scholarly journals The Voice of Silence: Patterns of Digital Participation Among Palestinian Women in East Jerusalem

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya De Vries ◽  
Maya Majlaton
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
State Monitoring ◽  
Contested Space ◽  
Palestinian Women ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
East Jerusalem

Facebook is one of the world’s largest social networks, with more than 2,7 billion active users globally. It is also one of the most dominant platforms and one of the platforms most commonly used by Arabs. However, connecting via Facebook and sharing content cannot be taken for granted. While many studies have focused on the role played by networked platforms in empowering women in the Arab world in general and on feminist movements in the Arab Spring, few have explored Palestinian women’s use of Facebook. During and after the Arab Spring, social media was used as a tool for freedom of expression in the Arab world. However, Palestinians in East Jerusalem using social media witnessed a decrease in freedom of expression, especially after the Gaza war in 2014. This article focuses on the Facebook usage patterns and political participation of young adult Palestinian women living in the contested space of East Jerusalem. These women live under dynamic power struggles as they belong to a traditionally conservative society, live within a situation of intractable conflict, and are under state control as a minority group. Qualitative thematic analysis of 13 in-depth interviews reveals three patterns of usage, all related to monitoring: state monitoring, kinship monitoring, and self-monitoring. The article conceptualises these online behaviours as “participation avoidance,” a term describing users’ (non-)communicative practices in which the mundane choices of when, why, and how to <em>participate </em>also mirror users’ choices of when, why, and how to <em>avoid</em>.

Paradox of Globalization: New Arab Publics? New Social Contract?

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 114-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila DeVriese
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Arab Spring

AbstractBecause social media is playing an irrefutable role in the Arab Spring uprisings the central question in this article is to what extent Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in general, and social media in specific, are contributing to the democratization of the public sphere and shifting the monopoly on agenda setting in the Arab Gulf, particularly in the case of Bahrain? How will these technologies continue to shape contentious politics in the Middle East and will their utility for democratizing and expanding the public sphere persist in the aftermath of the Arab Spring? Or will the increasing liberalization of media and freedom of expression that had preceded the Arab Spring experience a repressive backlash as authoritarian states attempt to clamp down on social and traditional media—or even harness them for their own purposes as seen by Facebook intimidation campaigns against activists in Bahrain last Spring. Finally—using the lens of social movement theory—what repertoires of contention and political opportunity structures will pro-democracy activists use to keep their campaigns alive? Activists in the Gulf have not only incorporated the ICTs into their repertoire, but have also changed substantially what counts as activism, what counts as community, collective identity, democratic space, public sphere, and political strategy. Ironically this new technology has succeeded in reviving and expanding the practice of discursive dialog that had once characterized traditional tribal politics in the Arabian Peninsula.

scholarly journals The Arab Spring: A New Era of Humor Consumption and Production

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wafa Abu Hatab
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Social Discourse ◽  
Political Satire ◽  
Street Vendor ◽  
Political Humor ◽  
New Era ◽  
Digital Discourse ◽  
The Arab Spring

<p>The 26-year-old Tunisian street vendor, Mohammad Bouazizi set himself ablaze, sparking demonstrations and revolutions in more than one country in the Arab world. Protestors utilized all possible forms of expression to give an outlet for the long suppressed feelings, attitudes and thoughts. A new social discourse emerged where freedom of expression was imposed. Tunisia led the move and was followed by Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria. Though these revolting countries have many things in common, each has its own touch to the mosaic portrait of the new social discourse. Political satire has its place in this discourse where political humor has witnessed a tremendous boom. The present study was based on data obtained from cartoons, slogans, digital discourse and jokes. It investigated the use of humor by protesters in the Arab Spring countries, the linguistic devices employed and the role of intertextuality. The study revealed that humor was used in the Arab Spring countries to denigrate the presidents. Sources for intertextuality included proverbs, songs, poetry and commercials. Humor made use of some linguistic devices such as puns, synonyms, antonyms, lexical ambiguity and rhyme.</p>

scholarly journals Reflections on the Aftermath of the Arab Spring

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 160-163
Author(s):  
Jay Willoughby
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Street Vendor ◽  
The People ◽  
Majority Consensus ◽  
The Masses ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Arab Spring

On November 18, 2014, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, founder and board member,IIIT; leader of the Malaysian opposition; and former deputy prime ministerof Malaysia, shared his “Reflections on the Aftermath of the Arab Spring” withthe general public at the IIIT headquarters in Herndon, VA.He opened with “O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Apostleand those in authority from among you” (Q. 4:59), which he considers one ofthe Qur’an’s “most used and abused verses.” In addition to being used to supportdemocracy, it is abused by many others to demand the masses’ supportfor dictators, authoritarian, and military junta rule regardless of how they aretreated. This verse also highlights an issue that has rocked the Arab world eversince December 17, 2010, when Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi sethimself on fire to protest the continued abuse and harassment inflicted uponhim by the Tunisian police force: the issue of governmental legitimacy, whichis a problem in both the West and the Muslim world. Anwar stated that thegovernment must represent a majority consensus, respect some process (e.g.,democracy), and allow people the freedom of expression so that they can expresstheir support, disgust, or opposition.The Arabs’ demand for legitimate governance has been on the mind ofIIIT as well, for its leaders have spent the last decade addressing this concernfrom the point of view of the maqāṣid. Anwar traced this concern back to along-ago meeting when several of the IIIT founders were discussing why therewas no Muslim equivalent of the “Western canon,” the “Great Books,” a “greatintellectual tradition.” This was the start of an ongoing process to fill this gapin contemporary Muslim literature.The outbreak of Arab Spring clearly revealed that there is still a need todeal with ethics in governance, for lasting reform can only be actualized inthe form of systems. The ongoing abuse, corruption, repression, and brutalityinflicted upon the people by their own leaders is, according to him, something ...

