La Révolution arabe: Dix leçons sur le soulèvement démocratique (Documents)

by Jean-Pierre Filiu

Le soulèvement populaire qui a éclaté en Tunisie, le 17 décembre 2010, a emporté le régime du président Ben Ali en moins d’un mois. La vague de protestation qui a secoué l’Égypte à partir du 25 janvier 2011 a contraint Hosni Moubarak à se retirer en moins de trois semaines. La révolution libyenne, dite du « 17 février », a pris la forme d’une insurrection armée, dont la violente répression a suscité une intervention étrangère majeure. Pas un pays arabe n’est épargné par un vent de contestation qui, à défaut d’être irrésistible, laissera partout des traces irréversibles. Ce livre représente la première tentative d’interprétation à chaud d’un des grands bouleversements de l’histoire contemporaine, dont on peut d’ores et déjà tirer les dix leçons suivantes : 1) Les Arabes ne sont pas une exception ; 2) Les musulmans sont aussi bien d’autres choses ; 3) La jeunesse est en première ligne ; 4) La révolution a été télévisée ; 5) Un chef n’est pas indispensable pour la victoire ; 6) L’alternative à la démocratie est le chaos ; 7) Les islamistes doivent trancher ; 8) Les jihadistes sont menacés d’obsolescence ; 9) La Palestine, toujours au cœur ; 10) La Renaissance n’est pas une partie de domino.

Genres: Nonfiction, Middle East

264 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2011

About the author

Jean-Pierre Filiu (1961) is a French professor of Middle East studies at Sciences Po, Paris School of International Affairs, an Orientalist and an Arabist.

Reviews

[Yas · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book formula are chapters whose themes are long-held assumptions that the world(and mainly Western) held against Arabs and that the arab spring events according to the author helped undermine or outright refute them. Especially apparent with chapters like arabs are an no exception...Leaderless movements can win,..etc.

However I found myself disagreeing with the chapter "Leaderless movements can win", and also with chapter "Palestine is still the mantra". Egypt events proved that leaders are needed and there is a limit to the gains and wins obtained by leaderless movements. with the other chapter concerning palestine, the content of the chapter itself (which I agreed with) did not correlate with the subsequent realization that palesine is still the mantra. The best chapter was the last one, "No Domino effect in the Renaissance". as the authors realization of the deeply rooted challenges pertaining sectarianism, divided societies and and the need to reform badly run economies.

[Jonathan Fryer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The distinguished French Arabist, Jean-Pierre Filiu, wrote this book during the early months of what the media called the “Arab Spring” of 2011. I hated that lazy terminology, prefering to refer to what was happening as the New Arab Awakening, which I felt would take at least 20 years to run its course. Prof. Foliu, similarly, refers to the “Arab Uprising” and daringly identified 10 “lessons” learnt from what was happening across the MENA region. With the benefit of hindsight, nearly a decade later, one can judge how prescient he was in prediction. For example, “social networks work” YES; “leaderless movements can win” YES; “no domino effect in the Renaissance” NO; “Jihadis could become obsolete” YOU MUST BE KIDDING! Of course, it is unfair to judge with hindsight, but what is undoubtedly true is that M. Filos writes in an attractive, well-informed style and is actually quite useful to be reminded exactly what was going on during those early months of 2011: Ben Ali OUT: Mubarak OUT; Gaddafi STILL CLINGING ON; Al-Assad EVEN MORE SO!

[Jennifer Abdo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not one of those histories that reads like a novel, but it's a great record of the Arab Spring and also a guide to the Middle East in a way. Many people think it's either too complex to bother with or they paint the region as a Muslim monolith and summarily dismiss the people who live there. Filiu touches on a variety of considerations like class and colonialism that are far more important in understanding the unrest and cohesion than religion the Middle East.

[Marija · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a rare combination - a highly factual easy-read. Unlike other books on the issue, "The Arab Revolution" is divided thematically, not chronologically. As a consequence, it does not serve as a good introduction to the Arab Spring. The author provides many briliant insights, but seems to be way too optimistic in defining Arab spring as a "democratic renaissance", esp concerning recent evens in Tunisia.

[Americanenglishexper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story of arab spring
great. I also suggest The Last Pharaoh: Mubarak and the Uncertain Future of Egypt in the Obama Age
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Pharaoh-Mu...