Five years ago this month, the Tunisians had brought down a dictator and the Egyptians were on their way to doing the same, beginning with massive demonstrations that grabbed the world’s attention. Protest and revolution would soon spread throughout the Middle East; it would be labeled as the “Arab Spring.” But five years later, there seems little but despair, with repressive rulers once again in power, civil wars raging, and ISIS extremists occupying large parts of Syria and Iraq. Asef Bayat has studied social movements and urban politics in the Middle East, writing books about movements to make Islam democratic and how ordinary people were changing politics in the region. A native of Iran who taught in Egypt for 16 years, the University of Illinois sociologist has made numerous trips back to the region and spent time with protesters. In an interview with News Bureau social sciences editor Craig Chamberlain, Bayat talked about the past five years and where things stand for the future.
Beyond the specifics in each country, what are the broader reasons that these protest movements and revolutions have largely failed?
Certainly the Arab Spring has not given rise to what the majority of people had aimed for – democracy and social justice. Libya, Syria and Yemen have suffered civil war; Egypt has experienced a counter-revolution restoration; and even Tunisia, which has established a pluralist democracy, has witnessed a growing violation of human rights, conducted largely by the repressive institutions of the old regime, which were not reformed. In none of them has the desire for social justice been sufficiently addressed.