Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia was the epicentre of an uprising that was triggered on December 17, 2010, by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old vendor whose cart was seized by police. Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest police harassment and corruption, sparking off widespread protests against economic hardship and the authoritarian rule of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The spreading protests expanded and popularly became known as Arab Spring, extending quickly throughout Tunisia, leading to the resignation of President Ben Ali on January 14, 2011.
Often called the Jasmine Revolution, the uprising in Tunisia — aided by access to mobile telephony by the youth — inspired a wave of pro-democracy protests across the Middle East and North Africa. Unknown to most politicians, international diplomats and analysts, this Tunisian event was going to reshape the internal politics and policies of the Middle East, North Africa, European countries and North America in an irreversible and very significant way in subsequent years. The fire lit from the spark in Tunisia was soon to rapidly spread to countries like neighbouring Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan and extending further afield to Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Syria and Yemen, with varying consequences and magnitudes of impact.
While minor protests and regional effects were recorded in Djibouti, Mauritania, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Western Sahara, the impacts were more devastating elsewhere.
Armed rebellions beginning in December 2010 quickly extended to several other countries in 2011, with varying degrees of impact, leading to regime changes, beginning with the overthrow of President Ben Ali. In about two weeks, massive protests in Cairo and other cities in Egypt began on January 25, 2011, resulting in the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak on February 11, 2011.
The fire expanded to Libya as a popular uprising quickly escalated into a civil war in February 2011, leading to the overthrow and death of Muammar Gaddafi in October of the same year. Earlier in March 2011, protests broke out in Syria but were resisted with intense violent repression, leading to a prolonged civil war. The Pearl Square protests of February 2011 in Bahrain were swiftly crushed by local authorities and foreign intervention while widespread protests in Yemen against President Ali Abdullah Saleh led to his overthrow in February 2012.
Significant protests and social unrest in Algeria began in late 2010 and early 2011, leading to the lifting of the 19-year-old state of emergency. In Iraq, significant demonstrations occurred against corruption and public service failures. In response to protests in Jordan, the king dismissed his cabinet and implemented constitutional reforms. The extent to which demonstrations for reforms took place in Kuwait along with social unrest might not have been as far reaching, but protests took place all the same. In Morocco, protests led by the 20 February Movement led to constitutional reforms while protests in Oman led to economic concessions and cabinet changes. Sudan did not fare better under Omar Al-Bashir even though significant protests were triggered by the general regional unrest. Rather Al-Bashir created the groundwork for disasters and wars of subsequent years.
In Djibouti, Mauritania, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and Western Sahara, minor demonstrations, sit-ins, or incidents of self-immolation in sympathy or against their own local conditions were recorded. The wars, where they broke out, led to deaths, internal displacements and forced emigration, a bulk of which led to massive influx into Europe and North America. This contributed significantly to the enlargement of the Arab population in European countries.
Part of the unintended consequences of the Arab Spring was a significant migration, with Canada and the US receiving refugees and skilled immigrants fleeing instability in countries like Syria, Libya, and Egypt. In Canada, it was a boon as these arrivals helped address labour shortages and were managed through integration efforts, resulting in long-term demographic shifts and increased demand for refugee settlement services. In response, Canada designed targeted programmes, notably resettling over 40,000 Syrian refugees between 2015 and 2016, which generally led to positive long-term economic integration and filling gaps created by mitigating shortages in key sectors. Crisis arose, however, as Arab-Canadian families from this era faced challenges navigating intergenerational conflict and balancing heritage culture with Canadian life.
In the US, the number of refugees from Syria and other affected nations were treated with policies often based on security concerns. The inflow was part of a larger, often politically charged, conversation regarding security, with the U.S. trying to balance supporting democratic movements with national security concerns regarding extremist groups potentially exploiting migration flows. The influx contributed to intensified debates on immigration, resulting in stricter vetting procedures for refugees from specific countries during various administrations. In addition to immigrants from Arab Spring-inspired events, immigrants from many other countries also poured into the US as a result of the Democrats’ liberal immigration policies. This has led to outcomes that raised serious objections to continued unrestricted inflow of immigrants within the US.
Although Canada and the US increased focus and attention on diversity in urban areas, where pressure increased on services, the rapid influx required significant investment in language training, education and healthcare infrastructure to support newcomers. That also provided a springboard for the Obama era to turn to what was supposed to be a liability to assets by using their labour.
