Arab Spring

      I suppose I should start by explaining what "Arab Spring" is. I don't know if maybe I am just particularly unaware of world happenings, but I just learned that "Arab Spring" is not a time of year. Arab Spring is a movement working its way across the Arab world. They involve strikes, demonstrations, marches, and rallies, not unlike the type of protests we have seen in Persepolis. The article I read in the New York Times, dealt with the ramifications of Arab Spring on immigrants moving into Arab economic centers like Dubai and Bahrain. The article focused in on an Indian family that had been working out of Dubai since the 1920's. Although the family is originally from India, because they have been working in Dubai for so long, the local government granted them "land grants for schools, a prayer space for their community to assemble and the privilege of owning their own businesses without a mandatory local business partner, otherwise possible only within dedicated economic free zones" (Bharadwaj 2). What this means, is the the local government has granted these immigrants special community privileges based only on goodwill. The Arab Spring movement threatens these business people because if the government goes though large reforms and changes, that will certainly affect the local economy and may leave no room for the immigrant established local businesses.