Mohammad Al-Kassim Thirst for freedom goes unslaked as authoritarian regimes stand their ground Ten years ago, in an act of protest and rejection at being humiliated, an impoverished Tunisian street vendor set himself on fire outside a government office in his small hometown of Sidi Bouazid. Within days, Mohamed Bouazizi, 26, was dead, but his deed sparked the winds of change throughout the Middle East. Tunisia became the birthplace of what was called the “Arab Spring,” as hundreds of thousands of people, fed up with decades of authoritarian rule and living in poverty, packed the streets of their capitals in surreal scenes, chanting as one: “The people want to topple the regime.”