1. The Arab Spring began in December 2010 in Tunisia as a result of high unemployment, poverty, and political repression under authoritarian regimes. 2. Inspired by protests in Tunisia, protests erupted throughout the Arab world calling for democratic reforms and the end of dictatorial rule. 3. Social media played a key role in facilitating organization and spreading awareness of the protests internationally. Pages like "We are All Khaled Said" helped coordinate the Egyptian uprising. 4. While some countries underwent democratic transitions, others like Syria descended into civil war as regimes cracked down on dissent. Over a decade later, the impacts of the Arab Spring continue to reshape the region.

1. Journalism & Public Opinion
ARAB SPRING
(UNIT 6)
TYBAMMC

2. Introduction
Arab Spring is referred to the pro-
democracy revolutionary wave
(protests, demonstrations, civil wars)
that began in December 2010 in the
Arab countries (largely Muslim
countries). The initial wave of this
protest generated from Tunisia. From
Tunisia it spread slowly throughout the
countries of the Arab League. It
enveloped several countries like
Morocco, Syria, Libya, Egypt and
Bahrain. Later the demonstration also
took place in the countries like Yemen,
Iraq, Algeria, Iran's Khuzestan, Lebanon,
Jordan, Oman, Sudan, and Kuwait. The
common slogan of the protesters
throughout Arab Spring was “the
people want to bring down the regime.”

3. The Causes of the Arab Spring
It was against the long term dictatorial rules of the authoritarian rulers,
continuous state of emergency in which people had no free speech and
assembly, increased police corruption and brutality, unemployment,
poverty, inflation, low minimum wages etc.

4. The Immediate cause: Self-immolation of
Mohamed Bouazizi
The death of Mohamed Bouazizi provided a sudden
impetus for the people of many Arab countries to
revolt against their dictatorial rulers. Mohamed
Bouazizi, a Tunisian fruit and vegetable vendor, was
26 years old. On December 17, 2010, after his goods
were taken away and he was humiliated by a female
municipal officer because he didn't have a hawking
permit he set himself on fire outside the local
municipal building. His suicide became a catalyst for
the Tunisian Revolution and the widespread Arab
Spring. Protests and riots erupted in response to the
region's ongoing problems of jobs and
unemployment in the town, which has an
agriculture-based economy. Social media platforms,
particularly Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, fueled
the protests.

6. Middle East Media Landscapes
Syria
Tunisia Egypt Libya

7. TUNISIA

8. THE JASMINE REVOLUTION IN TUNISIA
• The self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, sparked the first protests in central Tunisia in
December 2010.
• A protest movement known as the "Jasmine Revolution" quickly spread across the
country. Tunisia's government tried to put an end to the unrest by using violence against
street protests and making political and economic concessions.
• However, the country's security forces were quickly overwhelmed by protests, forcing
President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to resign and flee the country on January 14, 2011.
• Tunisians voted in a free election in October 2011 to elect members of a council tasked
with drafting a new constitution.
• In December 2011, a democratically elected president and prime minister took office,
and in January 2014, a new constitution was promulgated.
• Tunisia became the first country affected by the Arab Spring protests to have a peaceful
transfer of power from one democratically elected government to another in October–
November 2019.

9. EGYPT

10. EGYPT'S JANUARY 25 REVOLUTION (CAIRO'S TAHRIR SQUARE PROTEST)
•Following the overthrow of Ben Ali in Tunisia, similar protests were quickly organised among young
Egyptians via social media, drawing large crowds across Egypt on 25th January 2011.
•The Egyptian government also attempted to quell protests by making concessions while repressing
demonstrators violently.
•The military refused to obey President Hosin Mubarak after several days of protest.
•After losing the military's support, Hosin Mubarak stepped down on February 11 after nearly 30 years
in power, handing over power to a council of senior military officers.
•As time passed since Mr. Mubarak's departure, dissatisfaction grew with the pace of change and the
refusal of the military to give a firm date for presidential elections.
•Violence in late 2011 prompted a statement from Egypt's military leader, Field Marshal Mohamed
Hussein Tantawi, in which he promised presidential elections by the end of June 2012.
•Mohamed Moris of the Muslim Brotherhood got elected as the president in 2012 after which the new
parliamentary assembly met for the first time after elections in January of 2012.
•Protests and clashes between the military and Egyptian protestors over a new constitution,
presidential elections, and military oversight have continued to plague Egypt.

