CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
The history of the 20th century is full of examples that demonstrate that violence resistance against unjust power systems, dictators or external occupation is likely to generate further violence as was seen for example, in the Russian and Chinese revolutions and decolonization wars in Africa and Asia(Alexander, 2010). But it has also been characterized by many powerful nonviolent struggles; some of these are widely known e.g. the Gandhian freedom struggles in lndia, Martin Luther king Jr’s civil rights campaigns in theUnited Statesamong others. Although the power of nonviolent resistance does seem weak and inefficient in the face of accent power asymmetries, it has proven to be a very strategic tool in the hand of marginalized communities to redress structural imbalances and claim right of justice and self-determination( Hassan,2011).
Fundamentally the events that began in the beginning of2011 inthe Arab world were unprecedented in history. In the words of Oviasogie (2012) there was mass public protest that swept through the region with attendant effect for the future.