“The People Demand the Fall of the Regime.” With those words, the Arabo-Muslim world overcame the fear of freedom and the anguish and anxiety-ridden state of indecision. The unthought – the future – became an active subject of a newly emerging collective consciousness. To revolt is to enact a process of self-affirmation, of becoming. To think about the future and to act in the present towards the determination of a future is to make a resolute choice, leaving behind the anguish of indecision. The future demands of the self a resolute choice, the projection of a collective project – liberation – onto the future. The past and future converge in the present. The collective self’s attitude towards the future can be authentic or inauthentic. Calvin Schrag explains: “In unauthentic existence, the future is simply expected or awaited (Gewartigen). Unauthentically understood now, which is not yet real, the future is past peripheral to the Dasein’s existential projects. Dasein awaits the future but does not seek to penetrate it and discern its relevance for his present decisions. ” In contrast, in an authentic attitude towards the future, “the present is chosen as the decisive moment, and the future is pre-enacted in existential anticipation.” Despite the events that would follow, the Arab Spring opened up new existential horizons, which made it clear that the collective Arabo-Muslim self can enter history as a subject rather than a docile object.
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