11. The incident which helped Arab Spring to reach Egypt
In June 2010, a young Alexandrian businessman was dragged from a café and beaten to
death in the street by police for posting a video on the Internet exposing police
corruption, which became the catalyst for the Arab Spring's spread from Tunisia to
Egypt. The video of the police brutality was posted on YouTube. The video showed a
group of Egyptian cops allegedly sharing drugs seized during a drug deal. The Facebook
page was named after the murdered young man, whose brutalised and deformed face
became the face of the revolution's call for liberty, justice, and dignity.

12. Facebook & The Egypt's January 25 Revolution
"We Are All Khaled Said“
Shortly after the death of Khaled Said (a young Alexandrian businessman) a facebook page
was created.
This Revolutionary Facebook Page promoted the January 25th Egyptian Revolution, Arab
Spring.
The page was specifically created in order to demonstrate the protest against the police
brutality which caused the death of a 28-year-old Egyptian citizen. The page also exhibited
through its posts the protest against the government financial corruption. The page later
became an epicenter of activity during the anti-Mubarak protests.
This Facebook page was first created in the Arabic language but later, a protest supporter
also created the English version of this page with the same name "We Are All Khaled
Said."

13. ARAB SPRING
# Egypt

14. Arabic version
The Arabic page assisted protesters in organising and increasing the size of the
protest. It aided in the organisation of protests and the coordination of protesters'
actions within Egypt. Its posts primarily address the needs of local protestors in terms
of protest information such as the location, timing, agenda, strategy, and demands.
English version
A sister page in English, titled 'We Are All Khaled Said,' was launched around the
same time as the Arabic-language page and was also managed by an anonymous
administrator. Unlike its Arabic counterpart, the English-language site was focused on
raising international awareness of human rights violations and events in Egypt rather
than organising protests or coordinating protesters' actions within Egypt. However, it
did provide links and information about such events and activities, which served the
dual purpose of supporting its Arabic sister page and informing the international
community about such events and activities.

15. The photo posted on the facebook page “We are all Khaled Said ” with the comparison and
contrast with Khaled’s photo prior to the vicious beating that caused his death and a photo
that shows a healthy, young, handsome, clean-shaven and pleasantly smiling middle-class man
amplified the protest after it became viral on the social media.

16. The social media posts made it much easier for many middle-class people to identify with
him, including the young activists who drove the revolution: 'They felt that if this could
happen to him, it could happen to me too.' This process of "self-identification" with this
victim, combined with the widespread distribution of these pre- and post-beating photos
that went viral on the Internet, infuriated and outraged people to the point where they
decided to take action against this brutality.

17. LIBYA

18. LIBYA
•Libya's uprising began in mid-February inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.
•Inspired by the government transformation in Tunisia & Egypt hundreds of people came out
onto the streets of several towns and cities of Libya demanding the end of Gaddafi's rule.
•Colonel Gaddafi ruled Libya for 40 years. When rebels took the capital of Tripoli in August of
2011 Gaddafi was forced out from the power.
•He and his family fearing their life went on the run. But after an 8 month civil war and with
NATO’s help, Gaddafi was captured and killed on 31th October on the outskirts of Sirte.
•The National Transitional Council (NTC) which led the revolt is now recognized by the UN as
Libya’s legitimate ruling body.
•A Transitional National Council established by rebel forces and recognised internationally,
seized power, but it struggled to exert authority over the country, resulting in civil war in
2014.

22. SYRIA

24. •The wave of popular unrest sweeping the Arab
world came late to Syria.
•The protests calling for President Bashar al-Assad's
resignation erupted in southern Syria in mid-March
2011 and quickly spread across the country.
•The Assad government retaliated by launching a
brutal crackdown on protesters drawing
condemnation from world leaders and human
rights organisations.
•In response Syrian government claimed that the
protestors are ‘terrorists and armed gangs’ which
are threat for Syria and hence needs to be
controlled.

