The Effects of the Arab Spring, Ten Years After it Began
In late 2010, almost ten years ago, a Tunisian street vendor who went by the name of Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire as a response to state officials harassing him in an attempt to shut down his business with no valid reason. This hopeless act of one individual, set off a domino effect across the Middle East that consisted of fed up and oppressed youth taking on the streets.
The protests against government corruption started in Tunisia in December 2010, with the goal of reforming the political system headed at the time by Zine el-Abidine, who was in power for 23 years. This was the spark needed for a revolution that spread across North Africa and the Middle East. A combination of political subjugation and poor economies led to the spread of the protests to 19 out of the 22 Arab nations.