- Since time immemorial, people have been at the forefront of deciding how society exists, sustains, flourishes, grows, and keeps scaling up to hitherto unavailable glories. Mind you, society is just a microcosm made up of people whose acceptance and/or rejection form the basis of any civilization, even for it to exist. The power of the people has been historically documented, even when some of the most powerful emperors, kings, rulers, leaders, and conquistadors single-mindedly went about establishing their legacy in the most oppressive manner witnessed by humankind. History is also replete with several people-led uprisings that have not only quelled despotic regimes but also succeeded in establishing a welcoming, civilized order eventually.
PC: Iran News Update
- Innumerable instances of people ganging up against repressive rulers on the back of stifling existential crises have occurred for millennia. And it continues to happen even during the present time, where the modern-day world is defined on the back of incredibleinnovations/inventions/advancements witnessed perpetually with the economy booming all around. Or is it? Certain unfortunate nations are grappling with crippling economies, which are forcing people to hit the streets in agitation. Look not far from Iran, Nepal, Tunisia, or Tsarist Russia. Why? People take to the streets when they’re beggared for daily needs. Why is Iran on the boil, though? Expectedly, its regime has a stock answer: foreign meddling.
PC: DW.com
- It blamed the foreign hand for protests that followed Mahsa Amini’s killing in 2022, and the riots after a gasoline price hike in 2019, and the ‘Green Revolution” of 2009-10. Since trouble is always engineered in the regime’s telling, it implies that all is hunk-dory internally. But it is not. History shows political upheavals can’t be engineered without enabling conditions. We can read Marx and Lenin to residents of Manhattan’s Trump Tower all you like, without converting any of them to Bolshevism. But ignoring, dismissing, and suppressing opposition has been second nature among dictators. Not so long ago, Hosni Mubarak blamed Tahrir Square on the foreign hand – The West is always conspiring to weaken Arabs to protect Israel. He should have kept his ear to the ground in the 2000-2001 period, when things were seemingly good.
PC: Time Doctor
- GDP growth averaged over 4.5%, and in PPP terms, the average Egyptian earned 28% of an average American’s pay. Indians were far behind economically at the time, yet studies showed 30.5% of Egyptians were dissatisfied with their circumstances, as against 18.9% of Indians. The problem was acute inequality. With the benefit of hindsight, we know that the Arab Spring was all about bread and social justice. People were driven by the weak economy, while political freedom was a concern for only 14%. That’s what’s happening in Iran right now. Sky-high inflation has upended family budgets. Prices of bread, meat, and cooking oil rise daily. Economic hardship will force people to retort in the only way they know, by hitting the streets without caring for their lives.
