Arab Spring Complete Research Work

Syed Muhammad Jalal Ud Din A disturbing Shah SMC Ba 5 (Journalism) Course Instructor Mam Rida Sohail International Mass Media and its Impact Mid-term Assignment Arab resound 16/11/2012 Introduction The Arab bombardment, referring to the chain reaction of alterations in the Arab world, is considered to defecate begun in Tunisia when a pocket-sized produce seller lit himself on fire to balk the goernment taking a fashion his job. some(prenominal) produce that this evet, coupled with tolerable hug from eruptside media sources, sparked the mutation of the teenageder generation in Tunisia that oerthrew their blush minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi separates turn over that the bea was ripe for transmutation give thanks to the infusion of democracy in Iraq. Regardless of the initial cause, this bingle countries act started a s flatball effect of democratic revolution that has rolled its way through Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, Lybia, in a few smaller instances in former(a) count ries. Detailed Summary of Arab SpringOn s scourteenth December 2010 something occurred in the small Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid that should lead to a supposed revolution. On that day, a desperate Tunisian teenager, who act to support humble the livelihood of his family with his veg and so onpable stand thither, lit himself. once more than and once again he was bul restd and similarly harassed by the behaviour and conditions of the Tunisian guard in this village. His self-immolation happened maven year ago and he died of his injuries. This sad act sparked major fends by angry and frustrated younker multitude in Egypt.Some followed Muhammad Buazizi utilisation and exuberantly committed suicide later on his sad d eradicateh. The offset printing so-called revolution in the Arab world has been triggered. Whether this revolution has been genuinely triggered all al unrivaled from within Egypt by this sad act should be questioned. It wasnt the branch demonstration aga inst the rise of food prices, but those protests were non able to overthrow the dictator. This reassignd with these protests in spring 2011. One should consider that these developments round these demonstrations make water been driven from the forthside, too.For example, the name of agent U. S. diplomat Jeffrey Feltman appears repeatedly in link with these so-called revolutions in the lay East. The events in Tunisia spilled over to separatewise sound outs and for example, the Tunisian dictator quickly left his homeland to find asylum in Saudi-Arabian Arabia. Some say a bit too quickly. Even before the roll out of revolutions (Arab Spring) alludeed Egypt, this interesting wave rack uped the both states Morocco and Algeria. Again, the citizenry took to the tracks in protest against rising food prices and against the corruption within the realm.Of course, the pile in Algeria and Morocco in any case protested against the in vindicatoryice. Finally, the demonstrations in Egypt began on 25th of January. These protests in Egypt were primarily cordially motivated demonstrations, in which the people needed to give vent to their elicit. Triggered by the financial crisis (U. S. is mainly to blame for this) the food prices and housing prices in any case increased in the Arab countries. Where the foreign/western countries did non intervene, the demonstrations disappeargond again. Take a look at Algeria.It seems that equal a s sweltering hardly whateverone reminds most Algeria that at that indicate people also protested against the governing body and that these demonstrations were inhumanely dispersed or even mowed down. It seems that the westboundern governments decided secretly that an Algeria under the lead of Bouteflika is safer for Europe than an Algeria, which is ruled by Islamists. Some experts of the Middle East talk about the beginning of these demonstrations and revolutions about an Islamic revolution (even Islamistic revolution) which is masterful ignored by the West till today.The West even ignores these statements about an Islamic revolution gladly. However, the results of the first-class honours degree choices in Tunisia and Egypt peach for themselves In both countries the Islamists commence gained extremely more mogul and influence. Not surprising at all. For example, the Moslem Br separatehood in Egypt supported and still supports the protests against the power of the Egyptian host. It sometimes seems that the Moslem Brotherhood also forces chaos within these protests because it might be useful for their goals.Not to imply that the Muslim Brotherhood offered people cash to vote for them at these elections in Egypt. A wonderful example of the democratic sense within the Muslim Brotherhood. Sure a lot of people be able to recall the 11th February. The Egyptian dictator Mubarak resigned at this day and handed all the power to the western-backed military. At the moment, the Egyptian military cl ings to the power in Egypt and the Egyptians atomic number 18 not able to reach a break to rest after their revolution. yet this revolution in Egypt was not the last revolution of this Arab Spring in 2011.The Yemenis were encouraged by the events in northeast Afri merchantman countries and started to find to the streets, also to demonstrate against their Yemeni government. Shortly before this outbreak of revolution in Yemen, the people were again humbled by the corrupt government and the proposed constitutional am terminationment, which would animation the Yemeni attraction Saleh for some more years in office. The frustration of the Yemenis erupted finally. As farther as we know, the Yemenis ceaselessly have demonstrated in a undisturbed manner against the government and military.The bloodshed started as the clique of Sheikh Ahmar began to act against the Yemeni government to enforce the interests of the clan and this Sheikh. aft(prenominal) a longer plosive consonant of a back and forth and a long stay in Saudi Arabia, Saleh finally concur to the proposal of the Gulf Cooperation Council and left his post in Yemen. Nobody exactly knows the prox of Yemen. What is only certain(p) to say is that the near future tense wont be easygoing for the awkward and that you are rattling able to call Yemen a failed State. Yemen always was a forgotten country and the situation within the country is really getting worse.The Libyan revolution should not necessarily carry this title of a revolution. Viewing at Libya it is indeed get ahead that foreign countries supported those arises to overthrow the ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Not