20 years of European journalism & history
Twenty years doesn't seem a lot. Certainly not in the light of European history. But while we were writing this magazine for the 20th anniversary of EUobserver, we were surprised just how much happened in the European Union in those two decades.
Twenty years doesn't seem a lot. Certainly not in the light of European history.
But while we were writing this magazine for the 20th anniversary of EUobserver, we were surprised just how much happened in the European Union in those two decades.
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the year<br />
<strong>20</strong>11<br />
The 'Arab Spring' was a<br />
great dream<br />
"I was a very regular girl, working in sales and marketing. No one in my family was<br />
politically active. There was no justice anywhere, but we all kept silent. For some reason,<br />
I started to feel angry about it."<br />
By Koert Debeuf<br />
When Mohamed Bouazizi immolated himself on 17<br />
December <strong>20</strong>10 in the Tunisian town <strong>of</strong> Sidi Bouzid,<br />
it appeared to be the catalyst for a wave <strong>of</strong> revolutions<br />
across the entire Arab world, called the Arab Spring.<br />
Egypt. Everyone was stunned when Egypt's long-time<br />
dictator Hosni Mubarak was forced from power on 11<br />
February <strong>20</strong>11. It triggered revolution and protests from<br />
Rabat in Morocco, over Bahrain to Damascus in Syria.<br />
The Tunisian dictator Zine El Abedine Ben Ali fled the<br />
country on 14 January, <strong>20</strong>11. On 25 January, people<br />
went to Cairo's Tahrir Square demanding freedom in<br />
Not all outcomes <strong>of</strong> these revolutions were for the<br />
best. Tunisia became a functioning democracy, while<br />
other countries plunged into civil war, or into new<br />
Photo: <strong>European</strong> Parliament
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