From the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea black Africa is in turmoil. Radical Islamic movements are a growing force in Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Nigeria. Will 2012 be the year that these diverse resistance movements coalesce into a unified regional uprising, a "Black Awakening"?
In Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and biggest oil exporter, the aptly named President Goodluck Jonathan celebrated the new year by declaring a state of emergency, purportedly in response to a wave of violence by the Boko Haram fundamentalist group.
Having declared a state of emergency, his next move was to announce the elimination of the subsidies that keep gasoline and heating oil affordable for the majority of the people. Although Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer, it's people are amongst the poorest on the planet due to the rampant corruption of the ruling elite.
It was mass discontent with the corruption of the ruling elite, more than some imagined thirst for western-style democracy, that motivated the Arab Wakening from Tunisia to Yemen.
This year Arab Spring will move south.
Black Spring will be the biggest news story of 2012.
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