Mini Reaction Paper on Middle East

Why There's No Turning Back in the Middle East

My mini reaction article is on a time magazine article author by Fareed Zakara about the youth revolution in the Middle East. I chose this article because I believe change will come from the youth of the Middle East. The air is filled with talk of liberty and Freedom stemming from

years of oppression.

In this article Zakara compares the recent protest in the middle east to the political uprisings in France and Sicily that happened in 1848 also known as the springtime of The people's or the year of revolution. Although these uprisings did not turn out well for these European countries because the protestors were weakened by a military that stayed loyal to the old regime, Zakaria believes the outcome of the protest in the Middle East may turn out differently because of two factors: youth and technology. Zakaria points out that 60 percent of the population in the middle east is under 30 years of age, and that from 1970-2007, 80 percent of all political outbreaks occurred in countries Where 60 percent or more of the country was under 30.

Zakaria believes that the other mitigating factor along with youth that will bring change to the Middle East is technology. The number one desire of the youth in the Middle East is freedom and with the advent of facebook and other social media, this is bad news for anyone trying to suppress information. Zakaria makes the point that countries can fight back by shutting down the Internet and cell phones but that can only go so far because of Cost and the backlash.

I think Zakaria wrote this story from an interesting angle that is not covered very often in the Middle East, the power of youth and technology. This made me think back to the time when the Berlin wall was torn down and the Soviet Union was disintegrated. I believe youth

and technology both contributed to the moves towards democracy in those two superpowers.

I believe the power of Facebook and other social...