LETTER FROM JOHN SCOTT IN JORDAN

It’s now August 2012 and too early to make sense of what started in early 2011 and what has come to be known as the Arab Spring.

Having only lived in the Middle East since early 2012, my observations are initial and tentative:

• For the moment, nobody really knows why it all kicked off and why it spread so quickly or, at the same time, why it has taken so long to kick off
• Nobody knows where it will lead 
• The peculiarities of e.g. culture, history and religion are evident in each country where the Arab Spring has had an impact so drawing general conclusions about the region is unwise
• After 30-40 years of being bottled up, the  jinn is out of the bottle and will never return, in a part of the world where the jinn are influential
• It has been thrilling to watch the events in Tahrir Square and in Libya; deeply worrying as the events in Syria unfold with the international community either unwilling or unable to intercede; and uplifting to see democracy advance, if only in fits and starts and with results which are not always welcome
• People are endlessly optimistic but realise that the apparatus of state control and influence will not disappear overnight and may return at any stage
• The explosion of people power has been felt in the workplace, in schools and universities – it has touched any number of institutions
• Young people are now more willing to express their views and in general people are less deferential
• Technology has played an important part in enabling the Arab Spring but also in controlling it and smothering its consequences
• Normal life appears to continue as huge waves of change take place around us, although the Arab Spring has shaped what people read, what they discuss, where they go on holiday etc
• It’s not over, even in countries where it has yet to start

My favourite story – a friend is an academic and lecturer; he tells me he had to rewrite his curricula on a daily basis as events unfolded around him; his students are more demanding and more willing to challenge him and the material which is presented to them; but the biggest change is in his family where his position is not as strong as it was and where his children do not afford him complete respect solely because he is their father and head of the house.

The most challenging member of the family is his youngest daughter.

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