The many flowers in an Arab spring

Spring is a beautiful word. Spring is a season that evokes a lot of new beginnings. Plants begin to grow after lying dormant through all of winter. Spring cleaning requires clearing out the old and unused stuff to make way for the new. To spring up is to rise above, and suddenly.

Thus, one must give credit to whoever called the present uprisings in West Asia as the Arab spring. That sounds more poetic than, say, a jasmine or some other revolution.

Here is a region ruled by autocrats of various hues. Some are recent royalty claiming a divine right to rule, while thanking the colonial powers for putting them on the throne; some are military dictators; and yet others were democratically elected, and yet amazingly manipulated the electoral rules so that they were the only ones still standing on the day of election!

HOPE AND REPRESSION

The spring began in Tunisia where protests against public harassment by low-level civil servants snowballed into a national revolution. Inspired, populations broke out into protests in Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco, Libya, Jordan, Syria and Yemen. They invariably began with a demand for political reforms, and calling for accountability from the administration which was usually in the hands of political elites lining their own pockets. But as their government leaders dithered, they all moved on to call for regime changes of various forms.

This spring has also brought several new sprouts to the garden. The Tunisian leader fled even before the demands of the protestors were clear. The Egyptians drove out their president and are coming up with a new system. The Yemenis are hoping that their president who went abroad for treatment will remain there. But the scenario is not uniformly cheerful. Jordan and Morocco seem to have leaders who are trying to stay ahead of the curve and have initiated moves towards constitutional reforms.

But some kinds of soils require additional treatment for sprouting. Look at the Syrians. Or the Libyan leader who seems to survive, no matter what the opposition. . But when leaders turn repressive under the garb of establishing law and order, the non-violent movements become violent street battles. Slowly, the undercurrent of sectarian violence also shows its face, with minorities seeing the spring as an opportunity to air their particular grievances. The unity of the protestors disintegrates.

CHANGE IN SAUDI ARABIA

The latest outbreak of hope is in Saudi Arabia. When the revolutions elsewhere in the region began, everyone wondered what form it would take in Saudi Arabia. With a reputation of being the most conservative, many felt that any confrontation would be violent and put down with force. But nothing happened initially because the king, returning about the same time from treatment abroad, decided to hand out gifts including pay increases and affordable housing to his adoring public.

Women constitute about 45 per cent of the population and a country that is adept at exploiting its oil reserves does not see them as a valuable resource. But the women have slowly begun to realise that the freedom they enjoy are more relevant to 700 AD rather than 2011 AD. It's been a long winter and so time for some new sprouts.

So the Saudi Arabian women are demanding the right to drive. This demand may seem childish compared with what their neighbours are asking of their governments. But remember that when Gandhiji announced his 24-mile march to pick up salt at Dandi, few could see how that was going to shake the foundations of the British empire! There was much sniggering even among his devoted followers. But something about groups walking across the country to various places to get salt jump-started the Independence movement. The demand for the right to drive may act in the same way.

HOPE FOR WOMEN

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that specifically prohibits women from driving. So a few brave women posted a video on the internet of themselves driving and called upon the others to do so. E-mails, Facebook, and other social media went abuzz.

In what is a mass protest by Saudi standards, about 50 women with licences that they had secured overseas decided to drive their family vehicles on the streets. To play it safe, many had their spouses in the seat beside them. The last time somebody did this about 20 years ago, the consequences were more serious. But this time, the drivers were issued traffic violations for driving without a valid licence, since Saudi Arabia does not recognise international licences.

The right to drive is only the thin edge of the wedge. On Web sites and elsewhere, women are demanding this right not as a means of being treated equally with their men, but because they would at least like to be on a par with women in other Islamic societies. With a little bit of luck, this will spill over into challenging the ‘guardianship rules' in the country. Under those strictures, women are required to be accompanied by a male guardian, who could be a sibling, parent, or even a child, to perform many normal activities in public, such as travelling, seeking employment, opening a bank account, and so on.

I'm sure many in the country feel that this driving protest too will pass. After all, we are talking about a society where people are still beheaded with a sword for crimes committed and flogging is a spectator sport. A spring of hope surged in me when I read that the Saudi king has reportedly said that he was in favour of women driving. So, I guess all that is now required is for someone to take a paper and pen to him. Even though we have just moved from spring to summer, let's hope the spring ends well for those brave Saudi women.

(The author is a professor of International Business and Strategic Management at Suffolk University, Boston, US. >blfeedback@thehindu.co.in )

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