China's Arab Spring Headache.

For the past four years, the Middle East has been dealing with a phenomenon that is called the Arab Spring. China, as one of the last remaining party dominated nations in the world, has been watching it carefully. The Communist party fears that the unrest that has sprung up in Libya, Syria, and Egypt could spread into their country. With what has been going on within these countries, the current governing style that China has could back fire. To counteract this, the government has restricted internet access, and attempted to ignore anything news related about the Arab Spring. It is unsure how long this practice will last before it blows up in 
China’s face. They have also taken a wait-and-see approach with Syria and Libya.

1. Syria’s and China’s relationship
It’s clear that what Syria export is not a concern of China. One of their biggest worries is that their civil war will spill across all of the Middle East. As Shannon Tiezze from The Diplomat describes it, “Violence from Syria, which is largely based along the Sunni-Shi’ite schism, has already spilled over

Out of all the three Arab countries, Syria does not have strongest economic ties with China. “China-Syria trade was worth $1.2billion, a 50 percent decrease over 2011 rates.

Chinese exports to Syria accounted for $1.1 billion dollars” (The Diplomat).

East” (The Diplomat). Though the conflict going is a concern of Chinas’, from an economic standpoint they are more concerned with how this will affect their more important trading into Lebanon and Iraq. Further escalation could begin to disrupt trade within the region as a whole, a potential disaster for China given that over half of its oil imports come from the Middle

partners.

http://media.caglecartoons.com/media/cartoons/34/2012/06/06/113073_600.jpg

China does not want intervene with Syria’s internal problems. Their stance on the issue

has stalemated talks and has caused aid to Syria’s refugees to stagnate. They learned their

lesson with Libya, where they decided to abstain from the decision. According to Holly from CNN who interviewed Yun Sun, “Rather than siding with either Assad or the opposition and standing aside to 'wait and see,' Beijing is actively betting on both” (CNN). It’s not the best approach to a situation, but it allows China to have the escape of not being on the losing side of the issue, but it has the potential to make them appear indecisive.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/29/world/meast/syria-iran-china-russia-supporters/

2.

Libya and China Relationship
Though China has had its issues with the government of Libya, Gaddafi gave them most of their headaches. With the new interim government, both parties are hoping to forget their past dealings and focus on the future. Though Libya had not been a key economic partner before the Arab Spring, China did receive a large portion of their oil from the country. “China consumed 11 percent of Libya’s oil exports. It’s also Tripoli’s second largest supplier after its colonial patron Italy, accounting for 10.54 percent of Libyan imports in 2009. China also has significant business interests in Libya, ranging from railway projects to automobile sales” (Sotloff). The oil of Libya is the only thing China has any real interest in. With the events of the Arab Spring, China worries that, because they hesitated to aid the rebels, the interim government might not be as giving as Gaddafi had been with them.
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/74389496-simpfendorfer-on-libya-s-relations-with-china.html

China's decision process with Syria is because of the mistakes the government made with Libya. The Chinese government’s decision not to back the rebels hurt their relationship with the new interim Libyan government. “China was reluctant to support the Libyan rebels and abstained from a security council resolution authorizing “all necessary measures” to protect civilians”(Sotloff). Because of that decision economic ties between China and Libya are strained. Though relations between the two countries have never been calm to begin with. “Tripoli served ties in 1980 with Beijing supplied weapons to neighboring Egypt, with whom Libya had a short border war with in 1977”(Scotloff). Two years before the Arab Spring, a Chinese oil company purchased a significant share of a Canadian oil company. But Libya’s government blocked the deal and forced the Canadian company to sell their shares to Libya’s “Now that Gaddafi has lost control, China will accept whatever new order emerges in his place” (Higgins). state owned oil company. These examples show that China’s reluctance to aid the rebels may have been because of these events. 

