In January 2011, the international community watched in awe as massive protests calling for political and civil reform erupted across the Middle East and North Africa, now known as the Arab Spring. Beginning in December of 2010 in Tunisia with the self-immolation of discouraged fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi, there were significant uprisings in seven states across the region during that year. Over the next decade, erratic protest movements continued to surface in different nations within the region. While these continuing movements differ from the Arab Spring, which describes a series of isolated movements in 2011, the ongoing protests reflect the same call for justice, equity, and reform. In 2019, a large resurgence of protest movements that mirrored those in 2011 erupted in Iraq and Lebanon. Known as the Tishreen Movement in Iraq and the October Revolution in Lebanon, these mass mobilizations prove that the sentiments and proponents behind the 2011 Arab Spring are still alive and well in the Middle East. There are many connections between the 2011 and 2019 protest movements demonstrating that the 2011 Arab Spring never died, and its legacy can be seen in the ongoing mobilizations in the MENA.  

Historically, the Middle East and North Africa have stood out in the international community for the high levels of authoritarianism in the region. The region is colloquially referred to as the “Democracy Deficit,” in reference to the lack of established democratic governments in Middle Eastern and North African states. In this deficit, the region experiences a high concentration of authoritarian regimes, which has resulted in repressed freedom of speech, the co-opting of civil societies, political corruption, and economic downturns, which are mostly suffered by the middle and lower-class citizens of a state. 

In 2011, the protests across the region echoed one another in their call for political reform, social equity, and even the removal of the regimes and figures in power at the time of the uprisings. The 2011 protests began in Tunisia and spread to Morocco, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, and Libya. Of these seven states, only Tunisia has successfully transitioned into democracy. In Bahrain, for example, the monarchy acted swiftly, with the help of Saudi Arabia, to quell the mobilizations. This trend of violent repression is also evident in the Assad regime’s response to the 2011 protests in Syria which included firing on unarmed protestors, mass arrests, as well as torture and extrajudicial executions in detention centers. Since the 2011 Uprising, Syria has descended into a brutal civil war, which in the last week resulted in the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, occurring 14 years after the war’s start. In Bahrain, the government tightened its control around civil society and other arenas where civil dissent may be allowed to brew. Although not all successful in their calls for reform, the Arab Spring of 2011 reignited hope and resilience in the region, which is reflected in the continuous and sporadic civil demonstrations that have followed the Arab Spring over the course of a decade, such as the October Revolution and Tishreen Uprisings in 2019. 

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, among other think tanks, has named the 2019 uprisings in Lebanon and Iraq the “Arab Spring 2.0” or the “Second Arab Spring” on account of the parallels these movements have with the 2011 uprisings, mainly in the nature of grievances and means of mobilization seen in these movements. Notably, these two states were not a part of the original Arab Spring. This absence can be attributed to a number of factors, such as the lasting effects of the 2003 United States invasion of Iraq and the high levels of sectarian fragmentation in Lebanese political society. However, popular dissatisfaction with the economic and political states of Iraq and Lebanon prompted these two states to experience mass unrests of their own in 2019. 

