Just Finished Reading: The Arab Uprisings – The People Want the Fall of the Regime by Jeremy Bowen (FP: 2012/2013)

He didn’t think he’d make it. At least if experience was anything to go by. He fully expected that the demonstration would be over before the plane from London landed at Cairo airport. But at least he could report on the aftermath and interview those who hadn’t been arrested of hospitalised by the security services. That was the expectation. To his surprise not only had the demonstration lasted for the duration of the flight but it had grown in numbers and the strength of the Egyptian government’s response. The whiff of teargas was in the air as the author approached the central square and the chanting of the crowds mingled with the pop of gas canisters and the more ominous crack of gunfire. What started out as a simple demonstration was evolving into something more, something bigger and something far more dangerous to the ruling regime. The people had, at least for now, lost their fear.

It was something new in the region. Starting in Tunisia the so-called Arab Spring had come to Egypt and would in time remove its hard-line leader from office. Other Arab states looked on with the mixture of fear and bravado. Libya, just next door, poured scorn on Egypt’s response vowing to destroy any such rising inside its borders. Few would even think of opposing Colonel Gadhafi’s regime. But enough saw an opportunity to protest and did so. True to his word the Colonel hit back hard but, it turned out not hard enough to dissuade further revolt and further backlash against it. Further afield countries like Saudi Arabia instituted reforms with others announced. Whilst in Syria, holding itself aloof from the whole process publically announced that such a thing could not happen here – not in a country which such coherence and a love of its leader. The first demonstrations against the rule of President Assad were small and peaceful. They asked for little and were met by armed troops with orders to shoot if provoked. It wasn’t long before shooting began. Soon after the protestors, now categorised as terrorists and foreign agitators, started shooting back. Within months the protests and become an uprising and then, almost inexorably, into a grinding civil war.

On the ground for much of it was the author who has been the BBC Middle East Editor since 2005. With a deep knowledge of the region and access to the highest echelons of power this is a bottom up look at the Arab uprisings across the region since 2011. From the thick of things on the streets of Cairo – complete with streaming eyes and arrests by the security services – to interviews with both Colonel Gadhafi and President Assad as well as representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood and high-ranking defectors in Libyan brawl/civil war this was a brilliant account of not only what was happening in the region but a full geo-political analysis of why it was happening and why it was happening now. His numerous face-to-face encounters with street level people either caught in the crossfire or actually engaged in the protesting (and the fighting) put serious meat on the bone and brings the chaos and the hope of those involved to the fore. As gripping as any thriller this goes to the heart of the conflicts and tells it from a first-hand view and with real knowledge as well as passion and an obvious love of the region and its people. I learnt so much from this book and it really built on what I had gleaned from my previous delving into this region and its troubled present (see Fractured Lands – How the Arab World came Apart by Scott Anderson). This is definitely something anyone should read if they want to understand exactly what’s going on in the Middle East/North Africa right now and where things are likely to go. Quite brilliant and there will be more to come from this thoughtful and knowledgeable author. Highly recommended.