During her term in office, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the borders to a massive influx of refugees, as if emulating Obama’s policies. Between 2015 and 2016, Germany received over 1.2 million asylum seekers. During this crisis, Merkel permitted most of the refugees, primarily from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria to enter Germany. She famously stated that (“Wir schaffen) das” “We can do it” or “We’ll manage,” a phrase which became the defining, though highly debated, slogan of her policy. Merkel chose to keep borders open as thousands of refugees arrived via the Balkan route. Although that decision was hailed as a humanitarian act, it nonetheless sparked significant political polarisation, contributing to the rise of the AfD party.
Angela Merkel’s ruling party allegedly seized on this immigrants’ inflow for internal political capital for her center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), according to her disclosure afterwards, although the liberal immigration policy was sold as compassion, equity and diversity and inclusion. This idea was popularised across many European countries, leading to the flooding of Europe with immigrants, particularly from Arab and Muslim countries.
The Arab Spring yielded a mixed bag of outcomes of complex events rather than a straightforward success or failure. At home, it yielded misery in some countries and momentum in political transformations in others, with unforeseen crises in countries of destinations for the emigres. Generally, while it toppled entrenched dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, it largely resulted in authoritarians regaining power, enduring political instability or brutal civil wars, making Tunisia the only initial democratic success, which itself subsequently turned authoritarian. Undoubtedly, the uprisings demonstrated a powerful demand for political reform and managed to remove long-term rulers like Tunisia’s Ben Ali and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. Authoritarian resurgence took over in many countries. In Egypt, for example, protests led to a democratic phase which produced Mohamed Morsi, a religious bigot that eventually gave way to military or autocratic rule.
In Syria, Libya and Yemen, the uprisings spiraled into prolonged civil wars and instability, causing massive internal displacement, mass emigration and humanitarian crises. Although the immediate democratic transitions failed in those countries, the Arab Spring profoundly altered political consciousness in the Middle East and North Africa. One lasting impact is that many citizens are still supporting democratic ideals despite the setbacks. Failure to bring widespread democracy was a result of various countries’ reactions. Some regimes utilised extreme violence and repression for survival and resilience. The lack of cohesion in the often disorganised opposition groups that struggled to present a viable alternative created power vacuums. This was complicated by polarisation caused by regional powers’ interventions, leading to increased conflict intensity.
On the surface, the past 15 years may have appeared ineffectual in achieving the immediate goal of replacing authoritarian regimes with stable democracies. In most cases, the Arab Spring has ultimately acted as a catalyst and a major turning point in the region’s political history. That uprising will forever change the demographics of the region as well as those of Europe and North America permanently.
A clash of civilisations was clearly evident in those countries that allowed in the Arab Spring refugees. The older, traditional assimilation policy of France towards migrants from their former colonies in Africa did not fully result in integration, full adaptation or compliance with French laws, culture and practices. North African Muslims in France have carved out their own identity and communities within the country. Worse still, the refugee immigrants into Germany, the UK, Belgium and some other countries exhibit similar traits and practices. Terror attacks in specific places on specific occasions are evidence of revolt against their host communities, particularly when these involve open defiance and flouting of laws in those countries. The politicians themselves are left confused, with some making excuses for the offenders, despite their bold display of defiance, confrontational disposition and open proclamation of jihad, causing concerns even among the tolerant liberals. Reports of extremist violence, a push for parallel Shari’a laws and the boasting about turning Europe over to Islam is fast causing disquiet among the local population. The politicians are forced to take specific actions in response.
In Europe and North America, immigration issue has become a hot button political issue, often framed ideologically under right or left wing compartments. But now, Europe is fighting back as one of the most important political developments in recent years began to unfold. Things took a sudden, new turn recently in the EU as the same politicians who called patriots “extremists” began to do exactly what the people have been demanding for years. This new decision appears to have upended the globalist dream of open borders experiment.
In a stunning vote that shocked Brussels, the European Parliament recently passed a sweeping new law to accelerate mass deportations across all 27 EU countries. On March 26, 2026, the European Parliament passed a major “return regulation,” with 389-206 votes, designed to speed up the deportation of irregular migrants. Supported largely by conservative and right-wing alliances, the vote passed 389 to 206 with 32 abstentions, bypassing previous political divisions, thus pushing through the toughest deportation framework in over a century. This stunning populist rebellion has put the unelected Brussels elite in a state of absolute panic, as the European Parliament just rammed through the most ruthless and unprecedented migration crackdown in modern history.
