Did They Get What They Wanted?

As suggested by the book's title, [Gilbert Achcar] emphasizes the main slogan of the Arab uprisings: "The people want the downfall of the regime." The slogan was not "the people want fairer elections," nor was it "the people want to maintain the status quo of economic and social injustice." The people wanted the whole regime to come down and a new system entirely. In the chapter titled "Actors and Parameters of the Revolution," Achcar situates the Arab uprisings in the longer history of opposition and labor organizing in the few decades before the Arab revolutions. Achcar opens the chapter with an important discussion contrasting the subjective and objective conditions of revolutions. The latter, he argues, are always "overdetermined," whereas the former are not. The only critique I can offer - and less a critique than a question of analytical framing - concerns Achcar's emphasis that the Arab world is witnessing a "long-term revolutionary process" that may last years or even decades. While I agree with Achcar's basic point, particularly in light of others' efforts to rush to judgment, I question the implication of saying, essentially, "we must wait and see."