The recent Arab Spring

1 The recent Arab Spring was largely a result of thousands of young people accessing social media by cell phone. Messages regarding where to meet to protest or information on what areas to avoid were instantly available through digital media. The first time this effective tool was used was in 2009 in Iran. Unfortunately unsuccessful, due to a crackdown by the Iranian government, it resurfaced in Egypt in 2011.

This digital tool has been a boon for revolutions. Since the Vietnam War in the 1960s when the first videos came to the west showing the carnage of war, digital media has become a truth bearing instrument. Through the succeeding decades the tools have improved and information, including pictures, are now instantly received across the world. It is hard to refute what you can see with your own eyes.

The cell phone began as a replacement for the land line. It has since developed into more than just a simple communication device to “call home ET”. It is now the perfect hand held device to exchange information from person to person quickly throughout the world. Victims in Egypt, Libya, and now Syria, where journalists cannot go, are sending their videos to news outlets to show the world what is happening in their country.

People have now seen the truth about Mubarak’s atrocities, Gaddafi’s wealth and his end, and Syrian troops committing massacres. No longer can news agencies twist the facts or governments deny their involvement in violence.