In an overview to the Arab countries that have experienced popular uprising, whether those victorious ones or the ones on their way to success, it could be said that the freedom issue is settled on the Arab's people agenda. 

It ensures that the people no longer tolerate the prevailing arbitrary and tyrannical ruling methods . They are ready for any sacrifices to change such methods. They are not only retaking their general arenas but they are also going retake the country, which means, in many cases, restructuring of the nation.

The uprising has rejected two dominant superstitions in the culture of the Arab politics. The first is the allegation that the enemy is the stranger and not the tyrant ruler from our kinfolk. It also means that there is an issue that requires turning a blind eye to the existing conditions, and more over it requires accepting and even bragging about them .

 The region has witnessed two rehearsals that have preceded the 2011 uprising. Despite the fact that they were not successful, but they represented the significance of demanding freedom as an alternative to the prevailing political Arab culture.

The first one of these was the toppling of Sadam Hussein and the Ba'ath regime in Iraq in 2003 and what followed it of the political, media and expression freedoms, as well as the free elections which was unprecedented in the Arab world.

The second is the overthrow of the Syrian- Lebanese security structure in Beirut in 2005 following the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri. 

But today and with some modifications on the theory of the British thinker Isaiah Berlin on the negative and positive concepts of freedom, we can say that the resolution of the freedom issue, as seen in the removal of barriers on its way, will open the door to the other battle which poses the question of, what are we going to do with this freedom and what are the next issues that will be based on it? 

The previously mentioned rehearsals in Iraq 2003 and Lebanon 2005, ended up in losing most of the acquired freedoms.

Most of the losses came as a result of the success of the old structures, particularly the sectarian forces which disrupted the progress of the second phase.

It is true that the overthrow of Sadam Hussein and the dismantling of the Syrian- Lebanese security structure remain to be a benefit, despite their dissimilarities and details, but it is also true that the draft of the formation of the homeland and the people had not been tabled on the Iraqi and Lebanese people' agenda.

It is not an exaggeration that the dismantling agenda had occupied the upper hand. It appeared that the obtained freedom has gone in the direction of disengagement from the national-based links.

This is what is going to face the Arab uprising in 2012, where the Egyptians and Tunisians are going to face the question of the alternative political system and how to operate it. 

On the other hand the Libyans, the Syrians, the Yemenis and perhaps the Egyptians to some extent will be faced with question of the maintenance of the social structure, or the peaceful dealing with its political contradictions as well as how to build an alternative system. It is hopeful that the five nations' procedures will differ from the two nations who have introduced the first rehearsal.

From London –based al-Hayat