- May 24, 2011 • 6:00 am PDT
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Spring Awakening:
A 26-year fruit vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi had a college degree but zero career prospects. When a government worker disrupted his hustle, he burned himself to death as a protest against Tunisia’s authoritarian regime. Thus began the Arab spring (well, actually it was still winter). The act sparked widespread protests and led to the defection of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia’s ruler for 23 years.
Tunisia's uprising was remarkable for its secular roots, its nonviolent methods, and its universal objectives: the right to lead a better life, to make a fair living, and to avoid police oppression. Such values set the tone for the similar protests throughout the world later that spring.
Summer Forecast:
Like the chubby kid sent away to fat camp, Tunisia will spend the summer reinventing itself. Tunisians will take to the polls on July 24 and get the chance to elect a congress to rewrite the constitution. And they’ll welcome economic support from the Obama administration, which is eager to reward a successful democratic transition in a region full of autocrats.Yet there’s one potential summer bummer: the political party with the most name recognition is an Islamist group, whose potential for electoral success is making secular Tunisians worried that their nonreligious revolution might yield an Islamic government.
Illustrations by Dylan C. Lathrop