to mention the clear statements about the events in Libya by independent journalists like Lizzie Phelan and others. Although both Western countries, France and Italy, extolled the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi until early 2011 and both governments did e genuinelything in motion in order to impress the leader in oversee, it was above a ll France, which quickly forgot about the alliance and any agreements.It seems that the huge fear of an independent and more sizeable Africa and a Libya with major projects was behind the intentions of the Europeans and the Americans. Some would also say that this was behind the intentions of the West to destroy the kind organisation and plans of this country. Not to mention the huge amount of important mineral resources, of course. The gird rioters were celebrated as rebels and supplied with implements of war and money by the West / NATO. First they helped to pass the Libyan city of Benghazi as a emancipate ity to the rebels and afterwards they started a war, based on lies, to determine the fate of the finally murdered Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. After Muammar Gaddafis assassination and the capture of his son, Saif al-Islam, it suddenly became very silent about the situation in Libya. It seems that they want to prevent, that the Western people learns something about this false revolution in Libya and above all, they want to realise time to bury all corpses of innocent. So that there wont turn up any unpleasant questions. The truth is sometimes very brutal. Libya is now exploited and finally ruled by substructure and CIA related people.Also people in Bahrain were at the beginning of this year encouraged by the events in other Arab countries and they went on the streets to protest. The majority Shiite world wanted to achieve more equal rights and above all, that the Bahraini resistance go forth lose their status as mute puppets in the government. In Bahrain, it was a brutal crackdown of the passive demonstrations by the government. And all words, which U. S. prexy exalt Obama had about these violence by a regime, was a quieten criticism that the Bahraini view family should not act brutally against demonstrators. simply this was not enough.The Bahraini ruling family asked for help with the crackdown of protesters and the associately Saudis delivered tanks and their inter change overiers to bring down the demonstrations in the neighbouring state. After all, no one really revolt about that and no one spoke about a humanitarian intervention in Bahrain or even in Saudi Arabia. Its a hypocritically world, isnt it? The reporting on the brutal events in Bahrain has been suddenly discontinued. They remained silent. The West and others did not want to risk, that the Bahraini ruling house loses its power. After all, the joined States of America own an important military base in Bahrain.Furthermore, they couldnt risk, that the Shiites in Bahrain are really successful in receiving more power and also co-determination in the country, because this would mean that the Iranian influence is change magnitude in Bahrain. Nothing, what the West really wants. If there will be a resume about the so-called Arab Spring in these days, it seems that nobody is going to mention Bahrain just as Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait The Saudi king tried to bribe his people with money, to buy it finally. hardly this strategy has not worked especially in the east of Saudi Arabia, on the border to Bahrain, where many Shiites live.Especially in this neighbourhood a lot of Shiite people were constantly on the streets to show their protest. By a pertly fatwa, which declared such(prenominal) demonstrations against the ruling family in Saudi Arabia as un-Islamic, this known ruling family has created an almost giving rein in the suppression of the demonstrations. Of course, such a fatwa is utilize to ban protests against the ruling family in Saudi Arabia and to justify crackdowns of protests. Also such a fatwa does not seem to be very Islamic finally, but thats nothing impertinent in Saudi Arabia. The fools freedom for the Saudi ruling house is intensified by the looking for away of the West.Who wants to lose Saudi Arabia as a companion in these days? After all, there are still many sources of oil which can be exploited. Fur thermore, Saudi Arabia is a good partner of the West in the fight against Iran though this country is not necessarily a true friend and ally of the West. Saudi Arabia has a very strong interest to keep the power of Iran limited and to take cathexis with every option that the power of Iran doesnt increase. After all, it is often about the supremacy of Sunnis and Shiites in the Arab-Islamic world. Saudi Arabia isnt interested in losing its (religious? power/influence to Iran. At the beginning of this year 2011 there were also demonstrations and violent clashes between protesters and the practice of law in Jordan. The people protested for a forward-looking government. The Jordanian prime minister was replaced. The frustration of the Jordanian people is still palpable and there, but you do not ascertain anything any longer about Jordan. They do not want to take the risk to overthrow a Sunni ruler especially not in a country where the majority of the population is actually Palestin ian. It would not be foreseeable, which reaction would be triggered.So while the West deliberately keeps silent about some regions, they are take inning on full speed when its about other countries which are not the favored children of the United States, other countries and organizations. One of the best examples is Syria. In Syria, the demonstrations began relatively late and were fuelled from outside. Not to mention the financially and other support for the Syrian opposition assemblages within and abroad by the United States this support started already by the Bush administration and is still continued under the administration of Peace Nobel Prize-owner Barrack Obama.The demonstrations in Syria began peaceful, although foreigners were smuggled into the country to force violent situations within those protests. The peaceful protests were soon stopped because of this. The gird of several bunches of extremists, Islamists and criminals did the rest. The weapons were smuggled in q uantities beyond the borders of the country even before these demonstrations in Syria have started. A not to be underestimated enjoyment in the so-called uprisings in Syria may have walkovered the take of an U. S. ambassador to the U. S. embassy (Damascus) in February this year.Of course, this comeback of a questionable