Bit by bit, we are discovering the impact of the Arab revolutions on our societies and daily lives. Indeed, the revolutions that have been ongoing for about three years have gone beyond the squares, arenas, and armed confrontations, and moved – without us noticing – into our homes, social lives, values, and ideas. By going back to the pre-revolutions stage on the personal and social levels, many of us can see the extent of this impact on their friendships and social lives, considering that these revolutions repositioned many Arabs in the countries that witnessed the greatest political changes and those which remained on the sidelines, within contexts that might have never even occurred to them. At this level, there were very bad surprises with the discovery of sectarian tendencies prevailing over those whom one considered as friends, while families were shattered by prejudices exceeding ideology and affecting the perception of life, the world, and the meaning of social and marital ties. But the cases of separation, familial tensions, disputes among former friends and alienation among colleagues, are still not getting direct media attention, although they have become obvious and spread out on the widest scale. These cases reveal that Arab societies, regardless of the political outcomes and the ups and downs in the ongoing revolutions and their ability to meet the promises for which they erupted in the first place, have irreversibly changed and cannot go back to the way they used to be before Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation in Tunisia one day. And whether the military return to power in this country or the Islamists assume new positions in that other country, it is inevitable to say that the patriarchal frameworks featuring a series of principles and taboos and governing the relationships among individuals within the same family and with the political, social and cultural authorities, have been deeply bruised in the majority of the Arab countries and are about to become extinct – regardless of whether their sustainment is negative or positive on social stability and evolution. Many factors have come together to encourage this transformation, not the least of which being the spread of modern communication means and the dissemination of new values. A lot was written about the role of social communication websites in the organization of demonstrations and uprisings. But what concerns us at this level is that these means, the open satellite channels, and the easy transmission of ideas, participated in shaping a new awareness partly based on the rejection of the widespread corruption seen in tyrannical regimes and the calls for freedom, equality, the rule of the law and a certain degree of social justice. This step is much too deep to be recanted, whether voluntarily or forcibly, and it will remain present in Arab society and among the youth for many years to come. This transformation that has started to emerge at the level of social values will defy any attempt to subjugate, intimidate, or contain it, and constitute yet another tributary in the river of the Arab revolutions. And we would not be exaggerating if we were to say that these transformations - which are feared by the governments - will be the greatest legacy in modern history, to the point where the direct political developments and the arrival of this or that side to power will become secondary. Every day, we are witnessing the death of friendships and the surfacing of others, divorces, separations, and marriages based on continuously changing grounds that are no longer in line with the declining social settlements which imposed these relationships in the past. We are facing a new Arab social dawn with unclear facets and ambiguous details, and its path will not be easy or paved. But what is certain is that it is irreversible.
