David Hurst: Are we about a new Arab spring?

British journalist David Hurst said the Arab masses had not realized their boredom in demanding their fundamental and political rights. "Are we facing a new wave of Arab Spring?"

The torch, which has been waged by popular revolutions in Yemen, Egypt, Syria and Libya, is still burning to this day, the writer said in an article on the Middle East Internet site - and that its roots will remain glowing under the ashes.

This is precisely what is happening in Algeria and Sudan. In Algeria, masses of people took to the streets against the rule of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 82, who announced his candidacy for a fifth term before retreating under public pressure. But he said Bouteflika was still in power and would stick to it until the next presidential election, which "may never take place."

In Sudan, President Omar al-Bashir is struggling with a similar wave of popular protests. In an effort to calm the situation, he announced his resignation from the presidency of the ruling National Congress Party and imposed a state of emergency for a year before being reduced by parliament to six months.

The role of infamous
Why should the Sudanese revolt against their government? Wonders the author, who is also the editor of the British site.

He says crowds have been demonstrating in the streets of Sudanese cities since December 19 to protest government decisions to lift subsidies on flour and electricity. He pointed out that the economy has been suffering over the past decade from the high inflation rate of nearly 70% last year.

The gathering of Sudanese professionals elicited the masses against rising prices. An immediate response from opposition leaders, youth movements and women's movements soon turned into general discontent with Bashir's 75-year-old regime.

In his article, the author predicts that the armed forces or the security services of both countries will play a key role in any transitional phase if they are to do so.

He said that Sudan is already witnessing a race between two candidates for the presidency, referring to a meeting recently held at the security conference in Munich between Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and his Sudanese counterpart Salah Qosh.

Hurst believes that the Algerian and Sudanese armies may be engaged in a "disgraceful" role, just as in Egypt between 2011 and 2013.

The article recalls that the Egyptian army initially bent to the popular revolution and ousted President Hosni Mubarak, and pledged to the masses mobilized at the time in Tahrir Square - Islamic and liberal - to stand by its side.

When the army got the green light and money from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, it turned against the democratic experiment in the country and "spent it".

"We or the Flood"
The messages sent by tyrannical regimes to the rebellious Arab peoples were the same as the Russians, the Iranians (as in the case of Syria) or the "tyrants in the Gulf states": "Either we are the rulers or the state collapses, and if you drive us away, you will go to Europe on boats." All of them - in Hearst's opinion - chant "as if they were in a choir." Perhaps the new and exciting events of Algeria and Sudan - according to Hearst - that the masses did not know "those whispers" apparently deaf ears.

"What one can say is that the Algerians and the Sudanese have not lost faith in the ability of popular protests to bring about the desired political change, because they have not tired of demanding their fundamental and political rights.

Swimming against the current
Hurst concludes that those concerned by the current events in Sudan and Algeria are Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the godfather of the counter revolution, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed. The man who is most concerned is Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, according to Middle East News.

Hurst reminds readers that he has already written that Sisi is "dead walking" and that he thinks he is more than ever. "From his point of view, things will not remain the same in Egypt, because the social and political forces that gave us the Arab Spring will prevail over the long term." He concludes by stressing that fighting these forces is like walking against the tide of history and acting as a "postponement of what is inevitable."