U. S. ambassador to Syria was also helpful with the policy against Syria This Syrian unrest is happening since nine months although it is said that there is a horrible crackdown of protesters by the Syrian troops and security forces. Not to mention that a real unrest looks different to the real events within Syria. But in favour of Western policy it is sure useful to sell these events in Syria to the Western population as a peaceful unrest of peaceful demonstrators, who just want freedom and democracy.The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should be overthrown, without any foreseeing of the consequences. It is easy to see these attempts of overthrow the Syrian go vernment and President in connection with the Foreign Policy of America, Israel and probably (mainly? ) AIPAC. It is written on the flags of America to protect Israel, which the U. S. President Barrack Obama again made clear in the last days. Because of this and the powerful AIPAC lobby within the USA, they have on their agenda to destroy the so-called Axis of Evil despite the probably consequences.An upcoming President of the United States involve a huge financially base to become president and he also needs the support of such Lobbies and positive opinions about his attitude to Israel. Real independence is sure something different. If you destabilize Syria, an important cut line between Iran and Hezbollah is interrupted. But the West has made up its plan without Syria, which still holds easily against all sanctions, propaganda and lies of Western countries, organizations as the NATO and questionable media. But it is in the stars how long Syria will blend this.What is sold as Arab Spring is absolutely a huge lie. A lie, what is becoming increasingly obvious, especially after the Islamists won the non-independent & questionable elections in Egypt and Tunisia. A lie, which has the end, that the bloody crackdown on Shiite protesters in Bahrain and the situation and events in countries such as Jordan and Algeria are simply not included in the so-called retrospective analytic thinking. A hypocritically sale of the so-called Arab Spring a recapitulation, which is more than blind in one eye. A lie by which a war was fought in Libya (and there are still clashes, of course).With tens of thousands of casualties with a big thanks to NATO and Western interests. Whether one can still speak of a spring is more than questionable. The Arab states became puppets of the West, even more than already in the past. The West has tried to use his influence and how this failed Arab spring will going to end will be sure turn out in future. The West still missed to reach all go als yet, because the government in Syria is still not collapsed and the majority of the Syrian population supports the President Bashar al-Assad and the promised remediate play.Also the Iran is far too powerful to attack it, without fearing huge consequences. There still other Arab states where dictators are in power. The West just seems to be blind or is this behaviour a confirmation of the imperialistic lies and propaganda? If you want to sell the so-called Arab spring as a real pro-democracy movement of the Arab offspring, then you should not keep simultaneously the dictators of the Gulf States, Jordan, Algeria and Morocco in office and power. The Arab Spring is a farce, which has plunged many countries into chaos.These countries will have to fight with the consequences for the next decades. The problems, why the Arab youth mainly protested on the streets, are still there everywhere. The acts to solve these problems of the Arab youth and societies are not even started yet if you consider Iraq, which is served as an example of democracy in this region you quickly recognize that this supposed democratic government is more than more corrupt than the former dictator. How the Arab population and primarily the Arab youth are going to handle this is unclear.Maybe more Arab springs, maybe more victims and wars. Probably. One is clear the Arab neighbours have been weakened and this is one of the main goals of Western interests, Imperialism and also of Zionism. It is said a picture explains get somewhat than 1000 words, but when picture muddle up with words then the interest appears The Nature of the Arab Spring The Arab Spring is the name that has been given to the recent wave of protests and political unrest in the Arab region of the world.This phenomenon began with the Jasmine revolution in December 2010 that overthrew the authoritative Tunisian government and has scatter to neighbouring countries including Egypt, Syria and Libya. The Arab Spring has exh ibited a common direct for democracy and elegant rights from the nations involved and has already lead to revolutions in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and has ca employ political changes across many other Arab Countries. Shifting political attitudes and values regarding democracy amongst the Arabs can be seen in the following graphNote the Democracy sense of taste and Reject strong Leader in the Middle-East column. This survey was taken a year before the Arab Spring. The selective study it shows predicts remarkably well the opinion of the Arab people and was a sign of things to come. The findings have undoubtedly been correlated with the events of 2011. What is ironic is the high preference for democracy in Middle East compared with Eurasia and the fact that Middle East & North Africa region had the lowest democracy index rating (3. 43, 2010) according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (2010).This highlights another(prenominal) great disparity between the desire of the people and the earthly concern. Arab Spring and the youth Its often said revolutions eat their young, but ra entrust has it been such a feast. On the streets of Tunis and across the Middle East, the young revolutionaries have been taken aback. A movement that afford on Face book, chirrup and YouTube is today being run by a generation that lived without computers most of their lives. Now, if the Arab Spring fails to incorporate the younger generation, it could come upon the fate that so many revolutions do leaving out those who first sparked change TunisiaThe democratic process in Tunisia is very encouraging. Regime change took place almost with no victims compared with Egypt, Libya and Syria. The elections brought to government a moderate, enlightened Muslim party, which brocaded the fears of secularists but is trying by all means to assure its opponents that it is open to sharing power, accepting peaceful transition of power through the election polls and building a civil state. Morocco