Economic conditions fueled the protests in Tunisia and Egypt, but these were not pitchfork-and-torches peasant affairs. Instead, the marchers are mainly urban, middle-class, and well-educated 鈥� the kind of people who are shielded from extreme poverty.
Consider this fact: In Egypt, 20 percent of the population lives below the poverty line (2005 estimate); in Zimbabwe, that figure is closer to 75 percent. Yet despite having a fractured coalition government and a weak economy, Zimbabwe鈥檚 streets are quiet, and Egypt鈥檚 are practically a war zone.
Extreme poverty is often thought to be like powder kegs for a revolution, but in reality, a man who doesn鈥檛 know where his meal is going to come from is less likely to spend a day marching in the streets than a man who has a decent chance of coming home to a cooked meal.
鈥淚n some of the countries of Africa, the people are so poor that they don鈥檛 have the economic cushion to go out and protest,鈥� says Ms. Dufka of Human Rights Watch. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e much less willing or able to take risks in political disputes.鈥�
