Arab Spring Complete Research Work

Syed Muhammad Jalal Ud Din Asad Shah SMC Ba 5 (Journalism) Course teacher Mam Rida Sohail Inter terra firmaal Mass Media and its Imp routine Mid-term Assignment Arab shape 16/11/2012 Introduction The Arab stick out, referring to the chain reaction of vicissitudes in the Arab introduction, is considered to experience begun in Tunisia when a niggling produce seller lit himself on fire to profess the disposal victorious a federal agency his job.Some put off that this event, united with enough hale from outside media sources, sparked the vicissitude of the younger generation in Tunisia that altogether overthrew their prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi m each otherwises argue that the atomic follow 18a was ripe for revolution thanks to the extract of majority restrain in Iraq. Regard little of the initial move, this single countries act started a snowb in solely effect of elective revolution that has rolled its way d unrivaled Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, Lybia, in a fewer sm scarceer instances in other countries. elaborated Summary of Arab restrictOn 17th 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 tried to plump for the livelihood of his family with his veg go there, lit himself. Again and again he was bullied and in addition hassle by the behaviour and conditions of the Tunisian legal philosophy in this village. His self-immolation happened one category ago and he died of his injuries. This sad act sparked major witnesss by tempestuous and frustrated young hatful in Egypt.Some followed Muhammad Buazizi example and likewise connected suicide after(prenominal) his sad death. The commencement ceremony so-called revolution in the Arab world has been triggered. Whether this revolution has been unfeignedly triggered all still if from at heart Egypt by this sad act should be questioned. It wasnt the firs t induction against the go up of food prices, and those jibs were non able to overthrow the dictator. This intensifyd with these protests in resile 2011. One should consider that these developments around these demonstrations rent been driven from the outside, too.For example, the name of initiation U. S. diplomat Jeffrey Felt universe appears repeatedly in connection with these so-called revolutions in the set vitamin E. The events in Tunisia spilled over to other utters and for example, the Tunisian dictator chop-chop left his themeland to find asylum in Saudi-Arabian Arabia. Some enounce a bit too cursorily. Even earlier the wave of revolutions (Arab shape) reached Egypt, this interesting wave reached the some(prenominal) states Morocco and Algeria. Again, the good deal took to the roads in protest against emergent food prices and against the taintedion within the terra firma.Of course, the flock in Algeria and Morocco also protested against the in prac ticedice. Finally, the demonstrations in Egypt began on twenty-fifth of January. These protests in Egypt were primarily mixerly motivated demonstrations, in which the spate wanted to give vent to their anger. Triggered by the financial crisis (U. S. is in the main to blame for this) the food prices and ho victimisation prices also increased in the Arab countries. Where the unconnected/western countries did non intervene, the demonstrations disappe bed again. Take a look at Algeria.It seems that straightaway hardly anyone re encephalons al almost Algeria that there people also protested against the political relation and that these demonstrations were viciously dispersed or even mowed down. It seems that the westerly presidential terms decided secretly that an Algeria chthonian the lead of Bouteflika is soundr for Europe than an Algeria, which is ruled by Islamists. Some experts of the center field eastbound talk fiercely the beginning of these demonstrations and rev olutions some an Muslim revolution (even Islamistic revolution) which is virtuoso(prenominal) ignored by the West till forthwith.The West even ignores these statements nearly an Islamic revolution gladly. However, the results of the first elections in Tunisia and Egypt speak for themselves In some(prenominal) countries the Islamists check gained extremely to a greater extent(prenominal) office staff and influence. non surprising at all. For example, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt escorted and good-tempered ho theatrical roles the protests against the power of the Egyptian multitude. It sometimes seems that the Muslim Brotherhood also forces chaos within these protests because it world power be utilizable for their goals.Not to mention that the Muslim Brotherhood offered people coin 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 atomic number 18 able to recall the 11th February. The Egyptian dictator Mubarak resigned at this day and handed all the power to the horse opera-backed soldiery. At the moment, the Egyptian military clings to the power in Egypt and the Egyptians are non able to reach a break to rest after their revolution. exclusively this revolution in Egypt was not the last revolution of this Arab leap in 2011.The Yemenis were encouraged by the events in North Afri contri scarcee countries and started to take 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 turn backment, which would nourishment the Yemeni leader Saleh for some to a greater extent years in office. The frustration of the Yemenis erupted eventually. As further as we know, the Yemenis always take demonstrated in a irenic manner against the government and military.The bloodshed started as the clan of s salutary Ahmar began to act against the Yemeni government to enforce the interests of the clan and this Sheikh. afterwards a recollectiveer breaker point of a back and forth and a keen-sighted stay in Saudi Arabia, Saleh finally agreed to the proposal of the disconnectedness Cooperation Council and left his post in Yemen. Nobody on the exclusivelyton knows the future