and A lgeria The king of Morocco went far beyond that of Jordan. He does not have to deal with similar delicate internal elements.As a yield of fact, he started a process of internal conciliation several years ago, and trying to preempt a revolution in his country, he allowed a reformed constitution to be legislated in May 2010, and free democratic elections on Nov. 25 of that year. The Islamic movement won the majority as yielded, but the change is taking place peacefully though seriously. The change will have an impact on Moroccos dealing with its neighboring Arab countries. A positive improvement in relations with Algeria is developing.If this continues, it will allow for initiation the borders between the two countries, which have been closed for 17 years. The Arab Spring is changing the way of thinking among the new regimes. The political climate between Morocco and Algeria will have an impact on resolving the dispute over the Western Sahara. This may allow for the resurrection o f the Maghreb Union, which was created in 1989 but crippled as a result of deteriorating relations between Algeria and Morocco. Elections are scheduled in Algeria for 2012, and the regime promises free and democratic elections.If this happens, and it most probably will, it will add a new dimension to the reform movement in North Africa. Syria The Syrian mutant over the protests is similar to that of the rest of the world in that the larger, general class of the country, in this case the Sunni Muslims, are protesting the rule of the elite sect, the Alawites in Syria including the current President Bashar al-Assad, due to the apparent disparity between classes. The protests began in mid-March but have escalated as Assad backed down for original promises of peace-talks and reform and has begun to oppose the protests with force.The situation has since escalated as military members, once members of the elite sect, have begun to defect to the protestors side, putting the country on the brink of civil war. These latest developments in Syria and the rest of the Arab Spring are important because they prove that international accountability can, in fact, produce large-scale change in a country. When enough people or media outlets that carry enough weight get behind even a single person that is willing to stand up to the injustice, enough momentum can be generated to cause institutional change.The fair(a) American essential care because we are a part of that momentum. If the average citizen lacks care, the media lacks support over certain topics, and international accountability and pressure loses its power. The Arab Spring reminds us that individual people with the courage to generate change have power if a watching world is willing to respond. By staying up to date and active in the discussion of these events, the average American too can have a part in great change for zillions around the world. Egypt What where the assimilators goals? The Egyptian revolution be gan on the 25th of January.Tens of thousands of marchers occupied Cairos Tahrir Square to protest against President Hosni Mubarak and his government. Egyptians had been growing angrier over a number of issues including government corruption, rising prices, poverty, and accessible seclusion. The major point leading to the revolution was the overthrowing of the Tunisian government by fellow Arabs. As the demonstrations in Egypt grew more violent, protestors rallied behind a common goal, the pick up overthrow of the President Hosni and his government. How did they progress? The protestors consisted mostly of young tech-savvy Egyptians.On January 28, in an attempt to prevent the protestors from communicating, the Egyptian government shut down network access and some mobile phone services were shut down in certain areas. This only fuelled public anger with the government demonstrators begin using non-wireless dependent devices to communicate. through and through fax machines, land l ines, and radio broadcasts, the protestors have been able to still coordinate their movements and get randomness out of the country. What were their activities? Isolated pockets of protest erupted into country wide demonstration on January 28 as thousands protested the government in Tahrir Square.They were met with repressive opposition by police forces (Asser). The government responded to the protests by shutting down all internet providers in order to cut off colloquy among the protestors. This only fuelled public anger. Protestors glowering to land lines connections, fax machines and in some cases dial up connections through foreign nations such as Sweden and France to broadcast information (Daily Mail Reporter). Quickly, police forces melted away and the army was called in to keep the peace. On February 1st the demonstrations in Tahrir Square had terminated into the March of The Million. Looting soon became rampant through the streets and neighbourhoods set up armed night wa tch groups to protect their homes. The protestors had been relatively non-violent, but on February 2 pro-government demonstrators marched in Tahrir Square to meet the anti-government forces. The Scene soon erupted into violence as both sides began throwing stones and petrol bombs. Since then, the anti-government Forces erected barricades around Tahrir Square and voiced their refusal to abjure until President Hosni Mubarak finally stepped down from power (Asser). Were they successful? The Protestors were successful.Under mounting pressures, President Hosni Mubarak resigned from presidency, finally ending his just about 30 year rule. Power was then given over to the military which began drafting a new government and constitution. What has happened most recently? Since the resignation of President Mubarak, power has been given to the military which has dissolved fantan and suspended the constitution. The military said that it would give up control after a parliamentary election in th e fall and a referendum was released in March for the public to vote and ratify amendments to a new constitution.Since then however, the military has-been blamed for slowing the pace of democratizing the nation and remaining loyal to the snapper of President Mubaraks government, leading to fresh protests in the recent months. In august, Hosni Mubarak was brought into court to be tried for the deaths of those who died in the protests. In October, the military released a statement aphorism that an election would be held for parliament in November followed by a separate election for president. The military also announced they would now retain power even after the elections in order to see the transfer