Ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam

' ( ar, الشعب يريد إسقاط النظام, lit=the people want to bring down the regime, ) is a political slogan associated with the Arab Spring. The slogan first emerged during the Tunisian Revolution. The chant echoed at Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis for weeks. The slogan also became used frequently during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. It was the most frequent slogan, both in graffiti and in chants in rallies, during the revolution in Egypt.

The chant was raised at the protests in Bahrain. ''Ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam'' has been used frequently in protests across Yemen. The slogan was used in rallies across Libya at the beginning of the 2011 revolt. In March 2011, a group of youths under the age of 15 were arrested in Dera'a in southern Syria, after having sprayed ''ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam'' graffiti. Their arrests sparked the uprising in Syria. The slogan was also used frequently in Sudan throughout the protests.

In Jordan, a youth group named "24 March" used the slogan ''ash-shaʻb yurīd islah an-niẓām'' ("the people want to reform the system"). However, the slogan later changed to ''ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam'' in November 2012, when the government imposed a hike in the price of fuel.

In Lebanon, the slogan has been used in protests against that country's sectarian political system. In the Lebanese protests, ''an-nizam'' ("the regime") did not refer to the sectarian political order as such, but rather the government. In Palestine, a variation of the slogan, ' (, "the people want the division to end"), emerged in protests calling for the two main factions Fatah and Hamas to settle their differences. A parody of the slogan has been used by Bashar al-Assad's supporters in Syria as ' (). Another parody of the slogan has been used by King Hamad's loyalist in Bahrain as ' (), referring to the main opposition party of Bahrain, Al-Wefaq.

Variants

Syrian Islamists have appropriated the slogan for their own purposes, altering it to “The People want the declaration of Jihad” (), as well as "The Ummah wants an Islamic Caliphate" ().

In post-Mubarak Egypt, given the fact that the military government only partially met the demands of the revolutionaries, with the dreaded state of emergency remaining in place, some protesters started using a somewhat different version of the slogan: ''The people want to bring down the field marshal'', referring to Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Context

Uriel Abulof, professor of politics at Tel-Aviv University and a senior research fellow at Princeton University, commented:

Benoît Challand, teaching Middle Eastern politics at the University of Bologna, commented on the slogan in the following way:

Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of Arab studies at Columbia University and the editor of the ''Journal of Palestine Studies'', commented in the following manner:

See also

* El pueblo unido jamás será vencido
* Arab Spring

References

External links

News footage of Egyptian protestors using the sloganAsh-sha'ab yurid isqat an-nizam
Bahraini song
Ash-sha'ab lubnani yurid isqat an-nizam at-ta'ifi
Lebanese song
Video from rally in Benghazi

{{Arab Spring

Political catchphrases
Arab Spring
Arabic words and phrases