Arab spring is an anti-government opposition that occurred in North Africa and the Middle East. It is a revolution that caused changes within nations. It happened in many Arabian nations within the Middle East and those in North Africa.
Among countries that were touched by this revolution are Yemen, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt among others. The revolutions evolved in these nations as war between two conflicting groups, and it went far to touch on citizens at the lowest level. In Egypt, it started as a political revolt against the then reining president.
Revolts starts as demonstrations, first for few people then masses are out in the street in support of the side they choose. In many times, there are two strongly conflicting sides.
One side of these conflicts involves those who are keen to maintain the status quo while the other group targets to bring change. This paper explores the subject of Arab Spring using the case study of Libya, a country in North Africa. The conflict saw the then Libyan president overthrown from power.
In Libya, conflicts started as tension that had risen from the leadership of the late Mummar Gadhafi; he had a system of leadership that divided the citizens to make it easier to rule them. The citizens of Libya were left to fight for resources that were made scarce by Mummar’s government.
Libyans from the entire nation were kept away from benefitting from oil production in the country. Revolutions in a nation have political, social, and economic linkages. Members of a social group feel that they have been represented by the people in leadership or that their concerns are not put into considerations.
They cause a movement that stand in opposition of the government in attempt to acquire resources by force. This is what happened to the people of Beghazi in Libya who felt that the then president was not much concerned about them (Tempelhof and Omar 2).
Revolution in Libya was initiated by different groups that were opposed to the governance of President Mummar Gadhafi. These groups had no indications of planning the events that resulted in the conflicts. However, the groups had similar mission. They reinforced each other to attain what they wanted.
Some groups that were mentioned include civil society, youth movements and several rebel soldiers who defected from the government to join other militia groups who wanted change (Tempelhof and Omar 3-6).
Politics is used by leaders to divide people into smaller groups that are set against each other and, therefore, are unable to concentrate with the leadership. Ethnicity in Libya became a great cause of division. For example, the region of Misrata under the influence of political powers of anti-Gadhafi followers attacked their neighbors, Tawergha.
In the same way, the Zinatans attacked their neighbors in Mashashya village (International Crisis Group 2). Economic differences are players in the conflicts. In Libya west, Zuwarans were suffering from unequal government investment in their town as opposed to their neighbors in Jmail.
In the same issue, the Zuwarans claimed that their land was invaded by the newly settled Jmail and Rijdalin (International Crisis Group 6). Religious divide was not a big problem since Libya is more populated by Muslims.
In Libya, propaganda was propagated through the media that made groups in conflict to be more charged against their opponents. In two cases, the fighters within communities were cheated that their neighbors were arming to attack them.
These people were forced to arm themselves in response to threats they anticipated. For example, Surmans were convinced that Zintans were coming to rape their women and kill them (International Crisis Group 2).
The conflicts in Libya resulted in killing of many Libyans and destruction of property. The Libyans realized a new regime. In my view, social media contributes to escalation of conflicts. Media services cause transmission of information, which causes more division within the group in conflict.
Works Cited
International Crisis Group. “Divided We Stand: Libya’s Enduring Conflicts.” Middle East/North Africa Report N°130, 2012. Web.
Tempelhof, Susanne Tarkowski and Omar, Manal. “Stakeholders of Libya’s February 17 Revolution.” United States Institute of Peace Special Report, 2012. Web.