to democracy through.The Parliament will play a subordinate fictitious character to the military council for the time being until the new government is fully establish and a new constitution is ratified, a process which might last until 2013. At the moment the future of Egypt has prom ising potential, but is still unclear. What would I have done? I would have joined the protestors in the streets. I do it that I live in a democracy and if I lived in country like Egypt that limited my rights, I know I would jump at a chance to change things.However, if I heard that looters were out, I think would go home and help be part of a neighbourhood watch to protect my friends and family because I feel that they should come first before government. Libya What were the goals of the students? The major protest credited with starting the revolution was a demonstration held in the city of Benghazi. The protestors were angry over the manacles of a human rights activist named Fethi Tarbel. Tarbel openly spoke out against the government, especially in regards to the 1996 tradeacre at Abu Salim prison where more than a 1,000 prisoners were executed.The protestors were met by police forces that used water cannons to break up the crowds and eye witnesses account that police were driving their cars at high speeds into the crowds. The situation quickly erupted into an anti-Gaddafi protest that spread to neighbouring towns. Public anger over the nations rampant unemployment, poverty, civil rights violations, and lack of free speech fuelled the protests which demanded an end to Gaddafi and his regime. How did they communicate? Revolutionaries had to be careful about communicating online because the government was monitoring sites like face book, twitter and other social networking sites.Some groups adapted and began using Mawada, one of the biggest dating sites in the Middle East, to secretly recruit new members and communicate. They would pose as couples on Mawada and swap coded messages to each other disguised as poetry and love letters. For the most part however, Libyans did not embrace the internet for communication as Egypt and Tunisia did in their revolutions. According to Nasser Wedaddy, a civil rights outreach director for the American Islamic Congress, Libyans were very dismayed of the government monitoring the internet.What got information spread around was actually people outside of Libya who, free from Libyan jurisdiction, were able to take what photos and moving pictures were uploaded and spread them around the media, creating ofttimes of the support for the anti government forces. What were their activities? The protests that began in Benghazi evolved into a revolution and soon rebel forces consisting of civilian recruits and army personal that had defected made the city of Benghazi their base and quickly hale all security forces out of the city.Riots spread to neighbouring cities and rebel forces burned down police stations and seized local radio stations to spread propaganda against the government. Pro Gaddafi forces moved to open war with rebel forces, engaging in ground assaults and bombing raids. Anti-government rebels were obligate to retreat from the better armed pro-Gaddafi forces. Due to attacks on civilian tar gets, the western nations of the world gave their support to the rebel cause and began launching air raids on government strong holds and military groups.With military advice and equipment provided by NATO forces, the rebels began slow advancing on the capital of Tripoli and held the city of Misrata in western Libya which was under heavy siege. After months of little progress, the rebels pushed forward with a new offensive and captured Tripoli. The rebels established the National Transitional Council which was recognized as the new legitimate government of Libya. Rebel forces went on to capture the rest of the loyalist held cities which finally resulted in the death of Gaddafi. Were they successful?The rebel forces were successful. In their last major offensive, which took place from August 13to October 20, they captured the capital city of Tripoli and all other cities still held by loyalist forces and on the 20th of October Gaddafi was finally killed in a rebel attack on his stro ng hold Role of Women As the world hurries to disassemble and understand the events of the Arab Spring of 2011, numerous factors will be considered, most of them highly relevant and perhaps with more of a demonstrable effect on events than the levels of female hyponymy.It is for this very reason that it is necessary to conduct investigate into the effects of female subordination. There has been talk of womens rights in the context of the uprisings of the different Middle eastern and North African countries, but there needs to be real, in depth analysis of the human relationship between the treatment of women and the changes occurring in societies as a whole. In analysis of the events that occurred in 2011, I expect there will be much made of the nature of the previous regime, the personal styles of each of the dictators, and the frugal situations of the countries, including the lineament of resources.I strongly believe that the factors, as well as the rise of Islamic fundamen talism, the threat of act of terrorism and the presence of oil, are factors that affect women acutely and intensely, and that we can learn more about these different factors by examining them through the lens of the treatment of women. While it is difficult to establish whether it is a case of causation or not, there is a strong correlation between the treatment of women and the repression of society as a whole. examine the way women are affected in these situations will provide further insight into societies and prospects for the future.I have proposed analysis of specific events with the aim of developing this line of analysis further. I propose examining the relationship between the subordination of women and the level of protest experienced in varying countries knowing that it is viable that it the relationship I have predicted may not be accurate, but secure in the knowledge that it will lead to a better understanding of the factors shaping the situation in the Muslim world and potential developments in the future.It is my fancy that this research would contribute not only to the study of womens rights and the vastness of gender equality, but also to the field of democratization studies as we observe countries that uphold the rights of women making successful, peaceful transitions to consolidated democracy. The brotherly media revolutions We have seen so far what the most important phenomena on