations in the region. And so, protests were repressed and also kept silent. Protestors could be jailed too for these actions because many unemployed demonstrators accumulated in Redeyef in the year 2008. Youths of Tunisia had discovered an outlet for expressing their dissatisfaction and anger via fan chants. All of this is what caused the Jasmine Revolution.
Some Unknown Facts About the Tunisian Movement
The Tunisian revolution started on the 18th of December 2010 and it ended on the 14th of January, 2011.
The Tunisian Revolution is the revolution where Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali was compelled from the presidency by well-known protests and many media organizations called it the Jasmine Movement. The Jasmine Revolution Arab Spring started with the revolution in Tunisia and it was named the “Jasmine Revolution.”
In this article, we have successfully highlighted what caused the Jasmine Revolution and other relevant details concerning this movement.
FAQs on Jasmine Revolution
1. Why is Tunisian Revolution called the Jasmine Movement?
Some Western media calls Tunisian Revolution the Jasmine Movement after the national flower of Tunisia besides the geopolitical classification of colour revolutions. From Andy Carvin, the American journalist, the Jasmine Revolution did originate. However, it wasn’t adopted widely even in Tunisia. The resultant political crisis and protests have been named as Jasmine revolution in the foreign media only. Youssef Seddik, the Tunisian philosopher found the term unsuitable as the violence that go along with the event was deep like Bastille Day though Zied El Hani, a Tunisian journalist coined this term. Hani used this term on the 13th of January on his blog and also spread through social media, like Facebook.
2. What are the lessons you can learn from the Tunisian Revolution?
The lessons are related to the chief actors. Professional unions and labour could mobilize the masses. The uprising began in the form of a spontaneous and unorganized event though labour unions began to organize it and shifted it to a different town from one town. The Tunisian workers were masterful in handling the regime.
The Bar Associations played a huge role in stretching the protests that comprised only one youth to several people of varying ages. People who were interested in different social movements wished to concentrate on judges’ and lawyers’ movements in different locations in the Islamic and Arab world as happened in the instance of Pakistan and Egypt.
3. What are the effects of the Arab Spring?
Even in the year 2021, several conflicts continue to happen and they are perceived as the outcomes of the Arab Spring. Many economic hardships and immense political instability in Syria are the results of the Syrian Civil War. In Libya, a significant civil war concluded recently where Russia, as well as Western powers, sent proxy fighters. In Yemen too, a civil war is going on that is hugely affecting this country. Lebanon is witnessing a banking issue that is threatening the economy of this country.