25. •In February Government steps up and stated
the bombardment on the cities like Homs and
Deraa the cities in which protest was
intensifying.
•Later in June Army tanks enters the cities
where protest was happening with an aim to
crush the spirit of anti- government protests.
•With this the survivals started moving out
from the Syria and refugees start to pour over
border like Turkey, Lebanon & Jordan.
•An estimated 4.5 million refugees have fled
the country. This has made the Syrian people
the largest refugee population in the world.

28. Role of media In
Arab Spring

29. The media's role in this movement has been very significant. It not only listened to
dissenting voices on the ground but also provided a platform for those who wanted to
express their grievances to others through the media. In addition to disseminating
protest information from protesting countries to the rest of the world the media also
enabled the people from other parts of the world to share their perspectives and
reactions to the Arab Spring.
International news outlets extensively covered the Arab Spring. Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabia
were important television channels that were in charge of both spreading information
among insurgents and broadcasting news around the world. The Arab Spring was
dubbed a "social network revolution" by the media. Al Jazeera provided 24-hour
coverage of the movement.

30. 1. The Arab Spring of 2011 was hailed as the ‘internet revolution’ due to the prominent role of social
media and the prominent rise of citizen journalism.
2. Social media played a major role in the diffusion of Arab Spring.
3. The protesters showed enormous creativity in their slogans and posters, creating new street art and
music which got widely shared on the social media and helped in gaining solidarity with the global public.
4. The protest message being circulated on social medias also aided protestors in keeping the
momentum of the movement going.
“This revolution will be tweeted”– The role of Social Media in Arab Spring

31. “This revolution will be tweeted.”
5. The social media post also provided the visibility to the protest as the protest
videos and photos shared on the social media platforms were witnessed by the
people across the globe.
6. Social media was also widely used for communicating the protest related message
to the protestors like for updating them about the place and time of the multiple
demonstration events being held in parts of the city.
7. Social Media also helped them in recruiting new members to the protest group.
Thus besides facilitating the communication social media also helped them in
mobilizing process.
8. It also helped the like minded people to come together and have their
participation in the movement on various fronts. As many people started creating
Facebook pages, sms texts, emails and blogs to communicate information about
the local protests.

33. Social media’s prevalence as a driving force behind the protests did not go
unnoticed by the various governments, and on January 28, 2011, Egyptian President
Mubarak shut down the cellphone and media networks across Egypt. It only succeeded
in increasing protesters’ face-to-face communication and pushed more apolitical
Egyptians who had previously been unaffected by the protests to become involved.
Before the outbreak of the movement and riots, the Gaddafi government in
Libya also disconnected the telephonic communications of the protest area. Despite
this government action, mass media managed to play a massive role in spreading the
revolutions.
Thus, having seen how a direct and deliberate strike on an entire nation’s
speech and media capabilities will only encourage more protests, the governments of
other countries like Syria, Yemen and Tunisia did not attempt a similar approach.
Instead, over the last several years, these governments have used a variety of
legislation, censorship, bans, and punitive measures to limit the role of media in such
movements.

34. Legislation & censorship
measures taken by the
governments in Arab
Countries to limit the
role of media in
movements.

36. Remember
•Social media was not the main instigator of the Arab revolution
that swept across Tunisia, Egypt, Libya & Syria. It only encouraged
conversation about the political issues that mattered in these
countries.
• Socioeconomic discontent and political dissent were the true
reason why the public in these countries took to the streets.
•However, social media’s role cannot be devalued. It created an
alternative press and facilitated communication between different
political actors, which then joined forces. Further, it helped activists
in getting together and provided a new, handy means of
organization.
•This is the reason why TIME’s person of the year 2011 was not
Zuckerberg or Larry Page. The award was given to ‘the Protester’ –
a tribute to all those who fought and died in hope for a more
democratized world.

37. Watch list
Watch List # 1
The Arab Spring: A social media revolution?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgiWT9wO-ic
Watch List # 2
Facebook and the Arab Spring | The Facebook Dilemma
https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/fln36fd-soc-arabspring/facebook-
and-the-arab-spring-the-facebook-dilemma/
Reading List
THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE ARAB SPRING
By: Sabiha Gire
https://sites.stedwards.edu/pangaea/the-role-of-social-media-in-the-arab-spring/