Tunisia is where the Arab Spring started. The country that led the revolution in the Arab World brought to power an Islamic party in democratic elections. The same happened in Egypt. Libya and Yemen, two more countries affected by Arab Spring are on the verge of civil war.
While Islamists did not play a prominent role in the 2011 uprisings, in every Arab Spring country Islamic forces came to power.
On Tunisia national day, thousands have marched demanding that Islamic law, or sharia, be defined as the main source of legislation in Tunisia’s new constitution. This was not the first march on this issue, but so far has been the largest show of force of radical Islamic power in Tunisia. The march was done in a strictly Islamic manner with women walking separately from men.
While the supposedly moderate Islamic party which won the elections, the Islamist Ennahda party, has promised not to ban alcohol or impose the veil, it will be interesting to see if that promise hold against demands from the people.
A recent study by conducted by Abu Dhabi's Gallup Poll shows residents in several Arab countries affected by the "Arab Spring" protests said they feel less safe now than they did before the uprisings.
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Looking at Tunisia again, human rights activists say that with the arrival of the "Arab Spring," freedom of speech in Tunisia, instead of growing, has died.
As Arab Spring grows cold, Islamic forces in other countries are gaining strength. In Morocco, tens of thousands of Moroccans staged a pro-Palestinian march in Rabat on Sunday in a show of force organized by an Islamist group seen as the main opposition to Morocco's monarchy.
Al-Adl, the group behind the march, is seen as Morocco's biggest and best-organized Islamist group. It is active mostly in universities and in helping the poor, but is banned from politics due to what is seen as its hostile rhetoric towards the monarchy.
And of course, in Syria, where a civil war is in effect for a year now, Islamic powers are vying to gain influence through the uprising and their growing power is seeding divisions within an already fractious opposition.
The evident rift between the state of mind in the West and the reality in the Arab world is very disturbing. While some portray Arab Spring as the push for freedom and democracy in Arab society the events prove once again that sadly the opposite is true.
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