Here’s the thing about dictators: as sticky as they are when they’re in power, it’s even harder to deal with them once they’re gone. It’s an issue that is still being grappled with in Latin America. How do we create democratic institutions from scratch? How do we view the dictatorial era itself? Is political and economic stability worth a suspension of human rights? Perhaps one of the most difficult and pertinent questions for modern Latin Ameri...
The morning I awoke to the news that deposed and now-deceased Colonel Muammar Qaddafi of Libya was dead, I felt a lingering sense of unreality. Photos and videos snapped from mobile phones trickled in, portraying the seconds after his dissolution and the last moments of his life. Slowly, a picture emerged of the humiliating capture and ignominious death of one of the most feared and hated men in the world. What is most striking about this unprec...
The age of the Arab dictator is over. The current wave of unrest sweeping the Middle East has deposed two dictators, spilt much blood and fundamentally shaken the status quo. Already, the movement that began with a few street demonstrations in Tunis has led to a regime change in Egypt and threatens to overthrow the monarchy in Bahrain, a military regime in Libya, a dictatorship in Yemen and many other governments throughout the region. What coul...
...an rebelled in 2009; Obama guided this country in supporting Mubarak in 2011; and he still has yet to convincingly plant his administration on one side or another of the Arab Spring. America’s support for dozens of right wing dictators in the late 20th century is as true as it must be shocking to hardcore American exceptionalists; this country has a history not of supporting freedom around the world but of supporting stable, pro-American dictator...
...not a monolith. There are competing ideas of what liberation looks like. Palestinians too are fighting oppressive forces to determine the future that they collectively envision being a part of. Palestine faces more than mere dictatorship – it is opposing an apartheid regime actively interested in displacing its indigenous population for yet further settlement. Perhaps now that Americans and others have become more receptive to Arab dissent, Pale...
...Libya with Iraq or Afghanistan in mind, but with the memories of the ethnic cleansing in the Balkans and Rwanda in the 1990s. Did we intervene in Libya because of an idealist concern for human rights, despite our support for dictators like Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan? A State Department report accuses the Karimov regime of a laundry list of human rights abuses, including the use of torture and suppression of the right to freedom of speech. What...
...cracy on the list, although Libya (who was recently readmitted after its suspension during the civil war) may be moving in that direction as well. The rest: Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan, and the others are all ruled by either dictators, monarchs, or sham-elected political dynasties, and many, such as Bahrain and Yemen, have brutally crushed their own demonstrations and revolutions. For these nations, the resolution is a futile and disingenuous a...
...e psyche and ultimately transcend it. The Libyan conflict has marred the image of the Arab Spring and has undermined the movement’s call for democracy and dignity. But its promise can still be fulfilled. Removing longstanding dictators is a necessary yet insufficient step toward crafting a new and just future. The movement must not stop with Qaddafi’s removal, but must continue to the historic and contemporary roots of social divisions. Rather th...
...le, and calls into question Anon’s commitment to personal security and privacy. A former member posted his discontent to a message board: “Because of your recent acts you’ve gone from liberators to terrorist dictators.” The poster seems unaware that political rhetoric may not appeal to those who are “in it for the lulz”, and always have been. Is it possible, then, to isolate the mindset that makes Anon a political movemen...
Illustration by Sarita Kvam Just a little over a year has passed since the outset of the massive uprisings that shook Egypt and deposed one of the longest-ruling Middle Eastern leaders in modern history, and they are quickly passing from the realm of current events into history. In the years leading up to what became known as the Egyptian Revolution, the possibility of any substantive challenge to the dictators of the Middle East, and especiall...
Follow us at
Like us on
Recent Comments