of Yemen. What is solitary(prenominal) certain to say is that the near future wont be easy for the inelegant and that you are actually able to call Yemen a failed State. Yemen always was a forgotten orbit and the bit within the country is palpablely overhearting worse.The Libyan revolution should not unavoidably pass this title of a revolution. Viewing at Libya it is indeed constitute that foreign countries supported those grows to overthrow the ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Not to mention the loose statements just closely the events in Libya by sovereign journalists like Lizzie Phelan and others. Altho ugh both Western countries, France and Italy, extolled the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi until early 2011 and both governments did e precise(prenominal)thing in motion in order to impress the leader in oversee, it was above all France, which speedily forgot about(predicate) the alliance and any agreements.It seems that the crowing fear of an independent and more stringy Africa and a Libya with major projects was behind the intentions of the Europeans and the Ameri keisters. Some would also say that this was behind the intentions of the West to destroy the structure and plans of this country. Not to mention the potfulive essence of primary(prenominal) mineral resources, of course. The armed rioters were celebrated as climbs and supplied with weapons system and money by the West / NATO. First they helped to pass the Libyan urban center of Benghazi as a liberated ity to the rebels and afterwards they started a war, found on lies, to determine the fate of the finally murde red Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. After Muammar Gaddafis assassination and the charm of his son, Saif al-Islam, it suddenly became very silent about the business office in Libya. It seems that they want to prevent, that the Western population learns something about this moody revolution in Libya and above all, they want to create time to slump all corpses of innocent. So that there wont fling up any unpleasant questions. The truth is sometimes very brutish. Libya is now utilise and finally ruled by al-Qaeda and CIA related people. as healthful 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 absolute majority Shiite population wanted to achieve more capable rights and above all, that the Bahraini electrical resistance go forth lose their status as mute puppets in the government. In Bahrain, it was a brutal crackdown of the peaceable demonstrations by the government. And a ll run-in, which U. S. professorship Barrack Obama had about these violence by a governing, was a gentle criticism that the Bahraini thought family should not act brutally against demonstrators. just this was not enough.The Bahraini regnant family asked for help with the crackdown of protesters and the good-disposed Saudis delivered tanks and their soldiers to bring down the demonstrations in the neighbouring state. After all, no one substantively outraged 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 United States of America own an important military base in Bahrain.Furthermore, they couldnt risk, that the Shiites in Bahrain are really fortunate in receiving more power and also co-det ermination in the country, because this would mean that the Persian influence is increasing in Bahrain. Nothing, what the West really wants. If there volition be a resume about the so-called Arab Spring in these days, it seems that nobody is loss to mention Bahrain just as Algeria, Saudi Arabia and capital of Kuwait The Saudi king tried to bribe his people with money, to buy it finally. But this strategy has not worked especially in the east of Saudi Arabia, on the border to Bahrain, where numerous Shiites live.Especially in this region a lot of Shiite people were constantly on the streets to show their protest. By a sweet fatwa, which say such demonstrations against the ruling family in Saudi Arabia as un-Islamic, this known ruling family has created an almost waive rein in the suppression of the demonstrations. Of course, such a fatwa is employ to ban protests against the ruling family in Saudi Arabia and to justify crackdowns of protests. Also such a fatwa does not seem t o be very Islamic finally, that thats nothing peeled in Saudi Arabia. The razzs bounteousdom for the Saudi ruling house is intensified by the looking away of the West.Who wants to lose Saudi Arabia as a pardner in these days? After all, there are still many sources of oil which can be use. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia is a good colleague of the West in the bilk by 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 modified and to take guardianship 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 ruddy clashes between protesters and the jurisprudence in Jordan. The people protested for a new government. The Jordanian prime mi nister was replaced. The frustration of the Jordanian people is still conspicuous and there, but you do not hear 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 Palestinian. It would not be foreseeable, which reaction would be triggered.So small-arm the West deliberately keeps silent about some regions, they are rails on full speed when its about other countries which are not the favourite children of the United States, other countries and system of ruless. 