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CyberDissidents.org | Special Egypt and Tunisia Edition | February 2011
February 2, 2011
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CyberDissidents.org | Special Egypt and Tunisia Edition | February 2011
In the News This week, CyberDissidents.org's analysis of events in Egypt and Tunisia was featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, BBC, PBS NewsHour, Reuters, Voice of America, Bloomberg (radio, TV and print), Washington Examiner, National Review, and a CNN-affiliate. Middle East's "Black Swan" Reuters By David Keyes  Who would have believed that the immolation of a single fruit vendor would spark nation-wide protests and lead to the precipitous downfall of the Tunisian dictator who ruled for 23 years? Who could have imagined that these protests would spread almost immediately to Yemen, Jordan and Egypt? This has been the ultimate Black Swan, a term made famous by economist Nassim Taleb, meaning a cataclysmic event that was entirely unpredicted. The past two weeks in the Arab world are unprecedented in recent history. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets protesting corruption and dictatorship. When Ben Ali was forced from power, Arabs throughout the region looked at each other and said collectively "Why not our dictator too?" Click here for more.Web Blackout: What Bloggers Experienced Hours ago, Egyptian authorities turned the Internet back on and CyberDissidents.org immediately reached out to several bloggers in the country to get their reaction to these unprecedented developments. Blogger and pro-democracy activist Dalia Ziada said that the situation in Cairo is "very bad" and that she knows some of those injured in the recent clashes. She described the scene in Tahrir Square as a "horrible massacre." Kareem Amer, who spent the last four years in Egyptian prison for blogging, said that the move to shut down the Internet was "stupid," because the web was "absorbing a lot of the youth's rage." Ziada agreed that blocking the Internet made Mubarak weaker. He had less of an ability to monitor how people organized and "it left all the bloggers with no choice but to head to the streets." Esraa Rashid, who was also imprisoned for her Facebook activities, reported to us that many Egyptians are asking the army to save them and force Mubarak from power. Click here for more. Formerly Imprisoned Blogger Reflects on Egyptian Turmoil  CyberDissidents.org contacted the famous Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer who was recently released after four years in prison. He was jailed for criticizing the Egyptian dictator on his blog and "insulting" Islam. Kareem has just returned from a large demonstration in Alexandria. He told CyberDissidents.org that protesters were subjected to attacks by riot police and that the security forces shot live bullets in the air as well as tear gas grenades. The streets were completely closed due to the large number of demonstrators. Amer also said that the demonstrations are still ongoing and that these events are unprecedented in Egypt. He observed little Islamist presence at the demonstration and said that he heard no chants or slogans typical of radical Islamists. Click here for more.Bloomberg Interview Last night, CyberDissidents.org director David Keyes was interviewed live on Bloomberg TV about the unrest in Egypt. Click below to stream the video online.
 Could Syria Be Next? Unlike Egypt, or Tunisia under recently-departed dictator Ben Ali, Syria has no independent newspapers and tolerates almost no political opposition. It leads the Middle East in the number of political prisoners and forced disappearances. Syrian activists living in Egypt have told CyberDissidents.org of the relative freedom there. Newspapers like Al Dostor openly criticize Mubarak and democratic activists function more freely than in a country like Syria, where people can be arrested merely for telling a joke about the president. One formerly imprisoned Egyptian blogger told us that despite his experience, he knows that the situation is much worse in countries like Syria. Click here for more. Internet Blocked? Speak to Tweet  As the protests in Egypt continue, so does the threat of Internet censorship by Hosni Mubarak's regime. Though many social media websites, including Twitter, have been blocked in the country, people have found new ways to spread information to the online community. Yesterday, Google posted on its official blog that it had launched a voice-to-tweet service that will allow activists to stay connected with their peers even if Twitter is blocked online. Egyptians can leave voicemail messages that will automatically be turned into tweets; people from outside the country can hear the messages by dialing the same number, or by going to twitter.com/speak2tweet. All tweets made by Google's service will be posted with the #Egypt hashtag. Click here for more. For Tunisians, Great Hopes and Challenges Lie Ahead By Ahed Al Hendi The complexity of the Tunisian revolt should not be underestimated. What made the protests so successful is that everyone agreed Zein El Abidine Ben Ali could no longer remain the country's president. Now that the dictator has resigned, the voices that were united in calling for him to step down must find a way to cooperate with each other - no small task for a country that is divided politically and has been crippled economically by the corruption and mismanagement of the former regime. Click here for more. |
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