The approved measures authorise the creation of “return hubs” in non-EU countries, tighten detention rules, and impose stricter entry bans, reflecting a significant shift towards stricter migration policies. Under this framework, member states can now transfer migrants with no legal right to stay to processing centers located in third countries outside the EU. The law allows for a detention period for returning individuals for up to two years. It imposes significantly broader entry bans into the EU for returned individuals. The new rules aim to increase the current 20 percent return rate of migrants without residency rights. The regulation, which replaces the 2008 Return Directive, is expected to become fully operational as part of the overall migration pact reforms. Critics, including various NGOs, warn that these measures could undermine human rights and create an “externalisation” of responsibility. Countries of Middle East and Africa are expected to be rattled by this decision as many emigrants will have to be taken care of by their countries’ governments upon their return.
The European countries are instantly fast-tracking mass deportations, authorising harsh border detentions and legally forcing origin countries to take their citizens back. Germany is one of those leading the way, preparing to repatriate nearly 800,000 Syrians. Only recently, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced this in a meeting with the new Syrian leader, to return 800,000 Syrian immigrants to Syria. Countries are already negotiating return centers in Africa. Recently, Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu, on a state visit to the UK, signed an agreement for deportation of undocumented migrants, targeting over 2,000 Nigerians, including 961 failed asylum seekers, back to Nigeria. Although Nigeria is not in the Middle East or North Africa, it is nonetheless a country with a large population of economic migrants in Europe, America and Asia.
Earlier, authorities in the Netherlands announced the return of thousands of immigrants, mostly illegal. In 2024, nearly 6,000 individuals without residency rights left the Netherlands, marking a four percent increase in departures. Of these, approximately 54 percent were voluntary, while 46 percent were forced removals, with priority placed on those with criminal convictions. Annually, the number sent out is increasing and the trend seems set to continue. The total forced removals were 2,750 individuals, up from 2,370 in 2023. While the Netherlands does not release official deportation statistics specifically classified by religion, 2024 saw notable increases in returns to North African nations, with 210 Algerians — up from 40 in 2023 — and 250 Moroccans removed. The loopholes are officially dead — one single rejection now guarantees an absolute, continent-wide ban from the entire Schengen zone.
Now, the ripple effect is heading straight for Britain as it has now done for Nigeria. This is a great demographic shift that Africa cannot afford to ignore. Nigeria too must be alert to this.
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QUOTES
SIDI BOUZID IN TUNISIA was the epicentre of an uprising that was triggered on December 17, 2010, by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old vendor whose cart was seized by police. Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest police harassment and corruption, sparking off widespread protests against economic hardship and the authoritarian rule of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The spreading protests expanded and popularly became known as Arab Spring, extending quickly throughout Tunisia, leading to the resignation of President Ben Ali on January 14, 2011.
Often called the Jasmine Revolution, the uprising in Tunisia — aided by access to mobile telephony by the youth — inspired a wave of pro-democracy protests across the Middle East and North Africa. Unknown to most politicians, international diplomats and analysts, this Tunisian event was going to reshape the internal politics and policies of the Middle East, North Africa, European countries and North America in an irreversible and very significant way in subsequent years. The fire lit from the spark in Tunisia was soon to rapidly spread to countries like neighbouring Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan and extending further afield to Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Syria and Yemen, with varying consequences and magnitudes of impact.
While minor protests and regional effects were recorded in Djibouti, Mauritania, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Western Sahara, the impacts were more devastating elsewhere.
Armed rebellions beginning in December 2010 quickly extended to several other countries in 2011, with varying degrees of impact, leading to regime changes, beginning with the overthrow of President Ben Ali. In about two weeks, massive protests in Cairo and other cities in Egypt began on January 25, 2011, resulting in the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak on February 11, 2011.
The fire expanded to Libya as a popular uprising quickly escalated into a civil war in February 2011, leading to the overthrow and death of Muammar Gaddafi in October of the same year. Earlier in March 2011, protests broke out in Syria but were resisted with intense violent repression, leading to a prolonged civil war. The Pearl Square protests of February 2011 in Bahrain were swiftly crushed by local authorities and foreign intervention while widespread protests in Yemen against President Ali Abdullah Saleh led to his overthrow in February 2012.
Significant protests and social unrest in Algeria began in late 2010 and early 2011, leading to the lifting of the 19-year-old state of emergency. In Iraq, significant demonstrations occurred against corruption and public service failures. In response to protests in Jordan, the king dismissed his cabinet and implemented constitutional reforms. The extent to which demonstrations for reforms took place in Kuwait along with social unrest might not have been as far reaching, but protests took place all the same. In Morocco, protests led by the 20 February Movement led to constitutional reforms while protests in Oman led to economic concessions and cabinet changes. Sudan did not fare better under Omar Al-Bashir even though significant protests were triggered by the general regional unrest. Rather Al-Bashir created the groundwork for disasters and wars of subsequent years.
