Mohamed Bouazizi(26)a produce vendor was completely unknown outside of his small Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid on Dec. 17, 2010 — the day he lit the spark of an Arab rebellion that has brought down four Arab dictators in the two years since.
Mohamed Bouazizi saw his wares confiscated by a local official who claimed he lacked the required paperwork to sell on the streets, he doused himself with gasoline in front of the local council office and set himself alight, dying of his burns three weeks later on Jan 4,2011.
Mohamed Bouazizi’s desperate self-immolation, a video of which was posted to Facebook, ignited a groundswell of fury among Tunisia’s youth, fueled by simmering resentment over a lack of jobs and prospects, and at the corruption and repression of the dictatorship of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. His death on Jan. 4 saw protests engulf the country, until, on Jan. 24, they drove out Ben Ali — the first Arab leader ever toppled by a popular uprising.
Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali fall inspired Egypt’s revolution three days later, and within weeks the uprising in Libya.
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