The Arab Spring, a rebirth far beyond a social media revolution

While some call it the Facebook-revolution, the Arab Spring (which began in Tunis) is far beyond a social media revolution...most Egyptians have no internet access at all. The Arab Spring is a rebirth of Islamic modernism.

Many Islamic movements in the Middle East tend to be authoritarian. But an authoritarian political culture, as Islamic modernists argue, should not be confused with the very origin of Islam. Realize that the main cause of the Arab Spring lies in the autohoritarian political culture of the whole region, not just Islam. Citizens in the Middle East have a problem with the authoritarian political culture and are motivated to change that political culture.

In the 19th century, when Islamic modernists were looking at Europe as an example (realizing that Europe has many things to admire: like science and technology, but also democracy, parliament, the idea of representation and the idea of equal citizenship), the Islamic modernists were independent and self-confident.

With the fall of the Ottoman Empire, in the early 20th century, the Middle East was colonized. This caused not only a very sharp decline in liberal ideas in the Muslim world, and a defensive, rigid, reactionary Arab mindset, the colonization of the Middle East also caused an anti-colonization culture. Europe became an enemy to fight and to resist.

When the colonial period ended, what you had in place of that was: dictators, suppressing democracy; suppressing its own people including the Muslims, and they reacted in reactionary ways.

With the Arab Spring, Islamic modernism is having a rebirth. Arab masses revolting against their dictators, are asking for democracy and freedom. And they do not turn out to be the Islamist fundamentalists that the dictators were always using to justify their regime. Democracy is a process, not an overnight achievement, but this is a promising era in the Middle East.