scholarly journals The role of multimedia communication in the Arab Spring

Obraz ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (31) ◽  
pp. 69-75
Author(s):  
Hanna Verbytska
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Large Population ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Arab Spring

Introduction. Social media in the Arab world before the Arab Spring were described as marginal, alternative, and elitist, and their impact was minimal due to low Internet access. The events of 2011 across the Arab world caused the rise of “social media”. However, their role in recent events remains unclear. Relevance and purpose. The Arab Spring caused the study not only of the driving forces of this phenomenon but also its impact on the development of social networks. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to identify the role of modern information and communication technologies in the protest movements of the Arab world. Methodology. General and specific methods based on objective laws of social communication, including logical and dialectical, method of analysis and synthesis, and abstract-logical method are used. Results. Nowadays social and political context has proven the Internet to be perhaps the most effective means of communication which can quickly reach and involve large population groups. In this case, the Internet is a unifying communication factor on three levels – personal, group, and mass. Particular attention should be paid to a new phenomenon on the Internet, which can be described as the “virtual solidarity of people”, who are online. It dramatically revealed itself during the Arab Revolutions in 2011, when large numbers of strangers united, planned, and organized joint political protests using social networks. Conclusions. The Internet is an effective tool for creating and destroying social actors. It acts both as a means of influence and as a means of obtaining information. The Internet usage by the opposing parties either in communication or confrontation between different groups enables the formation of different models of political development and political processes on vast territories. Thus, during the Arab Spring, we observed the emergence of two models – the Tunisian and the Arabian (in simple terms – revolutionary and stabilizing). In both cases, the borrowing (reception) of Western principles of political culture is present, but the main difference between them lies in the means of implementation in society. At that, both cases are characterized by focusing on national traditions and preserving the Muslim religion. Keywords: social networks; social communication; internet; Arab Spring; social actors.

scholarly journals Exploring narrative linearity between Twitter and the news: Echoes of the Arab Spring in Brazil

2021 ◽  
pp. 095792652110232
Author(s):  
Helton Levy ◽  
Dan Mercea
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Narrative Theory ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
News Stories ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Representation Of Time

This article explores the use of narrative theory as an analytical framework to investigate the extent to which popular hashtags and the news can develop into intersecting stories. It juxtaposes the case of hashtag-based reports seen during the Arab Spring to understand the coverage of notorious political episodes in Brazil. Namely, the 2016 impeachment of Dilma Rousseff and the 2018 election of Jair Bolsonaro. Here, narrative linearity emerges as a tool to observe the borrowing of Twitter hashtags in several journalistic pieces. It is contended that the linearity of authorship, narration and representation of time appears as a satisfactory pathway to trace the development of hashtags into popular news stories. Results suggested that hashtags can significantly follow narratives and agendas in journalism but differing from their original social media context.

The Palestinians – lessons from the Arab Spring†

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 422-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
As'ad Ghanem
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Exceptional Case ◽  
The Arab Spring

This paper examines the implications of the Arab Spring for the Palestinians. The aim is to point out the basic lessons and implications of the transformations occurring in the Arab world for the Palestinians as an exceptional case, due to their situation under occupation and exile. Cause for optimism is discerned in the anticipated increase in broad and practical Arab support for the Palestinians. However, the contention here is that Palestinians themselves have derived too limited a lesson from the Arab revolutions by focusing only on the call for unity between the competing Palestinian factions. Their reconciliation is only about their self-preservation and that of the system which has served them hitherto. The recommendations posited here are for the Palestinians to embrace the full message of the Arab Spring and make peaceful protest en masse and across the whole Palestinian people their path to liberation.

«Arab Spring»: Transformation of Political Paradigm in Context of International Relations

2012 ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
L. Fituni
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
World Economic ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Relationship

The author presents his own original conception of the 2011 Arab upheavals. First, he tries to find parallels between the Arab Spring and the 19th century European Spring of Peoples. Second, he dwells on the idea of three types of transition in the Arab World: economic, demographic, and ideological. Third, he reflects on the issues of democracy and autocracy in the Arab countries emphasizing the role of youth. Fourth, he puts forward some new ideas as regards the relationship between Europe and the Arab World, offering such terms as “democratic internationalism” and “young democratic safety belt” in the Mediterranean region.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document