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 op aim chemical groups within and abroad by the United States this support started al ca-ca by the Bush administration and is still continued under the administration of Peace Nobel Prize-owner Barrack Obama.The demonstrat ions 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 arming of several bunches of extremists, Islamists and criminals did the rest. The weapons were smuggled in quantities beyond the borders of the country even before these demonstrations in Syria receive started. A not to be underestimated office in the so-called insurrections in Syria may take hold biddinged the comeback 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 subservient 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 army 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 government and President in connection with the Foreign Policy of America, Israel and probably (mainly? ) AIPAC. It is scripted on the flags of America to protect Israel, which the U. S. President Barrack Obama again pretend 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 scorn the probably consequences.An upcoming President of the United States necessitate a huge financially base to become president and he also ingests the support of such Lobbies and positive opinions about his attitude to Israel. Real freedom is sure something different. If you destabilize Syria , an important supply line between Iran and al-Jihad is interrupted. But the West has do up its plan without Syria, which still holds well against all sanctions, propaganda and lies of Western countries, organic justnesss as the NATO and questionable media. But it is in the stars how long Syria give snuff it 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 include in the so-called retrospective analysis. 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 W estern 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 away to end will be sure turn out in future. The West still missed to reach all goals but, 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 crystallize process.Also the Iran is outlying(prenominal) too powerful to attack it, without fearing huge consequences. in that location 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 spring chicken, because you should not keep simultaneously the dictators of the Gulf States, Jordan, Alger ia 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, wherefore 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 untold more corrupt than the motive dictator. How the Arab population and primarily the Arab youth are going to distribute this is unclear.Maybe more Arab springs, maybe more victims and wars. Probably. One is clear the Arab neighbours have been debased and this is one of the main goals of Western interests, Imperialism and also of Zionism. It is said a register formulates reveal than 1000 course, but when picture muddle up with words then the future(a) app ears The Nature of the Arab Spring The Arab Spring is the name that has been give 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 dispel to neighbouring countries including Egypt, Syria and Libya. The Arab Spring has exhibited a common demand for democracy and gracious rights from the nations involved and has already lead to revolutions in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and has caused political changes across many other Arab Countries. shimmy political attitudes and values regarding democracy amongst the Arabs can be seen in the following graphNote the Democracy preference and Reject strong Leader in the Middle-East column. This play along was taken a year before the Arab Spring. The data it shows predicts remarkably well the opinion of the Arab people and was a sign of things to come. The findings have undoubtedly been corr elated with the events of 2011. What is straighten outic 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 In advertiseigence Unit (2010).This highlights another(prenominal) long disparity between the desire of the people and the reality. Arab Spring and the youth Its often said revolutions eat their young, but rarely 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 spread on Face book, cheep and YouTube is today world 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 meet 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 transgressy, which provided the fears of secularists but is nerve-racking by all means to assure its opponents that it is open to sharing power, accepting peaceful transition of power by dint of the election polls and building a civil state. Morocco and Algeria The king of Morocco went far beyond that of Jordan. He does not have to deal with similar delicate internal fragments.As a matter of fact, he started a process of internal conciliation several years ago, and trying to preempt a revolution in his country, he allowed a improve constitution to be legislated in May 2010, and free democratic elections on Nov. 25 of that year. The Islamic movement won the majority as look fored, but the change is taking place peacefully though seriously. The change will have an impact on Moroccos relations with its neighboring Arab countries. A positive improvement in relations with Algeria is ontogenesis.If this continues, it will allow for enterprise the borders between the twain countries, which have been closed for 17 years. The Arab Spring is ever-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 of 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 version over the protests is similar to that of the rest of the world in that the larger, ecumenical class of the country, in this case the Sunni Muslims, are protesting the rule of the elite sect, the Alawites in Syria including the cur rent 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 constituents, once members of the elite sect, have begun to defect to the protestors side, putting the country on the brink of civil war. These in vogue(p) developments in Syria and the rest of the Arab Spring are important because they prove that external 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 average American must carry off because we are a part of that momentum. If the average citizen lacks care, the media lacks support over certain topics, and internationa l 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 one one thousand thousand millions around the world. Egypt What where the learners goals? The Egyptian revolution began on the 25th of January.Tens of thousands of marchers sedulous 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 hearty 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 complete overthrow of the President Hosni and his government. How did t hey transmit? 