The 2011 Arab Spring revolutions have been most significant political shifts of the decade, if not our generation.
For years we have awaited such bold action while our leaders shook hands with dictators and did business with royal criminals. After all, it was not our place — nor in our best interest, for that matter — to intervene.
Ten years ago, we attempted just that in Iraq — to topple a dictator and give the people a government of their own. But as the saying goes, “If you teach a man to fish, you have fed him for a lifetime.” We now see how potent a public acting upon its own volition can be.
A decade ago, we were the victim of violent religious extremism fresh out of the Middle East, and after years of festering stereotypes and prejudices the Arab Spring now throws all of the misguided antagonism back in our faces.
Finally, we witness grassroots discontent for the fundamentalists who target our country and any others that hope to join the modern era. We have seen the people of Iran protesting for an end to theocracy, and we have even seen women, who are typically shunned from the political sphere in Arab states, itching to stake claims in their reborn countries.
As the battles for freedom persist in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Algeria, Morocco and Zimbabwe, to name a few, we see that the decade ahead is sure to provide more surprises than the last.
Clayton Crockett is a 19-year-old international studies freshman from Lafayette. Follow him on Twitter@TDR_ccrockett.
 
____
Contact Clayton Crockett at
[email protected]