A little light: Tunisian elections

2011 has been an action packed year filled with wars, riots, protests, crackdowns and disasters:

'Overall though, the most startling thing about the year as a whole is just how densely packed with incident it's been. Last year, a woman dropping a cat in a wheelie bin was notable enough to make headlines across the globe. This year, so much has happened it's impossible to remember it all in one go. Massively significant events just drop out of your memory, only to surprise you again when you stumble across them later.'

Charlie Brooker, 2011.

Since the Arab Spring, we have seen a year of protracted clashes between the establishment and protesters. In Libya this escalated into civil war. In Syria and Bahrain, there have been allegations of systematic oppression by their governments (CBS, 2011; Irish Times, 2011). In Egypt, the military established a government after President Mubarak resigned following lengthy protests against his leadership - recently holding democratic elections to appoint a new government (Clarke, 2011).

And now in Russia protesters are out en masse claiming electoral fraud, forcing President Medvedev to take to Facebook to stress that the government was listening to the people's voices (BBC, 2011).Amongst these events, the Arab Spring sparked hopes for the emergence of a new democratic spirit; something that has made Tunisia a light during dark times. For those still engaged in the struggle against authoritarian rule, the Tunisian elections in October came as a well timed reminder of what lies at the end of the tunnel (Fernando & Mahmood, 2011). Reports have so far been complimentary of the way the elections were conducted in difficult circumstances.

Tunisia has set an example and people have taken notice.

Governments are now learning the costs of pushing ahead with unpopular policies in the face of mass public opposition - and the people are being shown what an informed and democratically committed population can do to arrest authoritarian regimes and corrupt policies.

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References:
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+ Charlie Brooker's '2011 has been like an end-of-season finale. 2012 doesn't stand a chance'; in The Guardian; 11 December 2011.

+ CBS' 'Bahrain troops lay siege to protesters' camp'; 16 March 2011.

+ Irish Times' 'Syria's crackdown'; 31 May 2011.

+ Sean Clarke's 'Egyptian elections: the buildup'; in The Guardian; 27 November 2011.

+ BBC's 'Russian election: Medvedev Facebook promise draws ire'; 12 December 2011.

+ Shehani Fernando & Mona Mahmood's 'Tunisia's voters go to the polls in Arab spring's first election'; in The Guardian; 24 October 2011.