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 internet access and some mobile speech sound services were shut down in certain areas. This merely fuelled state-supported anger with the government demonstrators begin using non-wireless dependent devices to communicate. Through facsimile machines, land lines, and radio broadcasts, the protestors have been able to still devise their movements and get schooling 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 pop the questionrs in order to cut off dialogue among the protestors. This only fuelled world anger. Protestors fa lse to land lines connections, fax machines and in some cases telephone dial up connections by dint of foreign nations such as Sweden and France to spread training (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 done the streets and neighbourhoods set up armed iniquity watch 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 leave until President Hosni Mubarak finally stepped down from power (Asser). Were they successful? The Protestors were successful.Under mounting press ures, President Hosni Mubarak resigned from presidency, finally final stage his nearly 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 fan tan and suspended the constitution. The military said that it would give up control after a fantanary election in the 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 remain loyal to the core of President Mubaraks government, leading to wise to(p) 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 saying 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 role to the military council for the time being until the new government is fully established and a new constitution is ratified, a process which might last until 2013. At the moment the future of Egypt has declare potentiality, but is still unclear. What would I have done? I would have joined the protestors in the streets. I love that I live in a democracy and if I lived in country like Egypt that hold in my rights, I know I would jump at a kick downstairs 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 th e revolution was a demonstration held in the urban center of Benghazi. The protestors were angry over the imprisonment of a human rights activist named Fethi Tarbel. Tarbel openly spoke out against the government, especially in regards to the 1996 atomic pileacre 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 reported 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 supervise sites like face book, twitter and other social meshinging sites.Some groups adap ted 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 hearts to each other draped as poetry and love letters. For the most part however, Libyans did not crush 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 afraid of the government observe the internet.What got education spread around was actually people outside of Libya who, free from Libyan jurisdiction, were able to take what p sultryos and television receivers were uploaded and spread them around the media, creating much 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 make the ur ban center of Benghazi their base and quickly obligate all security forces out of the urban center.Riots spread to neighbouring cities and rebel forces ruin 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 forced to retreat from the better armed pro-Gaddafi forces. cod to attacks on civilian targets, 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 slowly 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 accept 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 strong hold Role of Women As the world hurries to analyze and visualise the events of the Arab Spring of 2011, numerous factors will be considered, most of them highly germane(predicate) and perhaps with more of a demonstrable effect on events than the levels of distaff person supremacy.It is for this very fountain that it is necessary to conduct research 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 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 introductory regime, the personal styles of each of the dictators, and the economic situations of the countries, including the role of resources.I strongly believe that the factors, as well as the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, the threat of terrorism and the front end 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. mend it is ambitious 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. Studying 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 attainable 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 hope that this research would contribute not only to the regard of womens rights and the importance of gender equality, but also to the field of democratisation studies as we observe countries that uphold the rights of women making successful, peaceful transitions to consolidated democracy. The complaisant media revolutions We have seen so far what the most important phenomena on the Arab cyberspace were in the years before the revolutions. But when it co mes to gathering people, fast-paced communication, and ultimately performing a revolution, both blogs and forums are fundamentally flawed.Here comes the unique role of modern actual social media Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. , with their widespread and mass usage, free access and equal rights. Through social networking sites, a single message regardless if it is a manifesto, the date, time and place for a gathering or a video demonstrate 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 possible because they are in many cases very intertwined Ill try to get word separately the role vie 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 often visited as Googles search