Vote for Mohamed Bouazizi

I would generally say that voting in The 2011 TIME 100 Poll is an utter waste of time, crude pun intended. But there is one especially deserving of recognition.

Caption Contest: Disappearing Dictators

“AYO BROS, the next decade’s gonna be killer, nawmean? Word, smile for the cam, Muby.” “Who knew the next reunion would be in Jeddah?” “It was all giggles then.” “Everybody say jibneh!”             …

Repression 2.0

Authoritarian Repression in the Age of e-Dissidence Traditionally, Arab regimes have used a large repertoire of repressive means ranging from massive torture (as it was the case pre-occupation Irak, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, and to a lesser extent Morocco and Jordan), to the complete control of the press, the banning of the opposition, the diffusion of [...]

Dictator March Madness

Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks, and now on MSNBC, breaks it down for us – March Madness style.

Al Jazeera English’s Future in the United States

The Arab Media & Society Journal recently published a study conducted by William Youmans and Katie Brown, which surveys the perception of Al Jazeera English amongst the American audiences.They found that that “[despite]  filling a gap in the global market for televised international news, AJE did not receive a welcome reception in the United States” [...]

Why Arab Governments Fail to Contain?

The level of oppression and the extreme absence of freedom of expression in the Arab World should not be viewed as a sign of backwardness, but in fact as a sign of strong will and desire to be free.

The Rapper of the Tunisian Revoltuions

Tunisia seems like a nice quite country with not much action of any type, but the past few weeks tell us that inaccurate. In the past few weeks more than tens people have lost their lives protesting the high unemployment in their country. That was brutal of the police, the army and their intelligence. Now the President is out running of his life and a new government is in the making.

Tunisia, the Lonely Domino

The dominoes have started to fall…. but not in the way that many had hoped.

While a number of individuals have made the tragic decision to follow in Mohammad Bouazizi’s footsteps, their compatriots have largely failed to follow through and make their voices heard. Meanwhile the revolution rumbles on in Tunisia.

Tunis … and the Looming Darkness

Unfortunately for Tunisia, the revolution is being suppressed as I write these words, by one of the most intelligent decoys ever conceived.

The dethroning of Ben Ali is intended to be, or so it seems, the revolution extinguisher. It is supposed to be advertised as the revolution’s climax, the checkmate, where people can finally go back to their homes, celebrating victory.

Tunisia and American social media

Almost a year ago, I started a post about revolutionary regime change in the Arab world writing, “The domino effect starts with the largest and one of the most politically corrupt nations in this culturally geographically designated (Arab) “world.” Prescient? Only if I wasn’t talking about Egypt. Tunisian unrest over unemployment, economic disparity and autocratic corruption (is there any other kind?) was far from my mind, and many others unfamiliar with the former French colony’s struggles with 23 year-ruling president Ben Ali. But yesterday, Tunisia and the people of Tunisia appeared to be on the minds and status updates of many who also commemorated the day’s historic popular uprising by switching their profile picture to the flag of Tunisia. Below are some that appeared on my newsfeed. I start out with my favorite of the round-up:

“Can someone please do that again, except in Egypt?”
-Haroon Moghul