Tunisia Riots Inspire Activists In Arab World

The turmoil in Tunisia, still far from played out, is already causing a swell of hope for similar change across the Arab world.

  

Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere are clamouring with calls for the Tunisian people power uprising to be repeated in other Arab nations.

It is far from clear whether the popular uprising that led to the downfall of President Ben Ali will lead to democratic change or has already been hijacked by the military and intelligence services.

But the unexpectedly quick demise of Ben Ali will be making other regimes nervous and giving their critics grounds for newfound optimism.

Dozens of Egyptian activists opposed to President Hosni Mubarak's regime danced outside the Tunisian Embassy in Cairo, chanting "Ben Ali, tell Mubarak a plane is waiting for him too", reported the Associated Press.

Colonel Gadaffi has been in power in Libya since 1969.

Egyptian human rights activist Hossam Bahgat said: "I feel like we are a giant step closer to our own liberation.

"What happened in Tunisia...will give unimaginable momentum to the cause for change in Egypt."

Unlike the day-old state of emergency in Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak has been ruling Egypt with emergency powers for three decades now.

In Libya, Muammar Gadaffi has been in power since 1969. The Assads have ruled Syria since 1970.

In every country across the Arab world the same factors that caused Ben Ali's downfall exist in varying degrees.

Unemployment, rising prices, corruption, an unaccountable elite and a ballooning youth population.

There were food riots on Friday in Jordan.

What happened in Tunisia...will give unimaginable momentum to the cause for change in Egypt.

Egyptian human rights activist Hossam Bahgat

Arab regimes will be trying to reassure themselves that their intelligence services and security forces will anticipate and manage the kind of unrest witnessed in Tunisia more effectively, should it break out on their soil and they will be hoping they are immune from similar upheaval.

But they will also know that until less than a month ago the Ben Ali regime would have regarded itself as unassailable.

People power uprisings are unheard of in the Arab world.

However events end up playing out in Tunisia, they have set an undeniable precedent.

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