Middle East Youthquake
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2019
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A wave of protests are sweeping through Iran, Iraq and Lebanon. Retribution in Iraq and Iran has been swift and savage, and hundreds of young people have been killed - but what lies behind the unrest?
David Aaronovitch explores the common themes - unemployment, crony sectarianism, corruption and hopelessness. These were the issues that led countless thousands onto the streets in many middle eastern countries during the Arab Spring ten years ago.
What lessons have governments and protesters learnt since then? The young people are hoping for sustained political and economic change this time. What chance is there of that happening?
CONTRIBUTORS:
Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East Editor
Dr Lena Khatib, Head of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House
Michael Safi, International Correspondent, The Guardian
Pesha Magid, Journalist
Lizzie Porter, Journalist Producer: Rosamund Jones Editor: Jasper Corbett
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:04.9 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David O'Ronovich. |
| 0:08.1 | The briefing room is the virtual space where in 28 minutes you and I get to understand a big issue |
| 0:13.9 | with the help of the top experts on the subject. |
| 0:17.5 | And this week, I want to know why there's been a simultaneous wave of street protests, often leading to bloodshed, in three countries across the Middle East, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon. |
| 0:44.0 | Suck! Something important is going on in the Middle East. |
| 0:47.8 | We've been preoccupied over here, so you may not have noticed. |
| 0:54.7 | But the novelty has taken the form of unarmed street protesters in three countries, Iran, Iraq and Lebanon. |
| 0:59.0 | And in each of them, the protest seems to have badly shaken the authorities. |
| 1:06.2 | Today, we're asking what lies behind the unrest, how governments are responding, and where it's all heading. |
| 1:09.1 | Step inside the briefing room for some answers. |
| 1:15.1 | Let's start with Iran. |
| 1:19.6 | Now, it's just about impossible for journalists to operate freely there. |
| 1:23.5 | But on the line from Amman in Jordan, I was joined by Michael Safi, |
| 1:28.3 | international correspondent for The Guardian, who's been closely following the protests. |
| 1:31.7 | Michael Safi, what happened in Iran in November? |
| 1:37.1 | Well, on November 14, quite late in the evening, the Iranian government went on television and announced that in a few hours at midnight that evening, the price of petrol would increase, |
| 1:42.2 | that they were removing subsidies on petrol, which would mean the prices would at least double and possibly triple for some purchases. |
| 1:48.7 | So people immediately rushed to petrol stations. |
| 1:51.4 | They tried to fill up before the price rise went in. |
| 1:53.7 | Obviously, most were not able to do that, and there was significant unhappiness, and that |
| 1:57.7 | manifested over the next few days with what we understand to be the |
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