the Arab Internet were in the years before the revolutions. But when it comes to aggregation people, fast-paced communication, and in conclusion performing a revolution, both blogs and forums are fundamentally flawed.Here comes the unique role of modernistic actual social media Facebook, chirp, YouTube etc. , with their widespread and mass usage, free access and equal rights. done social networking sites, a single message regardless if it is a manifesto, the date, time and place for a gathering or a word-painting showing defenceless citizens killed by the army can reach thousands of people within minutes, each and every one of them being able to express their opinion on the matter, gives a suggestion or share an idea, everybody being able to become an activist and organizer.As far as it is realistic because they are in many cases very intertwined Ill try to examine separately the role compete by the different channels of the social media online ecosystem. Facebook Facebook is, probably, the biggest site on the Internet now it is almost as frequently visited as Googles search engine page as of September 2011, it is confirmed to have as many as 800 one million million accounts (which is more the 1/10 of the good human population).Natu gull, it is the most popular social networking platform in the Middle East and North Africa as well for example, Egypt alone has more than 7 million Facebook subscribers in Tunisia they form a rough 1/5 of the population of the country, and that ratio is true for most of the countries, wit h the exception of Libya, where there are only around 50,000 accounts (this fact can be attributed to the heavy censorship and restrictions by the countrys previous regime).This figures are the main reason why Facebook was the most important communication tool in most of the Arab spring revolutions even though it is impossible to say that the access to the social network per se has become the reason for the revolution, it is completely impossible to tell the story of events preceding and following the iconic January 25th 2011 without accepting the all important(p) role that Facebook vie in them. The driving force of these events is much older, and it was encoded in the very nature of the Egyptian pre-revolution regime and social structure of the country.However, it is safe to say that the revolution itself was sparkled in, and with some reservations, by Facebook. That revolution revolves two pages, one created in protest to the murder of Khalid utter, tortured and killed by Egypt ian police for posting materials exposing corrupt officials We are all Khalid Said, which is English-speaking and for that reason has emaciated to itself not only Arabs, but many western supporters of the Egyptian cause, and The April 6 youth movement, which is in Arabic the molybdenum is far older and originally emerged around a protest action in 2008, but kept its popularity.Combined, at the time of the protest, the two major groups consisted of more than half a million people, which grew literally in a few days after they were founded. Basically, there were no events that directly preceded the protest of the 25th there was just an idea for a peaceful demonstration that circulated through the community pages the rally itself was simply the act of moving the anti-government protest from the online world to the physical one.That was the very role played by Facebook it was where the protest brewed, and when it was ready to move on the streets, it managed to gather some 50,000 peo ple on the very first day, due to the good organization and widespread information on the social network.The follow-up of that event did not differ from any other peoples uprising more and more attended every next protest, clashes with the police and the army occurred, and, ultimately, the Mubarak government was overthrown. The important and new parts here are the methods of organization and scatter of information, which amplified and facilitated the process of overthrowing the regime.Egypt is the most clear example of the use of Facebook during the Arab Spring, it being the place where the ideas and organization grew in Tunisia, for example, as the first country to start the chain of revolutions, no such simple and differentiated organization existed of greater importance there was the online presence of the members of an informal group called Takriz, who have been doing their activist work online for the past 10 years, and just embraced Facebook as a new operational space, very useful when it comes to rapidly sharing information and attain a broad audience.Members of this group even admit that the organizations of football club supporters were equally important to Facebook groups and Facebook activism. The crucial importance of Facebook is very well expressed in the words of one of the members of Takriz Facebook is pretty much the GPS for this revolution. Without the street theres no revolution, but add Facebook to the street and you get real potential. For that reason, when the drastic event which could be used as a pretext for mass protest activity happened in this case, the self-inflammation of Muhammad Bouazizi the organization was already laid, the contacts were already built and the signal for the protest was given, they grew extremely fast. Here, if not on the same scale, it served exactly the same role it did in Egypt a public eye socket in which to discuss new ideas and find followers, n organizational network to coordinate common actions, a s well as a source of inspiration, proof that the activist is not alone in his quest. In the Middle Eastern countries in which anti-government protests are now current organization through Facebook is not such a common phenomenon the only example is Syria, where the biggest protest group (in Arabic) has no less than 320. 