· January, 2012

Below are posts about citizen media in Arabic. Don't miss Global Voices الأصوات العالمية, where Global Voices posts are translated into Arabic! Read about our Lingua project to learn more about how Global Voices content is being translated into other languages.

Stories about Arabic from January, 2012

Russia, Syria: Anti- and Pro-Assad Facebook Comment Attack

RuNet Echo  31 January 2012

Facebook pages of some Russian media outlets (e.g., Afisha, Bolshoi Gorod, Esquire Russia, Channel 1, MTV Russia) were deluged with copy-pasted comments [ru, ar] from users who appeared to be supporters of the Syrian opposition earlier today. An excerpt from a typical comment [ru, ar]: “Syria's regime is killing people...

Egypt: revolt's anniversary at Tahrir

  24 January 2012

Egyptian Twitter-sphere reports that jailed blogger #Maikel Nabil has just been released, while people are gathering for tomorrow's big rally at #Tahrir to celebrate the revolt's first anniversary: “feels chaotic and it's starting to rain” (#25jan).

Yemen: January 12, a Day Without Qat

  12 January 2012

Today has been declared a 'No Qat Day' by Yemeni netizens, who hope their call will deter their countrymen and women from chewing Qat, an addictive narcotic leaf, chewed by the majority of Yemeni men and women. Noon Arabia sums up online reactions to the day in this post.

Syria: Netizens Angered by Assad's Speech

  10 January 2012

Syrian President Bashar Al Assad gave a long rambling speech today, which further angered Syrians protesting against his dictatorship. When Arab leaders speak, netizens take to their keyboards and engage in taking a stab at heads of states who put themselves in such a position. Here is a round up of reactions from Twitter as Al Assad addressed his people - the same people being killed for protesting for democratic rights.

Libya: A Letter from a Woman in Benghazi

  10 January 2012

A Libyan woman from Benghazi is criticizing her countrymen for marrying non-Libyans after the revolution. She states that Libyan women are not getting rights equal to those granted to men in an open letter posted on Facebook. Mohamed ElGohary provides a translation from Arabic.

Syria: The Struggle for Freedom and the End of Silence

Since March 2011, when the uprisings that started in Tunisia and Egypt reaching Syria, thousands have been killed and tens of thousands have been arrested and disappeared in the country. Leila Nachawati Rego takes a look at how citizen media has helped offer an alternative to state-controlled narrative.

Yemen: A Year of Revolution and a Story of Struggle

Yemen's Revolution is the longest ongoing revolution of the Arab Spring. It started with a protest on February 3 and has been ongoing ever since. Noon Arabia lists the posts covering the main events that happened in Yemen throughout this year and features the videos that tell the story of Yemen's struggle for freedom, democracy and justice.

From Sidi Bouzid to Kinshasa: Francophone Africa in 2011

The usual year-end review would hardly do justice to the epic changes that have turned Francophone Africa upside down, driven by the collective courage of its citizens who often faced violent repression while striving for emancipation from various dictatorships. Through the eyes of local citizen media, here are the highlights of 2011.

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