These revolutions had common themes: Arabs wanted freedom, democracy and Human Rights. The decade long phenomenon came to be known, by the western media, as the ‘Arab spring‘.

What started with protests in Tunis soon spread to neighbouring states. Liberal ideas of personal freedoms, democratically elected government and equal Human Rights fuelled revolutionaries in numerous states across the Arab world.

However, the experiment in several nations like Egypt, Libya or Syria did not work well. It is these three nations who will take centre stage in this analysis of the Arab Spring since they, arguably, experienced the most turmoil.

The protests in Egypt were driven by three core concerns ‘Freedom, justice and human dignity. The people of Egypt took this to the streets during their first protest on the 25th of January 2011. This immense pressure coupled with the weakening grip of Egyptian security forces then saw the resignation of despot President Hosni Mubarak. On the surface this seemed good, dictator gone, time for a democratically elected leader? This instead triggered a power vacuum.

In 2012 Mohamed Morsi was controversially elected and then in 2013, he was displaced via a military coup led by then defence minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi who remains in power today.

Libya didn’t fare much better. On the 15th of February 2011 Protests in Benghazi over the arrest of Human Rights activists lead to Qaddafi loyalist forces attacking the crowds, indiscriminately killing dozens. The following civil war led to various atrocities, and the advance of Qaddafist forces towards Benghazi (rebel capital and stronghold) led to the U.S -European backed airstrikes against the government troops in March 2011. This helped to change the course of the war and led to NATO eventually taking over the mission with the sole intention of helping the rebels displace Qaddafi.

This military might swiftly be brought an end to Qaddafi and his regime and in October 2011, when Qaddafi was tracked down and killed by rebel forces in his home town of Sirte. The Libyan leader was severely beaten, lynched and shot, and his battered corpse was publicly exposed in Misrata for four days.

On the 27th of the same month, the UNSC (United Nations Security Council) voted to end military operations in Libya. Without any continuous plan, they left the country without any democratic structure to form its government and with rival factions still committing atrocities against each other.

Finally perhaps the most infamous example of how wrong peaceful protests can go: Syria.

Like the other states mentioned, the Syrian movement against the 40-year Baathist rule and the president Bashar al-Assad, began in 2011. Peaceful protests quickly turned violent as those protesting against the arrest and torture of anti-regime graffiti artists were fired upon by military personal loyal to the Assad regime. What happened next plunged Syria from a liberal uprising into an all-out civil war.

In 2012 the landscape had changed, no longer were Assad’s forces firing upon unarmed protestors, they were engaged in guerrilla warfare against armed factions, splinter cells forged from the civilian protestors they had tried so ardently to suppress.

The development of this civil war displaces and killed hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilian with refugees fleeing to neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon and some taking the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to reach Western Europe.

This war also gave rise to a group now synonymous with barbarous acts of terror across Europe and the middle east, ISIS. In 2014 ISIS proclaimed an Islamist caliphate taking up nearly 1/3 of the territory of Syria. Other Islamist groups, like Al-Nusra Front (Al Qaeda’s subsidiary in the country), took also the main role. On the other hand, the Kurdish forces redoubled their fight against jihadist groups and their atrocities.

Al-Assad could remain in power thanks to the Russian Air Forces, whose jets supported Assad’s ground forces and avoided the fallen of Damascus. The conflict has worsened with the intervention of Turkey, whose troops invaded the northern part of the country to avoid a Kurdish independent state.

So 10 years on, what has been achieved? Frightfully little!

EGYPT – Toppled the Regime of Hosni Mubarak but has since fallen victim to military Coup and now exists under another authoritarian regime.

LIBYA – Is currently under a provisional government ( The Government of National Unity) though not an outright regime their appointment was not democratic. Despite this, however, there is hope with the next election for the national government scheduled for December.

SYRIA – The country sits in rack and ruin as Assad still holds power. His forces, helped by Russia, have been able to almost defeat ISIS (which is nowhere near the power it once was). The only country to benefit in any substantial way from the Arab spring was the country that kicks started it, Tunisia.

Since their first successful democratic election in 2013, Tunisia has seen multiple peaceful transitions of power and now exists under Hichem Mechichi who was elected on the 2nd of September 2020.

The sad reality is then that a revolution that promised so much in the way of freedom and human rights, lead predominately to turmoil and mindless bloodshed. Despite some success in the spread of liberal values, Northern Africa and the Middle East remain a politically volatile space.

To keep up with the latest commercial news, click on commercial to get your daily dose.

The post 10th Anniversary of Arab Spring – How Far Have We Come? appeared first on Relawding.

The initial result was tight with 52% of the country voting to leave and 48% voting remain. This result is interesting when broken down into regions. Scotland voted massively in favour of remaining in the EU with 62% expressing their desire to stay. This is a significant number, more than any other region in England and 5% higher than the closest devolved administration (Northern Ireland, 55.8%).

This coupled with the recent emergence of the SNP (Scottish Nationalist Party) in Scotland has lead to renewed calls for a 2nd referendum by SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon. The last attempt to secede the union by Scotland was conducted in 2014 and was nearly as close as the Brexit vote with 55% voting to remain in the Union and 45% voting to leave.

What was one of the main drivers in this decision to stay? The EU. Scottish unionists argued that if Scotland seceded from the UK then their status within the EU would be at risk. This, of course, is no longer an issue.

This depicts the desire for Scottish independence as not just ‘Anti UK’ but ‘Pro EU’. The political culture in Scotland has always been one of national pride that ensures Scotland is never on the periphery of any union they join. Currently, the shift in Scottish attitude has moved more toward one favouring a union with Europe over that of the UK, the Brexit result not sparking, but highlighting this.

In the same breath as mentioning Scottish separatism, one has to mention the SNP and their enigmatic leader, Nicola Sturgeon. Historically the SNP were never really a large actor in Scottish politics, with the Scottish Labour Party at the helm. In the past 5-10 years their status has grown significantly though, especially under the leadership of Sturgeon.

They currently hold 63 out of a possible 129 seats in Holyrood and 48 out of a possible 59 SMP seats in the House of Commons. This is a level of support the SNP could have only dreamt about in Pre-Brexit times.
Political commentators have suggested a myriad of reasons as to what may have caused this sudden increase of support. Some suggest it is due to the previous incumbent party (the Scottish Labour Party) becoming complacent and detached from the mean Scottish voter.

This coupled with the relative obscurity of the SNP meant that they escaped criticism from the media since there was no real narrative developed on the party – meaning they could make claims and create a policy that went, effectively, unchallenged. The media and misinformation campaigns played a huge part in deciding the Brexit result, perhaps the lack of criticism aimed at the SNP was enough to convince some Scottish voters to turncoat.

Another factor is that the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 mapped inversely to that of the Brexit referendum, in terms of age. A huge 67.1% of over 70s voted to remain in the union whereas 62.2% of those aged 25-29 voted to secede. This then would suggest that with each passing generation the calls for an independent Scotland will grow. But will a 2nd referendum ever actually be allowed?

The likelihood of this is slim. For this to happen it will have to have the support of Parliament and current PM Boris Johnson described the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 as a ‘once in a generation vote. The 2019 Labour manifesto also said that would not authorise a second referendum on Scottish membership to the union if elected. This is a huge hindrance to Scottish separatist goals, effectively ruling out the chances of Scottish secession, for the duration of this government at least.

To keep up with the latest commercial news, click on commercial to get your daily dose.

The post How United Is Our Kingdom? Brexit, Separatism And The Likelihood Secession appeared first on Relawding.