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3. Egypt and China
Unlike Syria and Libya, China does not have an economic interest in Egypt. Instead, they are interested in the events going on within Egypt. The government fears that Arab Spring will spread across the Middle East and into mainland China.
“ (Pollack). The event of the Arab Spring in Egypt has China terrified, and has them rethinking their policies within the Middle East and other countries. The reason Egypt could lead to a China spring is because of the way it happened. Though China’s government has complete control of the internet, and any attempt of political discourse is obliterated, the government fears the potential of the youth. The Egyptian youth, not the adults, were the ones that brought Mubarak’s regime down to its knees and forced the president to step down. 
http://live.wsj.com/video/with-morsi-gone-china-loses-key-ally-in-egypt/0B72C7B5- CBE3-47D9-B7BC-C2BBD6309985.html#!0B72C7B5-CBE3-47D9-B7BC- C2BBD6309985

The way the Arab Spring brought Egypt’s decade old regime down could be a precursor on how the youth of China could rise up. To solve that problem the regime has “
control of public mass gatherings and protests. Search terms such as “Jasmine” or

have been compelled to reexamine their policies to protect their interests where it can

“They while limiting the damage wherever possible

resorted to numerous measures, including tighter Internet monitoring and censorship -- especially the use of social media -- and more-vigilant surveillance and “Egypt” have been intermittently blocked or altogether banned on the Chinese

Internet” (Yaun). It remains to be seen, however, if this action is just preventing the inevitable uprising. Unlike in Egypt and some of the other spring affected countries, “Beijing retains total control over the military, the paramilitary and the police forces, on whose loyalty it can count:(Yaun). If an Arab Spring like event would happen in China,

the protesters would not have any support from the military and would be on their own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVNHK1TgFQ8

China has every right to be afraid of the events that have happened in Libya, Syria and Egypt. Although it would be a monumental task for the citizens of China to achieve such a goal like the citizens of the Arab Spring managed. Their gamble to wait and see with Syria has the potential to backfire and blow up in their government’s face and put a strain on their relationship in the future. The possible reluctance of the interim government in Libya to be open to China about trade, because they did not wish to help the rebels topple Gaddafi’s regime could also pose a problem.. Though China’s government does have a firm grasp on social media and their own military, time can only tell how much longer this will deter its youth from rising up. 

The Soundtrack of a Revolution

The Soundtrack of a Revolution

Dan Kruglak

Where there is a revolution, there is music. Music brings folks together: it is very emotional, and artists in countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya have been crafting the soundtrack to the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring has brought a resurgence of popular protest music in the recent future. Earlier examples of Arab protest music were hard to spread through the media because of the dominant regimes that reigned over the Middle East, however, because of social media and the downfall of said regimes, a rise in popularity and access to the music has occurred: “As censorship fears began to dissolve along with the governments that enforced them, new voices began to emerge in the arts,” Now music is becoming more powerful than ever,” (middleeastvoices.voanews.com). Since 2011, Arab Spring protest music has played a major role in the uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya.

Egypt

Ramy Essam is a pivotal musician and leader for Egypt’s uprising. “Mr. Essam, a 24-year-old former architecture student, had spent more than six years trying to break into the music business without success. Influenced by his brother Shady, a fervent activist, he began writing political songs critical of the regime three years before the revolution, despite the lack of venues that would play the music,” (nytimes.com). Ramy’s music was too controversial for the mainstream media in Egypt: he was flat-out denied success because of his anti-Mubarak message. This changed after the protests during 2011 at Tahrir Square. Persuaded by his brother, Esaam packed up his guitar and joined the demonstration. Surely enough, his song titled, “Irhal” (Leave) became an anthem for the protestors in the square, and eventually it peaked in popularity through Youtube. “’People were saying the same things over and over, and it got old,’ Mr. Essam said. ‘I thought if it were in music it would be better,’”(nytimes.com). A major part of Essam’s success came from the fact that he was a protestor himself. He did not show up and perform and then leave, however, he stayed with all the other Egpytians in solidarity. He was whipped and beaten by Mubarak’s thugs just like everyone else, and this brought him much respect. After over half a month of protest in Tahrir Square, Mubarak stepped down on February 11, 2011. The crowd rejoiced and Essam played a passionate version of “Irhal”.

Not soon after, protests resumed in the square because the citizens of Egypt felt that Mubarak’s departure was not enough. Ramy once again joined in the movement, only this time he was targeted by the anti-revolution forces. They had noticed what a symbol he had become and he was captured, tortured, and imprisoned by the Egyptian military. This event did not discourage him. He took the beatings and channeled it into a new song: "Hit Me", a song that boasted about the pain he endured making him stronger. Essam is now seeing popularity all over the world and plans to tour in the US in the near future. His undeniable spirit and bravery helped to boost morale among protesting Egyptians, and he will remain a dynamic force behind the Egyptian revolution: “The closest weapon we have in our hands now is art — songs, movies, documentaries, independent shows on YouTube, graffiti — we have to use them to spread the message,” (al-monitor.com).

