The recent uprisings in the Arab states have seriously challenged the neocolonial orders in the oil-rich regions of the Middle East and North Africa. The uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia have been the struggles for ending neo-colonization and to progress toward self-determination and democracy, which haven’t succeeded yet. So far, the uprisings have led to the fall of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia on January 14, 2011 and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt on Feb 11, and it seems there are more to come. The Western powers backed Mubarak and Ben Ali for decades to rule in these countries. After their demise, they want to stop further uprisings by making some cosmetic changes in their regimes and preserve the status quo.
In Tunisia, the bellwether of the Arab uprisings, the situation has not changed much. It looks like the continuation of Ben Ali regime without Ben Ali himself. The election is now set for October 23, 2011, and that could lead to more protests and unrests in the streets of Tunisia. The main issues in the protests have been unemployment and problem of income inequality. Since the toppling of Ben Ali, however no real change has been seen to resolve these problems. Fouad Mebazza who has been acting president since January 15, 2011 and Beji Caid el Sebsi who has been acting prime minister since February both had served under Ben Ali regime. They are now manipulating the transitional process in order to continue to stay in power. In Egypt, a military junta belonging to the Mubarak regime is still ruling the country. Field-Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi has headed the junta since Mubarak was deposed. Nevertheless, the uprisings have continued to challenge the surviving junta. According to Al-Ahram newspaper, the election for the lower house People’ Assembly is going to be held on November 21, 2011. Other elections for the upper house and the presidency are planned to be held in 2012.
Now some war mongers are beating the drum for air raids on Syria and Iran. The West uses the strategy of divide-and-conquer to create civil wars to be followed by NATO – US air raids. At the same time, the West is protecting its client regimes against the ongoing people’s uprisings elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, Jordan, and Bahrain. Whether the uprisings in the Arab World could succeed to end neocolonialism remains to be seen.
