Such loathing is normally manifested through protests and revolutions. Lulled into a false sense of security, convinced that they have the populace in the palm of their hands, heavy-handed authorities have often been rudely awoken from their deep slumber by unprecedented and unforeseeable revolutions. Some of the revolutions that were huge in scale that have taken place in the world have one thing in common; the word ‘Spring.’ The Prague Spring of 1968 that was sparked by the self-immolation of a student resulted in protests that lasted over seven months. The Springtime of Nations that took place over 120 years ago in many European countries resulted in the unfortunate displacement and avoidable murder of thousands of people.
The end of last year marked the tenth anniversary of the onset of The Arab Spring, and to some extent, the socio-political atmosphere still carries the echo of disillusion. These social revolutions were sparked by the self-immolation of a 26-year-old Tunisian on the 17th of December 2010, in protest over confiscation of his ‘vendibles’ by government officials.