Ramy Essam was not the only musician to help the revolution in Egypt. The hip-hop group Arabian Knightz also performed protest music during the demonstrations, and remain popular today. Arabian Knightz consists of three members: Rush, Sphinx, and E Money. They formed in the early 2000’s and have wanted to change the hip-hop world in the Middle East since their inception: “We make music to try and represent our thoughts and ourselves. We feel Arabs and Muslims in general are often misunderstood by the western media and are also often misrepresented by ignorant people who seem to speak for us and don’t know anything about Islam or about our identity. The western media chases behind these people and focuses on them only because they seem to want everything related to us to be negative,” (soundsoffreedom.in). Once the revolution began, more people started to listen. Their Arab pride and calls for reform connected with the Egyptian protestors and they enjoyed a popularity surge. A great moment in the success of Arabian Knightz came during a concert in Jordan: The anti-revolution government shut down their concert because of its revolutionary tone, however, the group quickly relocated in a neighboring area and the fans followed. Another crowning moment of achievement came during a performance in Egypt. During the chorus of their revolt anthem, "Prisoner", the crowd exclaimed the entire chorus along with the artists: “When I (Rush) performed our revolt anthem “Prisoner” in Tahreer and people who were in front of the stage knew the song and sang it word for word to the point I didn’t have to do the chorus chant on the mic at all- I had to work so hard on not tearing up on stage it was so emotional and empowering,” (soundsoffreedom.in). The viral spread of popularity for Arabian Knightz strongly reinforces the ties between the Arab Spring and music.

Tunisia

           

Tunisian’s also had a musician to rally behind during their uprising: Emel Mathlouthi. She dedicated her songs to Mohammed Bouazizi, the self-immolating revolutionary that sparked the Tunisian Spring. A lyric from her song, “My World is Free”: "We are free men who are not afraid. We are the secrets that never die. And we are the voice of those who resist," (kqed.org). Similar to other revolutionary artists, her music remained underground before the start of the Arab Spring, but through social media and a widespread awakening of the Arab world, Mathlouthi began to reach the masses. Mathlouthi had been hoping her songs would inspire Tunisians to call for reform ever since she began writing them, and in 2011 her dreams were finally met. The Tunisian singer realizes how powerful music can be and reinforces the idea of its ties to revolution: "It's a very powerful art form. With the cinema, you have to plan that you are going to see a movie or you have to be in front of a TV. With music, you can be on the street. You can hear it on the radio in your home. People need music. It helps them in their daily life. It can give you energy,” (kqed.org).

            Another Tunisian artist with a revolutionary voice is Hamada Ben Amor, or El General. Ben Amor is a rapper who has helped give Tunisia a collective voice throughout their revolution. He began writing protest raps in 2008 and his first song was Malesh: “It was a big question about why we were in a situation of corruption, thieves and violence," (time.com). Like other artists he was kept underground and hidden by the media and overpowering regimes in Tunisia, and when the revolution sparked, he achieved much praise and popularity. As seen before, Ben Amor used Facebook and Youtube to spread his music because of the heavy censorship issues he faced. He talks about the injustice he saw all around him in Tunisia while he growing up, and it lit a flame inside of him; he wanted his voice and message to be heard. Eventually his song “Rais Lebled” became the Tunisian revolutionary anthem. Like other protest songs it was memorized and chanted during Tunisian protests. Once the government got wind of his popularity, his house was raided and he was held in prison and interrogated by anti-revolutionary forces. They were convinced that someone powerful was behind Ben Amor; that he stood for a political party. This outraged Tunisians and they fervently called for his release. The police complied with his release; however, they begged him to stop making political music. Staying true to himself, the first thing Ben Amor did when he was safely home was create another anthemic song; he had become an impassioned voice behind a revolution.