000 members, and it is updated hourly with information, pictures and videos from the protests.In Bahrain and Yemen the groups are negligibly small and not much visited in these cases the fact must be kept in mind that the revolutions here are more isolated and involve much less people than those in Egypt, Tunisia and Syria, and the use of Facebook is not so widespread, so the need for an online public sphere is not so acute. Twitter Twitter is a completely different social network where Facebook has complexity and many different ways to communicate and organize, Twitter has only one simplified messages shared with the stallion world, no preferences given.While F acebook can hold an entire manifesto, Twitter is limited by its 140 characters for a single message (called tweet) it has no pictures or video service by its own but is forced to use third-party applications to achieve that functionality. For these reasons, even though it is the befriend biggest social network in the world, it has only a fraction of Facebooks user count. The Arab countries make no exception there are only 5 million Twitter users, and almost half of them are from the UAE that is the primary reason why it was never used as a primary tool for organizing protests or gathering supporters in the field.Yet, Twitter played an equally important role in the uprisings. Due to its simplicity, this network is extremely well-suited to use through sharp phones and mobile devices ordinarily the content of user profiles is updated on hourly, if not minutely basis. For that reason, while Facebook was used in the long-term planning and announcements, Twitter was the in-the-field to ol, which allowed fine coordination between the protesters. Furthermore, an even more important role played by Twitter was bringing information on the protests outside the countries where the uprisings took place.One of the first things the regimes did when the revolutions started was to suppress all possible media channels and prevent the proper masking piece of the events. For example, the reporters and crew of Al-Jazeera, which is deemed to be the biggest, and actually one of the few really independent broadcasting media in the Arab World, were forbidden to enter the country the moment when the unrests started, and for that reason the television had to rely entirely on a network of credible and reliable people, who had previously assisted the media, tweeting and updating information from the scene of events on minutely basis.Thus, these twitters turned out to be the key source of information for the covering of the protests and the development of the events in Tunisia, for examp le, reporters of many media were allowed free passage only after president Bin Ali stepped down. Finally, Twitter was also the place where all the supporters of the Arab Spring uprisings throughout the world were exchanging news, opinions and analyses Egypt (with reached over a 1 ? million mentions only in the first three months of 2011) was the most used hash tag for 2011, which denotes the events in Egypt as the most discussed topic worldwide.So, Twitter was also the place where the news was spread, and keeps being spread even today. It also served as platform of the liberation campaigns, which were previously carried mainly by blogs a fresh example comes from October 2011 when Twitter was the main space where the campaign Alaa took place it called for the liberation of an Egyptian blogger who was held for questioning by the temporary military rule for more than two weeks, but at the end was released under popular pressure. YouTubeThere is a saying that a picture is worth a thou sand words if that is true, then a video is worth a thousand pictures. There is a reason why YouTubes own search engine is second only to Googles in terms of daily searches, and videos can sometimes reach over a few million views in a few days the so-called viral video phenomenon. movie materials from the period before and during the Arab Spring period make no exception to this rule they accumulated a lot of attention. Technically, we can separate the videos from the period into two different categories.One is what I would call propagandist videos usually very graphic videos, depicting actions of the regimes, like torture, murder of civilians, bribery etc. , which were distributed and uploaded by activists aiming to raise consciousness of both the Arab public and the world audience about these issues an iconic example here is the story of Khalid Said himself ,who was dragged out by the authorities from an Internet cafe, while he was uploading a video showing a government officia l taking bribe.Often, such videos were driving force powerful enough to organize mass protests, unite and focus the will of the crowds a good example of that is Syria, where, in the end of May, a video was uploaded to YouTube showing The corpse of a 13-year-old boy who appears to have been sexually and physically tortured by Syrian security officials. On the very next day, mass protests of women and children broke out in the entire country, ultimately leading to a counterattack by the Syrian army, which took 15victims, and thus escalating the conflict.A similar example comes from Tunisia a video from the days following the beginning of the revolution, showing Kasserines hospital in chaos, desperate attempts to treat the injured, and a terrible image of a dead young man with his brains spilling out, filmed by a medical student working in the hospital. The footage was so graphic that according to a member of Takriz That video made the second half of the revolution Rallying large num ber of people shocked both by the state of the patients and care offered in the state hospital and the brutality of the government attempts to suppress the protests.The popular videos from Egypt represent the other case, or what I call journalistic videos footage from the protest itself, used as a channel of spreading information about the uprisings outside Egypt itself, which have gained relatively big popularity on YouTube for example, a hobbyist video of the first day of protest has been watched over 600. 000 times, and even simple political analyses of the current situation made inwardly the country have reached over 300. 000 views.Such videos were also the main source of footage for many media, since those were prohibited from entering the hot zones or the countries whatsoever and taking any recordings of the events. That also worked the other way around YouTube was the only way protesters could access the news coverage and analyses made by various media, which were otherwise banned in their countries, for example Al-Jazeera or BBC Miscellaneous The three websites discussed above are the channels with the biggest significance for the Arab Spring it is impossible to calculate all the various sites and connections used during the revolutions.Photographers, both media-employed and hobbyists, shared photos on sites like Flickr and 500px discussions were carried out on boards like 4chan, and personal communication was carried out via peer-to-peer online services like Skype etc. Conclusion for Social Media While reviewing the role of social media in the Arab Spring, one fact is obvious it is an over-exaggeration to state that the media is the massage. Regardless of the amplifying effect that social media gave to all that took place, the events were invariably based on a real-world fact which reverberated in the virtual space.Still, there are