Middle East Revolution

Throughout the past few months, a complete revolution has occurred in the Middle East. Many dicatorships have fallen and fled, many oppressed people have risen up, risking everything they have, even their lives, all for the sake of democracy. What ended up being a huge, historical uprising, started in Tunisia due to high unemployment, corruption, lack of many freedoms including free speech, and poor living conditions. This resulted in many deaths and injuries, and ultimately led to the exile of Ben Ali, who had been ruling the country for over two decades.

Once the Tunisian revolt was underway, big changes occurred in Egypt. The world watched in awe as Egyptians followed suit and major revolutions were sparked through a facebook page. The social media site allowed protestors to congregate and carry out peaceful protests. It started out small, with a few people in the main square, and it grew in overwhelming numbers until supporters of President Mubarak fought back, turning the protests violent. On February 11th, President Mubarak fled as it was made clear that the protests could not be quelled and his rule had crumbled.

Following this success, anti-government protests started up in Libya four days later. Within a few days, the rebels controlled the majority of Benghazi, which is the second largest city in the country. Troops were dispatched and repelled. Thousands of people had already been killed by this point. Soon after this, protests spread to the capital city of Tripoli, which prompted a television address by the leader Gaddafi, who warned protestors to cease or their efforts would lead to a civil war. Fighting kept going, however, because it was clear that if the protestors stopped fighting, they would be murdered by Gaddafi's men. They had put everything on the line and there was no going back from here. Government forces have been slowly gaining back territory, and in March the UN put in a no fly zone over Libya. Once it was in place and international forces had started bombing pro-Gadaffi assets, rebel forces quickly moved along the northern seaboard. However, pro-government forces have retaken a lot of cities, forcing the rebels to withdraw quite a bit. This story continues to develop and will surely have an unprecedented turn out no matter what ends up happening.