engine page as of family 2011, it is confirmed to have as many as 800million accounts (which is more the 1/10 of the entire human population).Naturally, it is the most pop social networking political 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 typical for most of the countries, with the censure 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 terra firma 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 actor for the revolution, it is completely impossible to tell the story of events preceding and following the iconic January 25th 20 11 without accepting the important role that Facebook played 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 Said, hag-ridden and killed by Egyptian police for posting materials exposing corrupt officials We are all Khalid Said, which is English-speaking and for that reason has drawn to itself not only Arabs, but many western supporters of the Egyptian cause, and The April 6 youth movement, which is in Arabic the import 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 fou nded. 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 people on the very first day, due to the good organization and widespread cultivation 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 spreading of information, which amplified and facilitated the process of overthrowing the regime.Egypt is the most clear example of the use of Fa cebook 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 reaching 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 b e 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 feature 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 force field in which to discuss new ideas and find followers, n organizational network to coordinate common actions, as well as a source of inspiration, trial impression that the activist is not alone in his quest. In the Middle Eastern countries in which anti-government protests are now ongoing 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 k ept 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 dual-lane with the entire world, no preferences given.While Facebook 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 second 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 w as 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 smart phones and mobile devices usually 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 tool, 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 binding 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 truly independent broadcasting media in the Ar ab 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 plausible 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 example, 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 chop 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 to day. It also served as platform of the tone ending 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 thousand 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. Video 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 p ropagandist videos usually very brilliant videos, depicting actions of the regimes, like torture, murder of civilians, bribery etc. , which were distributed and uploaded by activists aiming to raise awareness 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 government activity from an Internet cafe, while he was uploading a video showing a government official 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 stone-broke out in the entire country, ultimately leading to a counterattack by the Syrian army, which took 15victim s, 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 horrifying image of a utterly 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 number 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 inside 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 Mis prison cellaneous The three websites discussed above are the channels with the biggest significance for the Arab Spring it is impossible to enumerate all the various sites and connections used during the revolutions.Photographers, both media-employed and hobbyists, overlap 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. Con clusion 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 increase in the first place 2. ) Organizational space it was where the uprisings were planned and an valuable 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 stop 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 satiate movements happening all over the world. Who knows where the opposition is brewing 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. M any reasons came in concert to produce these drastic developments the refusal of the regimes to accept the principle 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 belonged 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 extent 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 wer e 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 and 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 each me or to hell 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 barrier of fear and came out in a massive protest that will not be turned back. Masses wen t out to the streets and public squares in a peaceful protest and civil disobedience. But the rulers confronted it with unwarranted 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 concord 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 n ow 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 reasonable 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. faction theories have become 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 bitter 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 range standard policy calling for democracy and human rights fo r 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 shake up revolutions worldwide even against the corruption and failure of the Western economic system.The trope 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