In Djibouti, Mauritania, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and Western Sahara, minor demonstrations, sit-ins, or incidents of self-immolation in sympathy or against their own local conditions were recorded. The wars, where they broke out, led to deaths, internal displacements and forced emigration, a bulk of which led to massive influx into Europe and North America. This contributed significantly to the enlargement of the Arab population in European countries.
Part of the unintended consequences of the Arab Spring was a significant migration, with Canada and the US receiving refugees and skilled immigrants fleeing instability in countries like Syria, Libya, and Egypt. In Canada, it was a boon as these arrivals helped address labour shortages and were managed through integration efforts, resulting in long-term demographic shifts and increased demand for refugee settlement services. In response, Canada designed targeted programmes, notably resettling over 40,000 Syrian refugees between 2015 and 2016, which generally led to positive long-term economic integration and filling gaps created by mitigating shortages in key sectors. Crisis arose, however, as Arab-Canadian families from this era faced challenges navigating intergenerational conflict and balancing heritage culture with Canadian life.
In the US, the number of refugees from Syria and other affected nations were treated with policies often based on security concerns. The inflow was part of a larger, often politically charged, conversation regarding security, with the U.S. trying to balance supporting democratic movements with national security concerns regarding extremist groups potentially exploiting migration flows. The influx contributed to intensified debates on immigration, resulting in stricter vetting procedures for refugees from specific countries during various administrations. In addition to immigrants from Arab Spring-inspired events, immigrants from many other countries also poured into the US as a result of the Democrats’ liberal immigration policies. This has led to outcomes that raised serious objections to continued unrestricted inflow of immigrants within the US.
Although Canada and the US increased focus and attention on diversity in urban areas, where pressure increased on services, the rapid influx required significant investment in language training, education and healthcare infrastructure to support newcomers. That also provided a springboard for the Obama era to turn to what was supposed to be a liability to assets by using their labour.
During her term in office, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the borders to a massive influx of refugees, as if emulating Obama’s policies. Between 2015 and 2016, Germany received over 1.2 million asylum seekers. During this crisis, Merkel permitted most of the refugees, primarily from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria to enter Germany. She famously stated that (“Wir schaffen) das” “We can do it” or “We’ll manage,” a phrase which became the defining, though highly debated, slogan of her policy. Merkel chose to keep borders open as thousands of refugees arrived via the Balkan route. Although that decision was hailed as a humanitarian act, it nonetheless sparked significant political polarisation, contributing to the rise of the AfD party.
Angela Merkel’s ruling party allegedly seized on this immigrants’ inflow for internal political capital for her center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), according to her disclosure afterwards, although the liberal immigration policy was sold as compassion, equity and diversity and inclusion. This idea was popularised across many European countries, leading to the flooding of Europe with immigrants, particularly from Arab and Muslim countries.
The Arab Spring yielded a mixed bag of outcomes of complex events rather than a straightforward success or failure. At home, it yielded misery in some countries and momentum in political transformations in others, with unforeseen crises in countries of destinations for the emigres. Generally, while it toppled entrenched dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, it largely resulted in authoritarians regaining power, enduring political instability or brutal civil wars, making Tunisia the only initial democratic success, which itself subsequently turned authoritarian. Undoubtedly, the uprisings demonstrated a powerful demand for political reform and managed to remove long-term rulers like Tunisia’s Ben Ali and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. Authoritarian resurgence took over in many countries. In Egypt, for example, protests led to a democratic phase which produced Mohamed Morsi, a religious bigot that eventually gave way to military or autocratic rule.
In Syria, Libya and Yemen, the uprisings spiraled into prolonged civil wars and instability, causing massive internal displacement, mass emigration and humanitarian crises. Although the immediate democratic transitions failed in those countries, the Arab Spring profoundly altered political consciousness in the Middle East and North Africa. One lasting impact is that many citizens are still supporting democratic ideals despite the setbacks. Failure to bring widespread democracy was a result of various countries’ reactions. Some regimes utilised extreme violence and repression for survival and resilience. The lack of cohesion in the often disorganised opposition groups that struggled to present a viable alternative created power vacuums. This was complicated by polarisation caused by regional powers’ interventions, leading to increased conflict intensity.
On the surface, the past 15 years may have appeared ineffectual in achieving the immediate goal of replacing authoritarian regimes with stable democracies. In most cases, the Arab Spring has ultimately acted as a catalyst and a major turning point in the region’s political history. That uprising will forever change the demographics of the region as well as those of Europe and North America permanently.
