Mass Public Protests: Iran Vs. the Arab World

Why don't we witness mass demonstrations and mobilized public outcry in Arabic countries like we do in Iran when there are incidents (real or perceived) of voter irregularities and other injustices?

I asked a colleague of mine this question and his take is that there is no strong external support for the opposition movements in the Arabic World like there is in Iran. I asked him what about the Iranian revolution of 1979? He said that there were other external forces that supported that revolution such as France and the Soviet Union.

While I do recognize the important role of external support especially in today's interconnected world, I think a more important factor maybe the morale of the Arab street.

The collective psychology of people in the Arab World seems to be that of helplessness and defeatism, perhaps because the state of continuous setbacks went on for too long.

The Iranian revolution of 1979 boosted the morale of the Iranian people; especially that it was a people's revolution. It was not lead by a particular political party, such as the Baathists or the Muslim Brotherhood, nor was it the result of a military coup. It was initially supported by secularists in addition to conservatives.

This empowered the Iranian people into believing that they could make a difference. It also boosted their sense of pride.

By contrast, people in the Arab World have endured a long time span of defeatism, to the point where they have developed what psychologists call a Premature Cognitive Commitment. Essentially their will has been broken.

A long history of dictatorship also contributed to that learned helplessness.

This phenomenon can be illustrated in the experiment of flies in a jar.

Take a group of flies and put them in a jar and put a lid on that jar. After a while remove the lid from the jar. You will find that only a few pioneer flies will escape. The rest of the flies have given up and committed to the fact that they are trapped.

That is perhaps why conspiracy theories are so popular in the Arab World.

Arabs have to dig deep into history to find examples of greatness that boost their self-esteem and morale. This often doesn't help much because it was too far back.

When people feel helpless, they often become depressed. When they have some control, or when they can do something about their environment, they feel happier and more powerful.

There have been many studies that used animals such as dogs to study helplessness, in addition to human subject. People have been given in research studies impossible tasks to solve. Human subjects have been put into conditions of loud noise that they couldn't escape. What the researchers have found is that over trials, perfectly happy, normal self-controlled people, will learn how to feel helpless. They will give up; they will say there is nothing I can do about it.

But what is important to remember is that the learned helplessness is not based on reality. They could control their environment, but if they have learned to feel helpless, they give up and they never try again.

Perhaps we can become more compassionate if we compare the state of the Arab street with an individual who has suffered severe and recurring traumas since an early age. This person is likely to be very paranoid and suffer from PTSD or depression.

The question is how do you overcome this sense of helplessness, hopelessness and defeatism?

Can the recommendations given by psychologists on a personal level apply to a group level?

I am not sure what the remedy is, but I do believe that non-judgmental mindfulness is a good place to start, and in this case it involves awareness of habitual cognitions such as beliefs, assumptions, and prejudices.

Self-criticism only serves to maintain or increase negative convictions.

Self-compassion is an open-hearted way of relating to the negative aspects that we want to change.