A statute of a humble fruit seller, Mohammed Bouazizi, whose suicide by self-immolation a year ago ignited the Arab Spring, was unveiled in Tunisia last week.
This desperate act soon led Tunisians to unseat President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, who had ruled the country for more than 20 years. Protests quickly spread across North Africa and the Middle East, with varying levels of success. Tunisia's new, democratically elected, president, Moncef Marzouki, last week praised Bouazizi's sacrifice to a crowd of thousands in the small town of Sidi Bouzid, where Bouazizi lived, worked and died.
Importantly, Bouazizi committed suicide not to advocate for abstract political or religious views. A 26-year-old fruit and vegetable vendor, supporting a family of eight, he simply wished to upgrade his business from a wheelbarrow to a larger truck. After refusing to pay bribes to government officials, he was beaten by police and saw his goods confiscated. When his request for an appeal to the local governor was denied, he doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire.
Bouazizi was a small-business owner, not a political revolutionary. He was a thwarted entrepreneur, not a religious fanatic.
He voiced an overwhelming sense of futility in the face of corruption and arbitrary rule that ultimately led to the fall of dictatorships in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen, a pace of change that no one could have predicted a year earlier. Even where entrenched rulers still remain in power, such as in Morocco, Jordan and Oman, significant concessions have been granted to make governments more open and more accountable.
Unfortunately, these highpoints tell only part of the story. In Syria, a bloody civil war continues without an end in sight. In Egypt, the initial optimism that surfaced in Tahrir Square has been replaced by caution and concern. Conservative religious groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists are in the ascendency today, rather than the parties advocating liberal values of tolerance and freedom.
Bouazizi's suicide a year ago was driven by a desire for economic opportunity and a sense of justice fairly dispensed. Both conservative and liberal factions can make persuasive arguments that they are best positioned to deliver these goals. It would be naive to think that each and every protester who took to the streets after Bouazizi's death had in mind a well-drawn picture of Western democracy and mass-market consumerist economies.
Regardless, Bouazizi remains a powerfully unifying icon for millions of dissatisfied Arabs.
This week also saw the passing of the brutal North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il. Kim's body lies in state at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, where he will eventually be put on permanent display next to the embalmed corpse of his father and predecessor, Kim Il-sung. Good news for the Research Institute for Biological Structures in Moscow, which has cornered the market the past 90 years in embalming dead communist tyrants, such as Lenin, Stalin and Kim Il-sung. Clearly, not a high-volume business!
Kim Jong-il enjoyed a god-like status among many of his country's citizens, despite the years of starvation, isolation and tyranny that marked his reign. His son and anointed successor, Kim Jong-un, has already begun to take over his father's and grandfather's role as national savior.
North Korea will remain in a state of official mourning until Kim Jong-il is buried Dec. 28, with large crowds continuing to gather publically to demonstrate their grief. While Bouazizi now enjoys only a single statute in his home town, Kim Jong-il and his father have countless memorials to their greatness scattered prolifically across their impoverished and economically backward kingdom.
The international community awaits nervously to see how this transition of power will impact an always unpredictable and erratic North Korea, especially in light of its growing nuclear capabilities. Opaque and unyielding, North Korea's relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons has been a lingering diplomatic embarrassment for the Obama administration.
Concerns across the region remain high, especially in South Korea, which shares a heavily defended border with their northern neighbor. The South Korean government has issued statements of condolence to the North Koreans, but Seoul is watching the transition of power very closely.
China, a steadfast ally of North Korea, is moving quickly to solidify their relationships with senior North Korean officials and facilitate Kim Jong-un's consolidation of power. North Korea acts an important buffer state for China, maintaining a safe distance from South Korea, where US troops are stationed. Avoiding sudden change in North Korea will be a top priority for Beijing, who would not want an Arab Spring-style protest breaking out on their border.
There cannot be two individual more different than Mohammed Bouazizi and Kim Jong-il in terms of wealth and position. The former took his life after failing to be able to provide for the needs of his family and loved ones. The latter died after 17 years of cynically maintaining power and living lavishly by brutally suppressing and impoverishing his citizens.
History, however, will be their ultimate judge. While Bouazizi's death ignited waves of protest and change across a dozen countries, Kim's passing will leave few outside North Korea wanting to emulate either him or his tragic country.