Tahrir Square is a place, but it is also an idea– a central encampment, held for as long as possible, acting as a hub for dissent. In the wake of the Egyptian Revolution we are witnessing the spread of the tactics and symbols of these protests across the continents memetically, not because of any specific tactical or political efficacy relevant to each individual location, but as a semi-conscious linking of different struggles.

This section will explore the ‘links’ borne out of the Arab Spring and seek to understand the Spring’s global incarnations. Are both east and west facing the same economic forces of the global downturn that precipitate unrest? Is there a symbiotic relationship between the revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa and those in Chile and the Occupy London Stock Exchange? Return to Arab Awakening

Replicating Facebook revolutions: why Ahmadinejad should worry but Mugabe and Hu Jintao can wait it out

Sarah Logan 26 February 2011
Those analysing the feasibility of “Facebook revolutions” in authoritarian countries have so far veered between utopian visions and non-utopian smackdown. These approaches undermine what is in fact a complex process, which may depend on both state resources and types of communication technologies available in a country

A great change is sweeping Arab political culture

Issa Khalaf 22 February 2011
All Arab regimes, regardless of regime type, have essentially behaved like dynasties. This is why the essentially secular, expansive, inclusive, internationally-aware neo-nationalism of the young Arabs in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere in the region offers a revolutionary break from an unending past.

This is our revolution, too

Frederick Bowie 21 February 2011
Maybe western leaders are afraid that, having seen what it is like when a people dictate to their government what it should do for them, rather than the reverse, we might start to take our own rights back, wholesale

A universal fight

Dima El Sayed 18 February 2011
Edward Said should have been alive on February 12, 2011

‘Where is India’s Tahrir Square?’

Saroj Giri 17 February 2011
This is a question that may be as interesting for people in Egypt as it is for those in India. The answer also has some implications for activists in the much-vaunted western democracies

Arab democracy rising: international lessons

Vidar Helgesen 16 February 2011
The popular revolts in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere in the middle east are driven by a profound democratic impulse. This represents both learning and test for international democracy actors, says Vidar Helgesen.

Hang on a minute with ‘the domino effect’

Saroj Giri 13 February 2011
It is the deeper process of social transformation which should spread from one country to the other and not just some hollowed out ‘pro-democracy movement’.

The global crisis: between Cairo and Davos

Paul Rogers 3 February 2011
The new age of insurgencies of which Egypt is an emblem has its deeper source not in the anger of the marginalised but in the system operated by the world's financial elites.

Tunis, Cairo and beyond: susceptible authoritarians may yet really topple, but questions abound

Eberhard Kienle 29 January 2011
Updated Friday 8am Mubarak's second television address shows that he will fight on and try and turn the tables on the protesters. Even if he steps down in September he will have ample possibility to orchestrate counter demonstrations, divide the opposition, foment chaos in the country, repress the protests and lock up people, or put his imprint on the transition to his successor and possibly new institutional arrangements.

Tahrir Square burns: a postcard from Egypt

Daniel Bruno Sanz 28 January 2011
An American in Cairo reflects on the experience of events there today and calls on the US to throw off its ties to the soon-to-be ancien regime

Columnist of the Week

Omer Harari

The boundaries of Israeli unity

Syria: 'cold war redux'?

Syria's war, Israel's trap
Paul Rogers

The Iranian key to the Syrian crisis
Heiko Wimmen

Has Turkey reached a dead-end in Syria?
Firdevs Robinson

oD author detained in Dubai

"Mr. Ulrichsen believes that an article he wrote last summer "The U.A.E.: Holding Back the Tide," may have played a part in his blacklisting."
- Chronicle of Higher Education


Rita from Syria

Latest article:

Syrian colours: the greys

Rap and the Arab Spring

Interview with Arab rappers Ibn Thabit and Deeb

Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3

Full Event, Rap and the Arab Spring

Mali in crisis

The Mali effect
Stephen Ellis

Mali, and remote-control war
Paul Rogers

Qatar intervening in northern Mali?
Mehdi Lazar

Follow us on twitter

openAwakening on Twitter

Our Editors

Bassam Gergi

Bassam Gergi

Associate Editor of Arab Awakening is pursuing an M.Phil in Comparative Government at Oxford University

Mazen Zoabi

Mazen Zoabi

Translation Editor of Arab Awakening is a psychology graduate with an interest in film

Support Arab Awakening

If you would like to support the work of the Arab Awakening editors, please get in touch with the Editor: Rosemary Bechler

Partners

Revolution
We would like to thank the Network for Social Change for their generous support of our work

Syndicate content