A noticeable parallel between the 2011 and 2019 uprisings in the region are the sentiments of autonomy, equity, and freedom behind these protests. On October 17, 2019, the Lebanese Cabinet announced new tax measures to remedy the economic crisis caused by the government's pile up of debt from the 1975-1990 civil war. The tax reforms aimed to add taxes to tobacco, petrol, and voice calls via WhatsApp, three items and services used daily in Lebanon. Most notable of these taxes was the “WhatsApp Tax,” a popular app for communicating, which served as a catalyst point for Lebanese citizens already frustrated with their country’s economic state. After this announcement, tens of thousands of peaceful protestors took to the streets to demonstrate against these taxes. The initial protests evolved into a broader call for justice and equity in Lebanon. Protestors advocated for familiar demands heard already in 2011, such as social and economic rights, an end to corruption, and the resignation of all political representatives. In January 2020, a new cabinet was appointed in Lebanon, but with little change to the issues addressed in the previous protests, the protests continued. Again, in August 2020, protests were reignited when a port explosion tragically killed at least 190 people. The 2019 protests, alongside the port explosion and the financial and political crisis caused by the global COVID-19 epidemic, came together to stimulate yet another round of protests. The second round of protests in 2020 ended with another resignation from Lebanon’s new Cabinet. Similar frustrations were expressed in Iraq when, on October 1, 2019, thousands of Iraqi youth mobilized in Tahrir Square in Baghdad to protest against corruption, weak public infrastructure, and high unemployment rates. These protests were named the Tishreen uprisings, marking the longest-lasting protest movement in Iraq since 2003 as they continued for months and have had anniversary protests in October each year since. In 2020, even with the COVID-19 restrictions, Iraqi citizens continued to express discontent and call for reform via social media. 

The style and location of mobilization in both 2011 and 2019 are strikingly similar. Similarly to the protests of 2011, the mobilizations of Iraqis and Lebanese citizens in October of 2019 involved mass gatherings in key places within the cities of protest. In Iraq, this was seen in the collective gathering in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square. The Wilson Center describes this mobilization as “young people camped in Tahrir Square for months.” The importance of Iraq’s Tahrir Square mirrors the encampments seen in Cairo's Tahrir Square in 2011. In addition to having the same name, Egyptians conducted weeks and months long sit-in demonstrations in the square. These squares became key pieces of these protests, both in 2011 and 2019, as they provided a large space for protest and encampment. Similarly, in the October Revolution in Lebanon, video footage from BBC shows large crowds gathered in large city spaces in Tripoli at all hours of the day, calling for revolution and reform. Slogans such as “We can make change” are reminiscent of 2011 popular protest chants such as “The people want the fall of the regime.” 

In Lebanon, the 2019 protests were described by Amnesty International as “overwhelmingly peaceful.” Yet, protestors were met with excessive uses of force by the army and security forces of the state, including “beatings, teargas, rubber bullets, and at times live ammunition and pellets.” In an article published in November 2019, Amnesty International accused the Lebanese government of arbitrary arrests and torture, as well as a crackdown on freedom of expression. In a similar manner of swift repression in Iraq, more than 600 were killed, and over 20,000 were wounded in the first six months of the uprisings, making the Tishreen uprisings, in addition to being the longest-lasting protest movement, also the most violent Iraqi uprising since 2003. The brutal reactions of the security forces in Lebanon and Iraq to the peaceful protest movements are additionally in parallel with how many states responded to the 2011 uprisings. To illustrate, in Bahrain, protestors in Pearl Roundabout, a major Bahraini landmark, were dispelled by government troops in March of 2011 through the use of tanks and machine guns. Similarly, in Syria, the March 2011 protests were met with violence and arrests in large numbers. According to the United States Institute of Peace, from March 6-23 of 2011, at least 100 protestors were killed by Syrian security forces. When Syria began to descend into civil war, the Assad regime began using even more extreme measures of repression and violence against civilians. 

Like the 2011 Uprisings, the 2019 protests in Iraq and Lebanon did not dissipate, even with political resignations and transitions. The continuous elements of corruption, stagnant reform, and financial strains maintain the sentiment and actions of protests in both states. In October 2022, marking the third year anniversary of the Tishreen protests in Iraq, thousands of Iraqis mobilized once again. The Wilson Center described the call for reform that has persisted since 2019, reporting, “Their demands were the same as three years ago: security, jobs and basic services.” which are still not being met due to the hit Lebanon’s infrastructure and economy took during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as perpetuating debt looming over the country. These demands serve as a touching and impactful reminder of the demands seen in Egypt in 2011 encapsulated in the common protest chant “Bread, freedom and social justice”. Although separated by borders, a similar call for justice, equity, and reform can be heard echoing across the region in the past and the years to come.