Interesting article. While I'm not that well-versed in Middle Eastern politics, it seems to me that throwing off an oppressive regime in favour of democracy would also allow people to fix the rigged entrepreneurial system. The system that replaces the one they have doesn't have to be capitalism, though, and I disagree with framing the Arab Spring that way.
I think what the article is saying is that capitalism is just.... happening, in order for people to actually survive and make a living. I've been reading up on the North Korean system lately, and especially during the famine in the 90s, private enterprise thrived, and people actually made a living - some of them, a decent one. If they had followed the rules of the regime and continued to be a part of "the system," if you will, they would have died. And many did. So I don't see the Egyptian/Arab systems being purposefully and intentionally replaced with capitalism, but rather that capitalism is happening in order for people to simply survive.
I actually really like this framing of the Arab Spring. I wrote my master's thesis on the role of social media in anti-government protest in the Middle East, and obviously focused on the Arab Spring. And the recent events in Egypt have my head completely spinning - so I really like this "explanation" and this point of view, that it's not necessarily all about democracy, but about capitalism
To some he’s a symbol of resistance to injustice; to others an archetype of the fight against autocracy. Last year the Occupy activists enlisted him as a spiritual ally. It is hard to imagine that the real Bouazizi would have recognised himself in any of these incarnations.
They were all, like Bouazizi, extralegal entrepreneurs - protesting for the right to get on. The right to own and better their lives; to accumulate capital; not to have their property expropriated on a whim.
.... none of this is mutually exclusive though. You can fight for all of this or just one or two things or none of it.
The phrase ‘black market’ suggests, to western ears, dodgy dealing on the sidelines. But in the Arab world legality is what happens on the sidelines. Economists look only at the official statistics, and imagine, for example, that Egypt has a massive unemployment rate. If you were an out-of-work Egyptian, however, you would be dead after three or four months because you would not have enough food. Most Arabs are working, but in a way that
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-- Robert Solow
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I actually really like this framing of the Arab Spring. I wrote my master's thesis on the role of social media in anti-government protest in the Middle East, and obviously focused on the Arab Spring. And the recent events in Egypt have my head completely spinning - so I really like this "explanation" and this point of view, that it's not necessarily all about democracy, but about capitalism
Reply
They were all, like Bouazizi, extralegal entrepreneurs - protesting for the right to get on. The right to own and better their lives; to accumulate capital; not to have their property expropriated on a whim.
.... none of this is mutually exclusive though. You can fight for all of this or just one or two things or none of it.
The phrase ‘black market’ suggests, to western ears, dodgy dealing on the sidelines. But in the Arab world legality is what happens on the sidelines. Economists look only at the official statistics, and imagine, for example, that Egypt has a massive unemployment rate. If you were an out-of-work Egyptian, however, you would be dead after three or four months because you would not have enough food. Most Arabs are working, but in a way that ( ... )
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