If Only the Renewal of the Arab Spring Were as Solid as This Street Vendor Tribute

Check out this cool and touching tribute to the birthplace of the so-called Arab Spring in Tunisia, where street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi  set himself on fire two years ago out of frustration and despair over government corruption and abuse. His suicide set off a wave of rebellions across North Africa and the Middle East.

The memorial, made of creamy marble and honey-colored stone, was unveiled by the nation’s new president in December 2011 in Bouazizi’s town, the poetically named city of Sidi Bouzid in rural central Tunisia, south of the capital Tunis. The poignant memorial and the photo of him on the poster hanging from the building in the background, are across from another building that houses the provincial governor’s office where Bouazizi had gone to cover himself in paint thinner and then set himself alight.

USIP’s Robin Wright took the photo when she visited Sidi Bouzid in March, and the memorial was still there when she returned in October.  She’s author of “Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World” and a distinguished scholar at both USIP and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In a USIP Peace Brief, she and Garrett Nada, a program assistant at USIP’s Center for Con­flict Management, explain why the “mixed results” of the uprisings so far – in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere – mean “even bigger challenges” in the year ahead.  

Take a look and let us know your thoughts on what it will take to secure peace in the countries of this monumental transition.

Wright also blogs at http://robinwrightblog.blogspot.com and tweets at @wrightr

Viola Gienger is a senior writer for USIP.

Related Publications

The Latest @ USIP: How Civil Society is Addressing Haiti’s Crisis

The Latest @ USIP: How Civil Society is Addressing Haiti’s Crisis

Monday, March 25, 2024

By: Dr. Marie-Marcelle Deschamps

In the past few years, life in Haiti has been dominated by gangs’ growing control over huge swathes of the capital, Port-au-Prince. For Haitian families, this crisis has meant extreme violence, pervasive unemployment, lack of education for children and reduced access to health care. 2023 Women Building Peace Award finalist Dr. Marie-Marcelle Deschamps serves as the deputy executive director, the head of the women's health program and the manager of the clinical research unit of GHESKIO Centers in Port-au-Prince. She spoke to USIP about how her work helps women and their families, and what the global community can do to help Haitian civil society address this devastating humanitarian crisis.

Type: Blog

Conflict Analysis & PreventionGender

Myanmar’s Fateful Conscription Law

Myanmar’s Fateful Conscription Law

Monday, February 26, 2024

By: Ye Myo Hein

Earlier this month, Myanmar’s ruling junta enacted a compulsory conscription law that had been dormant since 2010. General Guan Maw, a leader of the Kachin Independence Organization, greeted the junta's decision by comparing it to the 2021 military coup: "If February 1, 2021, was the beginning of the end, the law enforced on February 10, 2024, can be said to mark the end of the end.” As popular reactions to the new conscription plan roll out across the country, General Guan Maw’s pronouncement becomes increasingly prescient.

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

Report of the Expert Study Group on NATO and Indo-Pacific Partners

Report of the Expert Study Group on NATO and Indo-Pacific Partners

Monday, February 19, 2024

By: USIP Expert Study Group on NATO and Indo-Pacific Partners

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its four partner countries in the Indo-Pacific—Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and New Zealand—have entered a period of increased engagement. This engagement is taking shape in the context of the war waged by the Russian Federation (Russia) against Ukraine, NATO’s growing awareness of the security challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China (China), and important structural changes in the international system, including the return of strategic competition between the United States and China and Russia. It is occurring not only in bilateral NATO-partner relations but also between NATO and these Indo-Pacific countries as a group.

Type: Report

Conflict Analysis & PreventionCivilian-Military RelationsGlobal PolicyMediation, Negotiation & Dialogue

View All Publications