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 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>.

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.

In the name of the national interests: Foreign policy of Saudi Arabia after the Arab Spring

2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 131-161
Author(s):  
G. G. Kosach
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The United States ◽  
Strategic Partnership ◽  
National Interests ◽  
The One ◽  
The Arab Spring

The paper examines the evolution of Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy in the context of wider changes in the Middle East and in the Arab world triggered by the Arab Spring. The author argues that during this decade the Kingdom’s foreign policy has witnessed a fundamental transformation: the very essence of the Saudi foreign policy course has changed signifi cantly as the political es-tablishment has substantially revised its approaches to the country’s role in the region and in the world. Before 2011, Saudi Arabia — the land of the ‘Two Holy Mosques’ — positioned itself as a representative of the international Muslim community and in pursuing its foreign policy relied primarily on the religious authority and fi nancial capabilities. However, according to Saudi Arabia’s leaders, the Arab Spring has plunged the region into chaos and has bolstered the infl uence of various extremist groups and movements, which required a signifi cant adjustment of traditional political approaches. Saudi Arabia, more explicit than ever before, has declared itself as a nation state, as a regional leader possessing its own interests beyond the abstract ‘Muslim Ummah’. However, the author stresses that these new political ambitions do not imply a complete break with the previous practice. For example, the containment of Iran not only remains the cornerstone of Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy, but has become even more severe. The paper shows that it is this opposition to Iran, which is now justifi ed on the basis of protecting the national interests, that predetermines the nature and the specifi c content of contemporary Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy including interaction with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), approaches towards the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian confl ict, combating terrorism, and relations with the United States. In that regard, the transformation of Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy has, on the one hand, opened up new opportunities for strengthening the Kingdom’s interaction with Israel, but, at the same time, has increased tensions within the framework of strategic partnership with the United States. The author concludes that currently Saudi Arabia is facing a challenge of diversifying its foreign policy in order to increase its international profi le and political subjectivity.

Long before the Arab Spring

Women Rising ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 149-160
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Women Activists ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arab Women ◽  
Women's Groups ◽  
Women’S Groups ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Political Marginalization

The Arab Women Solidarity Association United (AWSA United) emerged as an outlet for Arab women in the diaspora to express solidarity and support for women in the Arab world. It pioneered transnational Arab women’s groups that connected Arab women in all six continents. In this chapter, Rita Stephan explores the impact of AWSA United on Arab women activists who, between 1999 and 2011, used cyberfeminism to share their ideological and political marginalization, and how AWSA United helped them foster their collective identity, strengthen their connectivity, and increase their activism.

15. The Arab Spring: The ‘People’ in International Relations

2019 ◽  
pp. 339-367
Author(s):  
Larbi Sadiki
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
External Interference ◽  
Arab Uprisings ◽  
The People ◽  
Media And Technology ◽  
The Arab Spring

This chapter looks at the Arab uprisings and their outcomes, approaching them from the perspective of the peoples of the region. The Arab uprisings are conceived of as popular uprisings against aged and mostly despotic governments, which have long silenced popular dissent. Ultimately, the Arab uprisings demonstrate the weakness of traditional international relations, with its focus on states and power, by showing how much the people matter. Even if the Arab uprisings have not yet delivered on popular expectations, and the Arab world continues to be subject to external interference and persistent authoritarian rule, they are part of a process of global protest and change, facilitated by new media and technology, which challenges the dominant international relations theories.

9. Regionalism and Alliances in the Middle East

2019 ◽  
pp. 201-225
Author(s):  
Louise Fawcett
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Domestic Policy ◽  
External Influence ◽  
Regional Institutions ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Regional Trends ◽  
The Arab Spring

This chapter describes the changing dynamics of regionalism and alliance-making in the Middle East, processes that are closely related to and reflect states' foreign and domestic policy choices. The Middle East is not a region without regionalism at the societal or interstate level. There have been multiple forces for cooperation, particularly in the Arab world, based upon common identity, interests and beliefs; multiple alliances that intersect the Arab and non-Arab world; and evidence of cooperation in both broader and narrower regional settings like the Gulf. Global as well as regional trends and influences also push the Middle East into new arenas of cooperation. However, outcomes are mixed: an array of factors including regime insecurity, local rivalries, and external influence inhibit attempts at regional cooperation. Events since the Arab Spring have presented opportunities but also further challenges for Arab regional institutions as new divides and regional alignments emerge.

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