The world might have forgotten the name of Mohamed Bouazizi. But when the history of the revolutions sweeping the Arab world is written, the 26-year-old Tunisian vegetable seller will be remembered as the rebel who lit the fuse that destroyed the Middle East’s old autocratic order.
Today, as uprisings erupt across a region long resistant to change, every young Arab has become a Bouazizi, the frustrated youth who set himself on fire two months ago in a tragic protest against the ills afflicting Arab society, from corruption to unemployment, to a denial of dignity.
He is the young Egyptian who occupied Tahrir Square, and awakened a sleepy population. She is the young Libyan defying the madness and brutality of Muammer Gaddafi. He is the empowered Bahraini and Yemeni youth raising his voice in a resolute call on governments to listen to their people instead of oppressing them. Each revolt has drawn in swaths of its own society, but it is the young Arab who is the driving force; the unassuming leader. Whether in Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen or Libya, the more established forces in society, including political parties, tribes and the military, have been followers, forced to jump on the bandwagon lest they too are left behind.