A clash of civilisations was clearly evident in those countries that allowed in the Arab Spring refugees. The older, traditional assimilation policy of France towards migrants from their former colonies in Africa did not fully result in integration, full adaptation or compliance with French laws, culture and practices. North African Muslims in France have carved out their own identity and communities within the country. Worse still, the refugee immigrants into Germany, the UK, Belgium and some other countries exhibit similar traits and practices. Terror attacks in specific places on specific occasions are evidence of revolt against their host communities, particularly when these involve open defiance and flouting of laws in those countries. The politicians themselves are left confused, with some making excuses for the offenders, despite their bold display of defiance, confrontational disposition and open proclamation of jihad, causing concerns even among the tolerant liberals. Reports of extremist violence, a push for parallel Shari’a laws and the boasting about turning Europe over to Islam is fast causing disquiet among the local population. The politicians are forced to take specific actions in response.
In Europe and North America, immigration issue has become a hot button political issue, often framed ideologically under right or left wing compartments. But now, Europe is fighting back as one of the most important political developments in recent years began to unfold. Things took a sudden, new turn recently in the EU as the same politicians who called patriots “extremists” began to do exactly what the people have been demanding for years. This new decision appears to have upended the globalist dream of open borders experiment.
In a stunning vote that shocked Brussels, the European Parliament recently passed a sweeping new law to accelerate mass deportations across all 27 EU countries. On March 26, 2026, the European Parliament passed a major “return regulation,” with 389-206 votes, designed to speed up the deportation of irregular migrants. Supported largely by conservative and right-wing alliances, the vote passed 389 to 206 with 32 abstentions, bypassing previous political divisions, thus pushing through the toughest deportation framework in over a century. This stunning populist rebellion has put the unelected Brussels elite in a state of absolute panic, as the European Parliament just rammed through the most ruthless and unprecedented migration crackdown in modern history.
The approved measures authorise the creation of “return hubs” in non-EU countries, tighten detention rules, and impose stricter entry bans, reflecting a significant shift towards stricter migration policies. Under this framework, member states can now transfer migrants with no legal right to stay to processing centers located in third countries outside the EU. The law allows for a detention period for returning individuals for up to two years. It imposes significantly broader entry bans into the EU for returned individuals. The new rules aim to increase the current 20 percent return rate of migrants without residency rights. The regulation, which replaces the 2008 Return Directive, is expected to become fully operational as part of the overall migration pact reforms. Critics, including various NGOs, warn that these measures could undermine human rights and create an “externalisation” of responsibility. Countries of Middle East and Africa are expected to be rattled by this decision as many emigrants will have to be taken care of by their countries’ governments upon their return.
The European countries are instantly fast-tracking mass deportations, authorising harsh border detentions and legally forcing origin countries to take their citizens back. Germany is one of those leading the way, preparing to repatriate nearly 800,000 Syrians. Only recently, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced this in a meeting with the new Syrian leader, to return 800,000 Syrian immigrants to Syria. Countries are already negotiating return centers in Africa. Recently, Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu, on a state visit to the UK, signed an agreement for deportation of undocumented migrants, targeting over 2,000 Nigerians, including 961 failed asylum seekers, back to Nigeria. Although Nigeria is not in the Middle East or North Africa, it is nonetheless a country with a large population of economic migrants in Europe, America and Asia.
Earlier, authorities in the Netherlands announced the return of thousands of immigrants, mostly illegal. In 2024, nearly 6,000 individuals without residency rights left the Netherlands, marking a four percent increase in departures. Of these, approximately 54 percent were voluntary, while 46 percent were forced removals, with priority placed on those with criminal convictions. Annually, the number sent out is increasing and the trend seems set to continue. The total forced removals were 2,750 individuals, up from 2,370 in 2023. While the Netherlands does not release official deportation statistics specifically classified by religion, 2024 saw notable increases in returns to North African nations, with 210 Algerians — up from 40 in 2023 — and 250 Moroccans removed. The loopholes are officially dead — one single rejection now guarantees an absolute, continent-wide ban from the entire Schengen zone.
Now, the ripple effect is heading straight for Britain as it has now done for Nigeria. This is a great demographic shift that Africa cannot afford to ignore. Nigeria too must be alert to this.
Dr. Olukayode Oyeleye, Business a.m.’s Editorial Advisor, who graduated in veterinary medicine from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, before establishing himself in science and public policy journalism and communication, also has a postgraduate diploma in public administration, and is a former special adviser to two former Nigerian ministers of agriculture. He specialises in development and policy issues in the areas of food, trade and competition, security, governance, environment and innovation, politics and emerging economies.