at least three main functions which social media performed during the Arab revolutions 1. ) Public sphere it was the place where ideas were discussed, information was spread and through which public awareness was raised in the first place 2. ) Organizational space it was where the uprisings were think and an invaluable organizational tool during the protests 3. ) Information source it was the only way information could leave the countries and reach the world publicity and conventional media.The significance of social media consolidated by the fear with which they were treated by the pre-revolution regimes. Each of them, at some point, tried to sever the access to such sites, ultimately blocking the entire Internet access or even stopping cell phone service (in the case of Egypt). The regimes were afraid of a medium which they could not control, and, in the end, their fear turned out to be well-grounded the dictators were ousted by the wrath of their peoples, amplified through Facebook.My personal opinion is that the Arab Spring is not going to be the last Social network revolution. There is a good reason why the leading figure of the unrests now taking place in Russia after the parliamentary elections, Alexei Navalny, is a well-known oppositional blogger, and the organization of the protest took place in Facebook so did that of the currently popular Occupy movements happening all over the world. Who knows where the opposition is brew the next uprising in their twitter personal messages The Ultimate Conclusion The Arab Spring was not a surprise.The surprise was why it took so long to come. Many reasons came together to produce these drastic developments the refusal of the regimes to accept the rationale of the transition of power through elections and their insistence on a monopoly on power, as well as corruption, poverty, unemployment and the marginalization of youth and ethnic groups. The young generation, which represents 70% of the population, was the common element in leading the revolutions in these countries, whereas the aged ruling leaders of these countries bel onged to only 7% of the population.And finally, the collective awareness, as witnessed in Tunisia when a young man protested by setting himself on fire and when a youngster died in a police station in Egypt brought masses to the streets. Arab dictatorships ruled with an iron fist and disgraced their own people to the termination that their arrogance went far enough for them to believe that they could pass their reign by inheritance to their sons. Their countries resources were exploited as their own and were shared between their family members, relatives and friends, while their people were left in poverty and underdevelopment.The U. S. and Europe knew the reality of these regimes, but for their own interests cooperated with them and turned their eyes from their severe violations of human rights and democratic values. The Arab Spring cannot be compared with the European Spring in Eastern European countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Eastern Europes culture, mentality a nd proximity to Western European countries enabled a smooth change and transition there, while these elements do not exist in the rebelling Arab countries.We all know the results Arab dictators in Yemen, Libya and Syria declared, Its either me or to fossa with them and launched a war against their own people. The war in Syria is still on no one can predict its results, but one thing we can be sure of The people broke the obstacle of fear and came out in a massive protest that will not be turned back. Masses went out to the streets and public squares in a peaceful protest and civil disobedience. But the rulers confronted it with excessive power and violence, which led to a violent reaction from protestors, pushing some of them to seek foreign intervention.No one can predict where these revolutions are heading. They all are speaking about democracy, free elections, dignity, justice, human values, etc. But translating this into reality is another issue. So far, Libya, Yemen and Egypt have proven that this will not be an easy task. The U. S. and Western European countries fear a real change in the rebelling Arab countries which may threaten their interests and concerns, and are trying to contain these revolutions.The fact that these Arab countries control the worlds largest oil reserve, located in a central strategic junction between the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, and that any change may threaten the future existence of Israel can explain this. Many fears are expressed now by Arab intellectual circles about the fate of these revolutions which raised so many hopes in the beginning but soon faded as result of bloodshed, destruction and failure to make the transition to democracy smoothly and within a well-founded amount of time. The Arab Spring may not blossom soon.Good governance, transparency, democracy and rule of law have not been realized yet. Hatred and suspicion of the intentions of Western countries is growing. Conspiracy theories have b ecome a fashion. Past experiences with the West and its relations with the former regimes are not forgotten but instead strengthens the fears that whats going on is a new return of colonialism with new faces and new regimes. The Arab people have tried Western methods and values, and their piercingly memories about their past cooperation with the former regimes are still fresh. The U.S. , the supposed leader of democracy, is losing its credibility due its two-fold standard policy calling for democracy and human rights for one people and denying it to another, by supporting the Israeli occupation and denying the Palestinians right to statehood. The recent position in the Security Council against Palestines membership in the UN is used as strong evidence of the U. S. biased position against the Palestinians. The Arab revolutions are inspiring revolutions worldwide even against the corruption and failure of the Western economic system.The double standard policy of the West, together with the failure of the Western system, discourages Arabs from adopting Western values, and has made them focus on the necessity of change. This change, for many people, could be achieved only by adopting the modern pragmatic Islamic approach. The Islamists seem to be the future. Whatever the U. S. or Europe may try to do to hinder this development, it will not succeed. Replacing the dictators of the past with new ones with the blessings of the West will not survive for long. The masses have learned their lesson and will not give up until they achieve their rights. S