An ‘extraordinary moment’
The unrest started in Tunisia, when one desperate man’s act of self-immolation in December spawned massive protests and the ouster of the country’s authoritarian president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. It quickly spread to Egypt, where two weeks ago protesters began flooding the streets of Cairo and Alexandria to demand President Hosni Mubarak step down. And it has caught on in Syria, Jordan, and Yemen. The protests that have rocked the Arab world in recent weeks have left many observers wondering if the region’s citizens will achieve self-government after decades of dictatorial rule. As Egyptians continued to occupy Tahrir Square Thursday night (Feb. 3), several Harvard experts offered their views on the wave of pro-democratic demonstrations in an event at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Institute of Politics. “There’s a pan-Arab narrative of reform being written in these events,” said R. Nicholas Burns, Sultan of Oman Professor of the Practice...