The Arab Uprisings Ten Years on: A Continuing Process
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
5:30 pm to 7:00 pm
- Venue
- Virtual Event
About this event
Ten years ago, most of the Arabic-speaking countries were shaken by the chain of uprisings that was called the Arab Spring. Three years later, it looked as if the hopes raised in 2011 had been defeated, with the partial exception of Tunisia where democratic gains have been preserved. This view proved however as short-sighted as the expectation of quick and smooth transformation was in 2011: social struggles kept occurring in the region until a second wave of uprisings started in 2018. The paralysing effect of the present pandemic is already withering away, with struggles resuming in Algeria and Tunisia itself. It must be obvious now that what happened ten years ago was but the beginning of a long-term revolutionary process. This conversation will explore the causes and dynamics of this process and assess its prospects.
Recording
About the speakers
Gilbert Achcar is Professor at SOAS, Department of Development Studies. He authored two books on the Arab upheaval: The People Want; A Radical Exploration of the Arab Up rising (2013) and Morbid Symptoms: Relapse in the Arab Uprising (2016). His latest interview on this topic is available here: The Arab Spring, a Decade Later
Dina Matar is Chair of the Centre for Global Media and Communication, SOAS and is Chair of the Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS. She works on narrative politics, media and conflict, political communication, cultural politics, memory, oral history and Islamist movements in the Arab World and its diaspora. She previously worked as a journalist and editor in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the US.
Registration
This webinar will take place online via Zoom.
* The webinar will also be live-streamed on our Facebook page for those that are unable to participate via Zoom.
Organiser: SOAS Middle East Institute
Contact email: smei@soas.ac.uk
