“If there are no problems, there is no art.” -Voa, Street Artist
It started in December 2010: a frustrated Tunisian street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi set the world ablaze–literally. In an act of protest, Bouazizi self-immolated. He embodied the struggles of most Arab young men. He was poor, he was young, he was unable to move up the economic ladder, and he was angry. Bouazizi’s death kicked off the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia. Protests followed his death, and, less than a month later, Tunisian president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali stepped down from his position.
Tunisia was the perfect framework for a successful democratic regime change in the region. Other countries in the Middle East looked to Tunisia and thought they could achieve the same results in their home nations. Very soon, similar protests were erupting in other countries with authoritarian regimes. Protesters shared their ideology and updates on social media platforms, specifically Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter.
For some countries, the protests yielded relatively minor backlash or opposition from the ruling party and political leaders. For others, the grassroots-protests divided the population and led to bloody civil wars.
For my thesis, I chose Tunisia as a country to examine because Tunisia was where the Arab Spring began and–at least in my opinion–where the movement was the most successful. I also chose to examine Egypt, because it was more drawn-out than Tunisia and, as a result, had significantly more protest art to investigate.
Syria was important for me to include. Syria was one of the countries where the Arab Spring uprisings spun out into mass chaos and violence and has catapulted a country into an awful civil war. Syrians who are opposed to the brutal regime under Bashar al Assad have been victim to a number of crimes against humanity. I feel it is important that the world–most specifically, the Democratic world–does not turn its back to the Syrian people. I wanted to examine their art because I feel like their message is the most imperative, the most dire, and the most painful.
Iran was also one of the countries I chose to include in my research. Although Iran was not involved in the Arab Spring uprisings, Iran had their own version of political uprising. The Green Revolution was important to examine because it was where Arab Spring protesters looked toward for inspiration and guidance when they began to organize their own movements years later. In fact, the two movements share so many similarities that the Green Movement is also referred to as the Persian Spring.
Within all of these conflicts, it was important to protestors that they were able to share their ideas for social, political, and economic reform with not only other demonstrators, but also the world. Dictators and oppressive governments, in attempts to squash the uprisings, turned to censoring the internet and media platforms. This is where artists were tasked with carrying the message of the revolution. Protestors picked up cans of spray paint and brushes and creatively displayed their desires for freedom on the walls of buildings and in other public spaces. This was not an act of vandalism, but, instead, and act of reclamation. The protesters were taking back what they believed was rightfully theirs. Â