Anwar Gargash speaks of a "bloody lost decade" on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Arab Springs

The minister of state for foreign affairs of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Anwar Gargash, spoke about the Arab Springs on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the beginning of these movements and referred to this period as a "lost bloody decade".

Anwar Gargash made his and the UAE's vision clear on Twitter: "As the Arab world moves through the tenth anniversary of what is known as the Arab Spring, it is clear that the prevailing Arab view of the fate of the bloody decade differs from the Western assessment. The civil wars and the lives lost during these years of loss and the absence of a development project are what have remained ingrained in our memory".

"Much will be written about what is known as the Arab Spring and, in my view, the most important thing is our Arab assessment of this difficult decade and its failures on the ground, and history's judgment will be difficult and severe in terms of our human, moral and material losses and the bloody struggle that is raging in more than one Arab country," he said. 

"There was a kind of naive treatment of the Arab Spring in its early days, and it soon exposed ideology, violence and the absence of a development project. At the end of the first year, we realised the magnitude of the threat to the national state, its institutions and the fabric of many of our Arab societies. A rigid price does not justify opinions contrary to this reality," he explained. 

The UAE minister of state referred to the crises that arose following the outbreak of the Arab Springs in different surrounding nations: "In the end, there is no magic formula for dealing with the accumulation of crises that some countries have witnessed". 

In this connection, it is clear from Gargash's address that the course of the Arab Spring has exacerbated the crises and challenges without the right vision or treatment, and that the lesson, after the bloody decade lost, is the state's commitment to institutions, established law and a vision of development that takes citizens into account. 

There was an illusion of democracy that the Arab countries would renounce part of their authoritarian tradition and open up to freedom and the renunciation of absolute power on the occasion of this revolution that the Arab Springs signified. 17 December marked the tenth anniversary of that burst of hope triggered in Tunisia by a modest street vendor of fruit who reacted against the arrogance of the police who insisted on destroying his goods.

After ten years, an analysis of the results paints a picture of the reaction of millions of people to the situation they found themselves in, but also of the frustration of many of them who see that, except in Tunisia, their situation has not changed at best and everything else has worsened. The Arab revolutions have in one way or another degenerated into wars that have already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in various countries, which are not seeing the desired peace. Some of the most representative cases are those of Syria and Yemen.