Regimes in the Arab world may even thrive for a while, sponsored by the allies from Paris to the Gulf monarchies. Apparent efforts then to hand over power to civilians failed after the military and its generals engineered a civil war that solidified their grip on power. “The revolution showed me that everything is possible,” says Ameni Ghimaji, remembering the heady days of the Tunisian protests that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings a decade ago. Initially “there was no talk of overthrowing the regime.” But the regime’s bloody response provoked a call to arms. On the contrary, it was very peaceful.””I remember, we used to chant ‘freedom, freedom, freedom’ and nothing else,” Dahnoun told AFP by phone from Idlib city.

Source: The North Africa Journal November 23, 2020 15:00 UTC