Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation sparked the Arab Spring

On 17 December 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old street vendor in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, doused himself in flammable liquid and set himself on fire outside the local government building. Police had confiscated his produce cart, and officials had refused to hear his complaint. His desperate protest answered years of poverty, unemployment, and routine humiliation by the state.

Footage of the burning man and the protests it triggered spread through social media and onto Al Jazeera, turning a local grievance into a national revolt. Bouazizi died of his injuries weeks later, and the movement that became the Jasmine Revolution forced President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power on 14 January 2011, ending 23 years of rule.

One man’s match lit a region.

The Tunisian uprising became the first of the wider Arab Spring, inspiring revolts across Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria. A single act of despair had reshaped the politics of the Middle East and North Africa.