The Arab Awakening

As revolution shakes the Arab world, a series of films explore the roots of the uprisings and ask what next?

The Arab Spring began in 2010 ushering in an era of revolution and protest. Revolution has shaken the Arab world for a year, as protesters, many armed only with smartphones, stared down heavily armed riot police and rattled the Middle East and North Africa. During the early days of Egypt’s revolution, the once-powerful and much-feared interior minister, Habib al-Adly, reportedly dismissed Cairo’s protesters as abunch of incognizant, ineffective young people. 

It was, perhaps, the most erroneous assessment of the entire Arab Spring. The seeds of Libya’s uprising were planted 15 years ago when stories of cold-blooded murder began to seep from the nation’s most notorious prison. Through the eyes of a Libyan-born filmmaker, we investigate the dark stories emerging from a country fast unravelling into civil war. Rageh Omaar examines how the death of a penniless fruit seller in Tunisia first ignited mass revolt in the country, led to the overthrow of its president and effects far beyond its borders. Hamza al-Khateeb, a chubby 13-year-old, disappeared April 29. After being held for a month, allegedly by the anti-terrorism branch of Syria’s Air Force, his badly mutilated corpse was returned to his family. About 50 people have died during clashes between protesters and security forces as the government refuses to budge on demands for democratic reforms. At the start, there was reason to believe Bahrain would be the next to sweep aside its powerful leaders.