The Arab Spring officially began on the 18th of December, 2010 in Tunisia with the Burning Man. It references all demonstrations, protests and revolutions in Northern Africa and the Middle East (Map).What isn’t shown is that many countries had been dealing with oppression and injustice for many years before all this international attention. Most of the countries have been under a group of dictators for many years, waiting for a chance to free themselves. Social media however, created a platform for both communication between participants and could be seen by the outside world. The fact everyone also has cellphones (meaning cameras and access to the internet) the speed at which information can be communicated at is must faster then it was a few years ago.

Protestors used social media such as Facebook and Twitter to mobilize and spread international awareness of the problems they face within their countries and governments. As the movements have progressed, more and more people began moving to these media sites to discuss the state. Twitter even postponed upgrades to allow for the flow of people fighting for democracy. Due to the fact governments monitored the feeds, the bloggers had to change their locations and time zones to try to hide. However, some did in fact go missing, supposedly jailed by their governments for speaking out. These sites were also blocked by the government in Egypt on January 27th to try to stop the movement against the government and rigged election. There is a fantastic timeline of the Arab Springs which goes up until December 2011 and shows the evolution of the revolutions in Egypt, Libya and Syria. The movements that began in the north are now influencing more African and Middle-Eastern countries to try to dislodge oppressive dictatorships or un-democratic policies.

This is one of the first movements that mobilized via the internet against a government. Occupy Wall Street based many of it’s tactics off of those used in the Arab Springs, though with much less success due to lack of organization. Governments were unprepared, though they could sensor their own media, the information being put online was up and being circulated before they even knew it was happening. Police had begun to arrest anyone they caught filming, but the sheer number of people with cameras, including those filming for the roofs made sure that videos were still getting out. People didn’t need weapons to take down their governments anymore, all they needed was to show what was happening – and the world would do the rest. The governments tried to block all access to the sites, but people would just proxy through them, as they’d done with other sites for years.

Governments all over the world have now seen the power social media and the new generations have. Also for any government trying to control the population, the problem is, if the population does move against them, how to prevent it if they can’t stop the internet? These movements have brought many questions to light, such as the way in which revolutions will be fought in the future. They prove that change is possible and can’t just be silenced.

K.A. Zazubovits

Indymedia is a a composite of many organizations and journalists working together to bring democratic, sans corporate influence stories to the public. Founded in November of 1999, it’s a donation run site to which articles from writers all over the world was featured. Though all articles and blog entires submitted are on the page, a select few would be put up on the front as headlines. The public could recommend articles and blogs to others on the site and to others outside on discussion forums, through comments and blogs. The site has over 150 outlets, mostly in the States and Europe and articles can be found in a verity of languages such as English, Hebrew, Russian and Chinese. The site was revolutionary in because of the fact people could so easily share news they thought was relevant and discuss it with others. It was also an important step to the creation of citizen journalism as literally anyone could submit their articles and opinions to the site. Due to the accessibility of information this site was very important to to the awareness of many global and local issues. It provided information on why protests, events, issues, etc. were happening, not only focussing on the violence at certain events like the mainstream media. It created a platform for transnational activism. The main issues with the site had been the questions of the reliability of stories. Though most articles were fact checked, they could still be biased – and the front page with its selective stories, was also deemed subsequently biased. regardless the site gets about 2 million views a day and is still an important source of news for many people.

However, with the development of social media, blogs and online news, the site is becoming obsolete in many ways. It now has to compete with Twitter, which is far more effective and is becoming used for activism as much as Indymedia once was. One example is the AnonNews feed – the Twitter of Anonymous, who are leading the fight for internet freedom (despite mixed reviews on their tactics). It provides instant coverage of important events in legislation and other related topics. The feed is uncensored, provides links, images and it can all be retweeted to followers – much like the recommend button on Indymedia. There are also discussions happening on the comments of many of the posts. Another plus of Twitter is accessibility, it’s been built to function on all mobile electronics so location has become irrelevant to people getting the news at all times. Blogs in general are also taking a bite out of Indy, as they are now highly accessible to anyone, anywhere. They are also written and moderated by their owners – meaning they provide individual perspectives and are uncensored. The readers are there because they want to read the person’s opinions, not because it’s the featured opinion on a page. Sites like Tumblr are also becoming a tool in activism as people can reblog things they find interesting or relevant and add their own commentary. Petitions are often circulated though all of these sites, and because they are also the places we use for our regular social lives – ideas are transmitted faster and more effectively.

Social media and blogs won’t be the end of Indymedia – it still provides us with checked, relevant coverage of many topics. However, it’s traffic will reduce unless more and more adjustments for the other platforms are made.

K. A. Zazubovits