Did Twitter do in 1-year what 60 Years of Presidents Couldn't?

The unrest and political upheaval blowing across the Middle East and North Africa right now is something the US Government has tried to fan for decades. By fueling Afghani fighters during the Cold War to counter the USSR by proxy, or trying to install the Shah in Iran, the US has tried to shape a democratic and/or friendly government in various countries. These operations always seem to have “blowback” like the Mujahedeenfighters of Afghanistan who were trained at President Carter’s orders to fight the Russians, but who we in turn had to fight in the 00s, possibly including Bin Laden. Did Facebook, Twitter and YouTube do in five months what 50 years worth of US presidents, secret ops, wars and funding failed to do?

Change Must Come From Within

The name Hamza has become a battle cry for protesters and rebels in Syria and across the region. The name belongs to a boy who was allegedly kidnapped, murdered and mutilated at the hands of Syrian state police.The origins of the rallying cry “Hamza” come from a YouTube video posted by the family; video of a sort of informal autopsy. The graphic and disturbing video was initially blocked by YouTube.com, but after learning of the growing support for freedom growing around the video, it was un-blocked. It’s the latest social media inspired movement that has created rebellion. The first sign of ‘social media unrest’ came at the end of December, 2010 when protests in Egypt were organized with Twitter and Facebookaccounts. This prompted the Egyptian government to kill the sights, then eventually the internet. Even the stealthy US takedown of Osama Bin Laden was live-tweeted by a nearby Twitter user. If used properly these websites are like instant, unfiltered, self-published news flashes.

Built on Information Control

Governments built on repression and information control are suddenly being crushed as their population not only broadcasts, but reads information from other Arab nations. They see life can be peaceful, free and spiritually fulfilling. As the information seal is broken by instant messaging and file sharing the control over the people breaks down, they have seen the other side and they want it too.