People power in the Arab World: An oxymoron?

Who would have thought just 6 months ago, that such transformations were to take place in the Arab World?

Just a few months ago, protests in Tunisia, brought down Ben Ali, who held office since 1987. Last week, popular uprisings in Egypt forced Mubarak to resign, president since 1981. Today protests are ongoing in Yemen, Iran, Algeria and Bahrain. Where next?

Huntington was wrong, it is not a clash of civilisations, but a clash between people and their leaders. The lines between the civilisations as Huntington saw it, is actually quite blurred for today's "Facebook generation". Indeed, Arab youth in the Middle East have the same aspirations as most European youth. They have realised today that those aspirations cannot be achieved under the current socio-political and economic climate in their countries. In other words, their leaders and their entourage, need to go.

Mass mobilisation for public manifestations is easy these days. Just create a page on Facebook, send out a couple tweets, say when and where, and you get 100,000 youths protesting the next day.

It is an interesting time to be in the Middle East. You can feel the energy and the desire for change.

Not sure how much sleep some Arab leaders are getting these days...