Is the "Arab Spring" an Orientalist "Myth"?

What is it about?

The recent protests and revolts in many Arab countries have been generally interpreted in the West as one popular and democratic "Arab" movement against tyranny (the “Arab Spring”) and supported, in some cases, by military intervention. In this article, I question the reliability of this interpretation, by showing that it is a striking example of the persistence of “Orientalism” (according to Edward Said’s definition). In fact, it is built by stereotypes and abstractions about Arab countries, and rests on an ethnocentric approach, as it adopts Western “modernity” as the measure of progress.

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Why is it important?

It is only through a revision of the myth of the “Arab Spring” that it is possible to understand and discuss what has really happened in the Arab countries, to reflect on the real motives of the uprisings and of the Western intervention, and – if it is not too late – to try to amend the tragic consequences of it.