Arab SpringThe Arab Spring (ar-rabīʻ al-ʻarabī) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and economic stagnation. From Tunisia, the protests then spread to five other countries: Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain. Rulers were deposed (Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia in 2011, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya in 2011, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in 2011, and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen in 2012) or major uprisings and social violence occurred including riots, civil wars, or insurgencies.
State atheismState atheism is the incorporation of hard atheism or non-theism into political regimes. It may also refer to large-scale secularization attempts by governments. To some extent, it is a religion-state relationship that is usually ideologically linked to irreligion and the promotion of irreligion. State atheism may refer to a government's promotion of anti-clericalism, which opposes religious institutional power and influence in all aspects of public and political life, including the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen.
CubaCuba (ˈkjuːbə , ˈkuβa; Erekusú), officially the Republic of Cuba (República de Cuba reˈpuβlika ðe ˈkuβa), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. Cuba is located east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both the American state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic), and north of both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
Revolutions of 1989The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nations, a play on the term Spring of Nations that is sometimes used to describe the Revolutions of 1848 in Europe.
Popular frontA popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition especially of leftist political parties against a common opponent". The term was first used in the mid-1930s in Europe by communists concerned over the ascent of fascism in Italy and Germany, which they sought to combat by coalescing with non-communist political groupings they had previously attacked as enemies.
SomalisThe Somalis (Soomaalida 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒆𐒖, صوماليون) are an ethnic group native to the Horn of Africa who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The East Cushitic Somali language is the shared mother tongue of ethnic Somalis, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, and are predominantly Sunni Muslim. They form one of the largest ethnic groups on the African continent, and cover one of the most expansive landmasses by a single ethnic group in Africa.
SanaaSanaa (صَنْعَاء, Ṣanʿāʾ sʕɑnʕaːʔ, Yemeni Arabic: ˈsʕɑnʕɑ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 Ṣnʿw), also spelled Sanaʽa and Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governorate, but forms the separate administrative district of ʾAmānat al-ʿĀṣimah (أَمَانَة ٱلْعَاصِمَة). According to the Yemeni constitution, Sanaa is the capital of the country, although the seat of the Yemeni government moved to Aden, the former capital of South Yemen in the aftermath of the Houthi occupation.
North VietnamNorth Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1945 to 1975, with formal sovereignty being fully recognized in 1954. A member of the Eastern Bloc, it opposed the French-backed State of Vietnam and later the Western-allied Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). North Vietnam emerged victorious over South Vietnam in 1975 and ceased to exist the following year when it unified with the south to become the current Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Houthi movementThe Houthi movement (al.ħuː.θiː.juːn; al-Ḥūthīyūn), officially called Ansar Allah (أَنْصَار ٱللَّٰه) and colloquially simply Houthis, is an Islamist political and armed organization that emerged from Saada Governorate in North Yemen in the 1990s. The Houthi movement is a predominately Zaidi Shia force, whose leadership is drawn largely from the Houthi tribe. Under the leadership of Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, the group emerged as an opposition to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
YemenYemen (ˈjɛmən; al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. It is located in the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast. It shares maritime borders with Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia. Covering and having a coastline of approximately , Yemen is the second-largest Arab sovereign state on the Arabian Peninsula. Sanaa is its constitutionally stated capital and largest city. The country's population is estimated to be 34.