Libya

            Libya is another country who has been impacted by revolutionary music; specifically the music of Ibn Thabit. The Libyan rapper uses this pseudonym and remains anonymous because of the tensions in Libya, but this has not stopped him from connecting with his Libyan counterparts. He has not made headlines as much as other artists of the Arab Spring, mainly because of his anonymity, but his songs have become centerpieces for revolutionary ideas. In his 2008 song, “Moammar- The Coward”, he directly attacks the dictator. It was actually taken down from Youtube by Gaddafi and his goons because of its harsh words about the hated dictator. Ibn Thabit, like others, was able to harness the power of the Internet in order to spread his revolutionary verses, and he constantly receives praise on his Facebook page: “One fan on Facebook wrote, ‘Keep it up Ibn Thabit. Your songs are fuel that energizes us and keeps us going, and reminders that we are on the right side of history,’ (cnn.com). Although Ibn Thabit’s identity is not known, he has been a driving force in the Libyan revolution because of his powerful music.

            Impact

Three of the biggest revolutions during the Arab Spring have taken place in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. They have all had a common theme of music running through their revolutions. The power of music is so evident in these countries; it helps to convey just how powerful this art form can be. These artists have even started to see mainstream success outside of their home countries. Their music will continue to inspire and ignite.

            Arab Spring and music have had a great relationship. It has brought a lot of people together and moved them to strive for peace and equality. The wise words from the minds of Ramy Essam, Ibn Thabit, and others alike have been engraved in the minds of Arab Spring supporters, and their lyrics can be heard in the streets of revolting countries. Even though oppressive governments tried to bury the music of these revolutionaries, social media and the Internet helped greatly to spread their messages of hope and growth. “Intriguingly, the events of the “Arab Spring” have not only allowed for the long-repressed voices of the many to reverberate across the MENA region and around the world, but they have also fostered an opportunity for the Arab diaspora(s), separated by geography and at times ideologically different, to speak as one voice on behalf of their brethren across the world and about themselves as Arab and Western supporters of democratic regime change,” (arabmediasociety.com). Just as the songs of Bob Dylan and other US protest musicians helped cultivate a collective message against the Vietnam War, music has been used to feed the flames of the Arab Spring.

References

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/world/middleeast/out-of-protest-an-anthem-for-egypts-revolution.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

http://www.arabmediasociety.com/?article=777

http://middleeastvoices.voanews.com/2012/01/five-political-arab-spring-music-bands-you-need-to-watch/

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/01/tahrir-movie-egypt-ramy-singer.html#

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/15/134538629/ramy-esam-the-singer-of-the-egyptian-revolution

http://soundsoffreedom.in/rapping-about-change-arabian-knightz-and-the-egyptian-hip-hop-movement/

http://www.kqed.org/arts/music/article.jsp?essid=93432

http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2049456,00.html

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-582738?ref=feeds%2Flatest

http://www.iranreview.org/file/cms/files/arab-spring(2).jpg

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/57364000/jpg/_57364055_jex_1266485_de27-1.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1S4514U5D4

http://www.turkishweekly.net/resim.asp?path=dQBQmV2NVduET34Y4l4Cte9pcYCg82.jpg&width=366

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/01/04/emel-0619518062b6878ea9b369e53a57c01180cca54e-s6-c30.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=schIdC3LdLk

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqEkfIH1uqE2_wC5_1NsqvShp_Ff8r7fvncQpY29nQXMWnPozLJ6RxIC3sL50tGPDX5RBhA6hwybr5Iqq9igMQ2l0GNzpTdZ2gS9wmlizZXFH_Se6RE_LLkacpm0GNwRKRSuKViGLDLec/s1600/Egypt+singer.jpeg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rEKmTBKiBM

Click, Save & Continue

Since 2011 social media has been directly associated with various uprisings and revolutions. The Arab spring spawned a series of revolutionary movements that are unique in that they utilized social media as an effective means of spreading information and promoting insurgent agendas. The Arab spring uprisings are the first collective movements of their kind in the Middle East. The factors of social media affecting public opinion and international support in Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt, are increasingly rapid news alerts, widespread messaging, and the ability of the individual to spread information globally are a new phenomena during a given revolution. On the other hand regimes can implement social media to meet their own agendas in never before seen ways. The future of revolutionary movements in globalized societies will involve social media is assured, the degree to which can only be determined as it happens.


