The Arab Spring began in December 2010 in Tunisia and spread to other Arab countries. Citizens protested against issues like dictatorship, corruption, unemployment, and poverty. The use of social media helped organize and spread information about the protests. Several governments were overthrown due to the large-scale demonstrations. The Arab Spring demonstrations highlight desires for greater political freedom, human rights, and economic opportunity across the Arab world.

2.  The Arab Spring is a revolutionary wave of
demonstrations and protests occurring in the
Arab world that began on December 18, 2010
 They have protested in Algeria, Iraq, Jordan,
Morocco, and Oman, Kuwait, Lebanon,
Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Western
Sahara

3.  The Arab Spring is known by many names
here are some of them:
- The Arab Spring and Winter
- Arab Awakening
-Arab Uprising

4.  Not all participants are Arab
 First protest was held in Tunisia on December
18, 2010, which ultimately led to the ouster
of Ben Ali.
 As of November 2011 Three governments
have been over thrown

6.  Dictatorship
 Absolute monarchy
 Human rights
violations
 Government
corruption
 economic decline
 Unemployment
 extreme poverty
 Education Factors
 Famine

7.  These are some of the actions that take place
after the protests:
 Living standards
 Literacy rates
 Increased availability of higher education
 Human development index
 Better understanding between government
and the people

8.  It is unknown as to who was the person who
started the Arab Spring
◦ However, Al-Najma Zidjaly, a professor of Oman
thinks that a large contribution is made by the new
“Internet-savvy youth” young people that want to
see a change in their countries in the forms of more
opportunities for education as well as a change in
the overall state of conditions. He refers to this as
youth quake.

9.  The key countries affected by the spread of
protests include Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria,
and Yemen.
 Overall the use of the social media helped aid
in the spread of the news of the protests as
well as ways to inspire others from all over
the world to join in virtually through the
media if they were unable to in real life.

10.  Government had a low tolerance level for the
protesters in Tunisia.
 Sites like Twitter and Facebook helped
support and organize these protests.
 The younger generation are more internet
literate and for that alone, they have the
upper hand.

11.  The Tunisian government has done whatever
they could to block these sites to the public.
 The government blocks sites through the use
of malicious malware to steal private
usernames and passwords of the users of
these sites.
 The protesters have been quick to mock the
government's efforts to stifle them -- with
slogans like "Free From 404" [internet
language for 'file not found']

12.  The use of social media in Egypt, greatly
aided in the acceleration of the protests
before they were blocked.
 If it wasn’t for the social media, a lot less
would be aware of the events going on or
have enough courage to participate.

13.  The narrative of a situation has a great effect on
inspiring our thoughts and decisions.
 For example there were instances of making the
protesters seem horrible, so that the police have
an excuse to clamp down on them.
 a New York-based Egyptian blogger interviewed
by CNN, suggested as much. She “appealed to
the media to not fall for what she described as a
Mubarak regime plot to make the protests in
Egypt seem like dangerous anarchy.”
 The narrative was reset. Soon thereafter, CNN
changed its on-screen headlines from “CHAOS IN
EGYPT” to “UPRISING IN EGYPT.”

14.  In Libya, Al-Jamahiriya, the Libyan state-
owned television channel, was broadcasting
nonstop patriotic songs, poetry recitations
and rowdy rallies supporting Libyan
leader, Col. El-Gaddafi.
 However, despite Gaddafi’s attempts to
influence the public opinion to support his
rule, his powers only went downhill as he lost
control of Tripoli.

15.  During the Battle of Tripoli, Gaddafi
continued to broadcast through the radio to
help inspire his supporters to crush the
rebels.
 With the help of airstrikes by both the US and
the French, Gaddafi was eventually tracked
down in his hometown of Sirte.
 Videos and pictures of Gaddafi’s capture and
death showed grim and what seemed of him
being shot multiple times and abused up till
his death.

16.  Syrian government has been doing what they
could to crack down on the use of social media
 Supporters of President Bashar al-Assad, calling
themselves the Syrian Electronic Army.
 In contrast to the Mubarak government in Egypt,
which tried to quash dissent by shutting down
the country’s entire Internet, the Syrian
government is taking a more strategic approach,
turning off electricity and telephone service in
neighborhoods with the most unrest, activists
say.

17.  “They are using these tactics to cut off
communication for the people,” said Dr.
Radwan Ziadeh director of the Damascus
Center for Human Rights Studies.
 This instance has shown how the use of
social media hasn’t only helped spread and
organize these protests, but it has also
helped government monitor activities and
stop them in their path. It brings about risks
to its dissidents as well.

18.  Leader Saleh has brought a lot of corruption
to Yemen
 With the lack of democratic reform and the
abuse of human rights.
 The protests became so chaotic, it led to an
attempted assasination where Saleh was
injured by the shrapnel resulting from an RPG
attack.

19.  When Saleh returned to his place, many were
angered.
 The news of his return spread through social
media like wild fire.
 Due to the increased turmoil and increase in
violence, Saleh said on October 8, 2011, in
comments broadcast on Yemeni state television,
that he would step down "in the coming days".
The opposition expressed skepticism, however,
and a government minister said Saleh meant that
he would leave power under the framework of a
Gulf Cooperation Council initiative to transition
toward democracy.