It began with a man that operates a unlicensed vegetable cart. Mohamed Bouazizi had his cart confiscated by a policewoman. In response to paying a fine that would have been his day's wages, he was instead slapped, spitted on and had his deceased father insulted. After an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve his cart at the police station, he doused himself with a flammable liquid and set himself on fire in front of the police station. This was the immolation that led to so much more.

Soon the people took to the streets of Tunisia. After a few more suicides and another man fatally shot by the police, the violence escalated to much higher levels, and eventually reached the capital Tunis. Unlike the politically apathetic people in their 40s, the youths that were not affected by the empty promises of their leaders in the past and are asking for more. Much more.

As more people took to the streets, more reasons to protest turned up as well, including unemployment and rising cost of living. Mind you, Tunisia was not a poor country. $3,851 GDP Per Capita. That's relatively close to Philippines at $3,520.

Soon, the lawyers joined in the protest, together with teachers soon after. With the rising elite's support, the situation was finally too much for President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali to handle when the armed forces and key members of the legislature started having minds of their own. The government was dissolved on 14th January, and resigned the following day, sending himself to exile, and now currently in Saudi Arabia.
The strikes had not stopped in Tunisia today, with strikes continuing to dissolve the Rassemblement Constitutionel Démocratique (RCD), which has been done, and against the prime minster, which is running the show now.

Nevertheless, the current situation in Tunisia might be the least of what the revolution has changed. With the protest in Tunisia so largely successful, it was not long before others in the region decided that it was time for change.

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In Egypt, 17 January, due to rising discontent with the country's state and the poor living conditions, a man set himself ablaze in front of the Egyptian parliament. After 5 more people followed suit, together with online activism, a protest was planned on National Police Day, on 25 January, to protest again the abuses by the police.

Peaceful protests continued until 1 February, when the Pro-Mubarak groups met the anti-Mubaraks. A clear reminder that in most of such protests, they stay peaceful until the first act of violence is committed. Be it from the police or 2 different groups of people. Then it escalates and all hell breaks loose.

As the days passed, President Mubarak started giving more and more concessions to the people, including promises not to run another term in office and political and social reforms, but it was really too little too late. Despite interventions from the US, on 10th February,when he announced the transfer of his power to his Vice-President Omar Suleiman, many people got pissed off as they expected him to resign, and on 11th February, Vice-President Suleiman announced Mubarak's resignation and that the Supreme Council of Egyptian Armed Forces would assume leadership of the country.

Following that, the Supreme Council of Egyptian Armed Forces dissolved Egypt’s parliament and suspended the Constitution. The council also declared that it would hold power for six months or until elections could be held, whichever came first. But protests continue, but much subsided, with a list of demands to be met.

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As we speak, major protests are happening on Bahrain, Libya, Algeria and Saudi Arabia. Governments and their leaders have been doing their best to appease the people. From giving out money to the people in Bahrain, to provide housing and redevelopment in Libya and promises of the end of the 19 year old state of emergency in Algeria.

...

Such is a recapitulation of the events up till now. But before I go any future, let me note something that I didn't quite before. Mohamed Bouazizi had his cart confiscated on the 17th of December 2010. That means that everything that has occurred up till now happened within a 2 month period.

Let that sink in a bit. 2 governments were toppled in over 2 months. The Cuban revolution took 4 years, the Nepal Democracy Movement in still occurring from 2006.

Of course, I'm not denying the fact that most revolutions actually start and end rather quickly, but you can tell me how many of those changed anything significant? With a aimless group in Tunisia and waning support in Egypt, one wonders if both groups have the capability to really change anything at all. The full impact of revolutions do not happen in a short period of time, but is instead a long and arduous process that is overlooked by many.

Consider a large change made in a country, say Singapore's road to independence. That was 17 years of work from 1945 to 1962. 17 years. Not 2 months. It was no coincidence that we ended up as a successful country despite having our plans spoiled with Malaysia. Years of planning and experience in Internal Self-Government was definitely essential for the leaders of Singapore to bring the country to the situation today.

Of course, as emphasized before, it is, still only 2 months since the revolution begun. It is far too early to be determining anything much about the future, especially with the volatile situation. In addition to that, I doubt I want to risk eating my own words in the future. Perhaps this revolution would change the region for the better, and the world would remember December 17, 2010 as the day that changed the Middle East. Only time can tell.