 In Libya, while the revolution was ultimately successful in ousting Muammar Gaddafi, social media played a smaller role in comparison to the rest of the Countries involved in an Arab Spring movement. Libya’s government maintained a strong grasp of the Internet infrastructure, and Gaddafi as an egomaniacal autocrat responded only to insurgent militia, once NATO aided them. “According to twitter there are plenty of serious things going on. The site is ablaze with tweets reporting that Libya’s day of rage has resulted in anarchy. #Qaddafi is at war with #Libya as we speak, helicopters, troops, thugs, security and foreign mercenaries all against unarmed protestors” (McHugh). There were also reports of injured and murdered protestors at the hands of Libyan security forces. Some reports said the death toll had risen to 19, while the Middle East and northern Africa are rife with protests in the wake of Egypt’s revolution. In Libya public dissent is a rare among the people. Plans for protests were being circulated by anonymous activists on social networking sites such as facebook and twitter (day of rage, Al-jazeera), one facebook group urged a “day of anger” in Libya which had 4400 members, two days later the presence of the group more than double to 9600 members. Social media cites were reportedly blocked for several hours and were then restored later on the same day. Al Jazeera is understood to have been taken off the state owned television network, but is still available through satellite. People posting messages on an opposition website called “libya-watanona.com” based outside Libya urged the people to protest (day of rage, Al-Jazeera). “From every square in our beloved country, people should all come together in one city and one square to make this regime and its supporters afraid, and force them to run away because they are cowards” said a post on that particular website. Also calling for reforms were some of Libya’s well off individuals. A group of prominent figures and members of human rights organizations have demanded the resignation of Gadaffi. The demands came in a statement signed by 213 prominent Libyans from different segments of society, including political activists, lawyers, students, and government officials (a day of rage, Al-Jazeera).

 Tunisia was the first domino where the underlying source of the uprising lay inside government corruption, inequality, censorship, and joblessness. The Tunisian protests began in 2010 with a college educated street vendor (Mohamed Bouazizi) self-immolation in the costal town of Sidi Bouzid in despair of corruption and joblessness. The burn inevitably killed Mohamed, although despite Tunisians strict web censorship laws was rapidly fanned by online Internet tools (social capital). “Because the protests came together largely through informal online Networks, their success has also raised questions about whether a new opposition movement has formed that could challenge whatever new government takes shape” (social capital). “Prime minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, a close ally from the president’s hometown, announced on state television that he was taking power as interim president. But that step forward violated the Tunisian constitution, which provides for a succession by the head of parliament, something that Ghannouchi tried to gloss over by describing that Ben Ali as temporarily unable to serve.” (social capital) “By late Friday night January 7th, 2011, Tunisian facebook pages previously emblazoned with the revolts slogan, “Ben Ali Out”, had made way for the name of the interim president. “Ghannouchi Out”, they declared… And the protesters relied heavily on social media web sites like Facebook and Twitter to circulate videos of each demonstration and issue calls for the next one.” (social capital) The fall of President Ben Ali marked the first time that widespread street demonstrations had overthrown an Arab Leader. “ Even before the last clouds of tear gas had drifted away from the capitals café lined Bourguiba Boulevard, people throughout the Arab world had begun debating whether Tunisia’s uprising could prove to be a model, threatening other autocratic rulers in the region” (NY Times, Kirkpatrick). A 33 year old doctor Zied Mhirsi protesting outside the interior ministry carried a sign highlighting how he believed Tunisia’s protests could embolden the swelling numbers of young people around the Arab world to emulate the so called Jasmine Revolution, (Kirkpatrick, NY times). The United States had counted Tunisia under Ben Ali as an important ally in battling terrorism. Although after the revolution had gotten underway and ousted Ben Ali Barrack Obama came out with a statement that he “applauded the courage and dignity of the Tunisian people”(Kirkpatrick, NY Times) “The United states with the entire international community is bearing witness to this brave and determined struggle for universal rights, we will long remember the images of the Tunisian people seeking to make their voices heard” (Barack Obama, Kirkpatrick, NY Times).

