Thursday, June 16, 2011

Twitter and Facebook Are Backbone of Saudi Dissent - NYTimes.com

Check the article link below for a timely cyberactivism reality check

When Manal al-Sharif posted a video of herself breaking the law by driving her own black S.U.V. around this hot, flat city and called for a collective protest on Friday, the government responded harshly: she was jailed for nine days.

But unlike in the past, government censure did not quash debate. Instead, the Internet buzzed to life in Ms. Sharif’s defense, building on the surge of social media here after the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Twitter and Facebook overflowed with comments denouncing both Saudi Arabia’s ruling princes and the clerics who called for her to be flogged as Neanderthals completely detached from the realities of life for women here.

Twitter and Facebook Are Backbone of Saudi Dissent - NYTimes.com

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