Exactly ten years ago this week Ben Ali was toppled in Tunisia, heralding a “world-changing” succession of dictators falling in what became known as the Arab Spring.
But what happened?
In this week’s Unscripted podcast we are joined by two special guests with a deep understanding of the topic: Jalal Ouerghi, a leader of Tunisia’s ruling Ennahda Party; and Anas Altikriti, founder and CEO of the Cordoba Foundation think-tank.
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Source: www.islam21c.com
Dr Altikriti is the CEO and Founder of The Cordoba Foundation, a think-tank specialising in Muslim world-West relations. His PhD was in Political Science from the University of Westminster. He has been chairman of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) and Vice President & Patron of Stop the War Coalition. He co-chaired the historic 2-Million March against the Iraq War in London in February 2003 and is a leading figure in the global Anti-War movement.
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The reason the Arab Spring failed was because Islamist parties came to power in its aftermath.
Tunisian society was the sole exception because their society was heavily secularised and Al Nahda agreed to keep Tunisia a civil state and not implement Sharia. So they were permitted to rule.
The problem with Islamism is that its a revolutionary transnational movement that wants to make significant changes to society and the economy. Yet its ideas don’t have a track record of success. It relies on the poor and lower middle class and is detrimental to the middle and upper class that it wants to restructure. Hence why it faces opposition from big business, intellectuals, the army, the police, media, judiciary and the civil service. All parts of society have to broadly agree to major changes in society.