 Following the Tunisian revolution, protests continued to spread across the Arab world into Egypt. On January 25,2011 where opposition leaders declared it a “Day of Rage” on which protestors would take to the street against President Hosni Mubarak’s 30 year rule. The Egyptian protestors included but not limited too, secularists, Islamists and communists/ultra-left wingers making up a who’s who of Egyptian opposition (Social capital). Exact numbers of protestors could not be estimated, a flood of Internet photos and videos showed a massive presence in Cairo, Alexandria, and other Egyptian cities. The protests lasted eighteen days and Internet savvy protestors used Twitpic, facebook, and YouTube to disseminate photos and videos and called on Egyptians to protest, providing minute-by-minute tweets concerning where to assemble in an effort to outwit the police forces (Social Capital, NY times, Fahim, El-Naggar). The Egyptian government originally engaged in episodic censorship. One video posted on YouTube and the Shared via facebook claimed to show Egyptian riot police being assaulted and seriously injured by protestors. However, the video was taken offline for a terms of service violation. There were also reports that during the protests of January 25th and 26th people had trouble accessing facebook and twitter, which were the main sites that helped groups organize and spread news of current situations. (Social Captial, NY times, Fahim, El-Naggar).
 The Internet crackdown began on January 28th when the government, amidst large-scale demonstrations moved to fully restrict the Internet and cellular forms of mobilizing demonstrators. “Internet and cell phone connections had been disrupted or even restricted in Cairo, Alexandria and other places that had been used to organize protests and complicating efforts by news media to report about various events happening on the ground. Some reports even said that police who used batons to beat and charge protestors had singled out journalists. Mubarak’s unsubtle crackdown on internet and cell phones not only imposed great cost on the economy, but had the ironic consequence of actually radicalizing many rural Egyptians into opposing the Mubarak regime. President Hosni Mubarak betrayed his own fear that Facebook, twitter, laptops and Smartphone could empower his opponents. There was reason for Mubarak to be shaken up since his weaknesses were exposed by these technologies. On February 10th amidst protests, vice president Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had given up his power. This meant that for the first time ever Egyptians would be able to vote meaningfully. More recently from mid 2013 to the present Egypt is still very unstable politically. Egypt’s second revolution has ousted Muhammad Morsi. There are various assertions that Morsi is correlating the military to put down protest, even after he’s agreed to step down. There is evidence that facebook was used much more prominently in the second revolution than the first (Shane, Push comes to shove).
Due to continuous current events trying to draw a conclusion can be somewhat of a daunting task since news is always changing. But based on the steady use of social media from the being of the Arab spring in 2010 goes to show that social media is a portal for networking and being social along with political. These political attributes to social media allow the people to organize for the people and by the people. With that said along with the influence of western cultures younger generations can see that they have the power to provide better lives for themselves and generations to follow. "Arab Spring and Social Media." YouTube. YouTube, 04 Feb. 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. "CNN at SXSW: Social Media in Arab Spring." YouTube. YouTube, 12 Mar. 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. "'Day of Rage' Kicks off in Libya - Africa - Al Jazeera English." Al Jazeera English. N.p., 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. Fahim, Kareem, and Mona El-naggar. "Across Egypt, Protests Direct Fury at Leader." The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Jan. 2011. Web. 07 Apr. 2014. "Front Lines of the Libyan Revolution (Documentary)." YouTube. Vice, 27 July 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. Jamshidi, Maryam. "The Future of the Arab Spring Video." YouTube. YouTube, 26 Dec. 2013. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. Kirkpatrick, David. "President of Tunisia Flees, Capitulating to Protesters." The New York Times. The New York Times, 14 Jan. 2011. Web. 07 Apr. 2014. McHugh, Molly. "Libya Inspired by Egyptian Revolution, Uses Social Media in Midst of Protests." Digital Trends. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. Shane, Scott. "PUSH COMES TO SHOVE: Technology Helps Ignite Change (as in Tunisia). Except When It Bolsters Oppression (as in Iran)." The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 Jan. 2011. Web. 07 Apr. 2014. "Trial of Ex Tunisian President Ben Ali: Opening Day." YouTube. YouTube, 22 June 2011. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. "Twitter, Facebook and YouTube’s Role in Arab Spring (Middle East Uprisings) [UPDATED 7/7/13]." Social Capital Blog. Social Capital, 26 Jan. 2011. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.