SOCIAL MEDIA FUEL ARAB PROTESTS

Social media, cellphone video fuel Arab protests
by Chris Lefkow – Mon Feb 21, 9:38 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Social media, cellphone cameras, satellite television, restive youth and years of pent-up anger are proving to be a toxic mix for authoritarian regimes in the Middle East.In clip after clip of footage from the street protests that have been sweeping the region, demonstrators -- mostly young men -- can be seen among the crowds holding mobile phone cameras aloft to document the scenes.The shaky footage of peaceful protests -- and images of horrific carnage -- have been uploaded to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and other sites and aired on pan-Arab satellite television stations like Al-Jazeera.Google-owned YouTube has been highlighting amateur footage from the unrest -- such as clips from Libya from a user who goes by the name enoughgaddafi -- at its news and politics channel, CitizenTube.

In Bahrain and Libya, graphic pictures and raw video of harsh crackdowns by the security forces on crowds of protesters earned international condemnation for their governments and further fueled popular anger in the streets.Micah Sifry, co-founder of politics and technology blog techPresident noted in a recent blog post that mobile phone coverage in the Middle East is far higher than Internet penetration.The biggest factor in the unfolding events, to me, appears to be the emergent power of young people, compounded by how urbanized they are and how connected they are by mobile phones, Sifry said.Could it be that what we're witnessing is the political coming of age of Generation TXT? The extent to which social media contributed to the toppling of the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia -- and protests of varying size and intensity in Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Yemen -- is a matter of debate.But Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and Libya's Moamer Kadhafi took the threats posed by the Internet seriously enough, apparently, when they took the extraordinary step of attempting to cut their own people off the Web.Wael Ghonim, the Google executive and cyber activist who emerged as a leader of the anti-government protests in Egypt, said social media played a crucial role in the events that led to Mubarak's ouster after three decades of iron-fisted rule.Without Facebook, without Twitter, without Google, without You Tube, this would have never happened, Ghonim told CBS television's 60 Minutes.If there was no social networks it would have never been sparked, said Ghonim, who started the Facebook page We Are All Khaled Said credited with helping mobilize the demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Alec Ross, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's senior adviser for innovation, said social media played an important role in the events in Egypt and Tunisia but technology did not create the dissent movements there.It did not make the dissent movements successful -- people did, Ross told AFP.They were not Facebook revolutions or Twitter revolutions.Technology served as an accelerant, he said. A movement that historically would have taken months or years was compressed into far shorter time cycles.In Egypt, social media helped bring together people from diverse social, political and economic circles and merged them into a united force, Ross said.Having connected online they were more likely to come together offline, said Ross, a leader of the State Department's social media efforts.Ross said the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia were notable for their lack of recognizable leaders, and networked communications helped make this possible.The Che Guevara of the 21st century is the network,he said.It no longer takes a single charismatic revolutionary figure to inspire and organize the masses.Rather, in the digital age, leadership can be far more distributed and that's something that we clearly saw in Tunisia and Egypt, he said.

EU ministers urge Libya to end attacks on protests
By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press – Mon Feb 21, 2:34 pm ET

BRUSSELS – The European Union on Monday sharply criticized Libyan authorities over their crackdown against pro-democracy protesters, overcoming a split over how tough they should be in denouncing the teetering government of strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

The EU foreign ministers condemned the ongoing repression against demonstrators in Libya and deplores the violence and death of civilians, said a statement released after the regular monthly meeting of the bloc's 27 foreign ministers.EU President Herman Van Rompuy said in a separate statement he was horrified by the growing number of human casualties among demonstrators.EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called for an immediate end to the use of force against protesters, adding that peaceful protests must be allowed.I hope the Libyan authorities will listen to that, she said.Ashton, who is traveling to Egypt late Monday, said the ministers had held preliminary talks on a comprehensive economic and trade package to help countries in Northern Africa affected by the turmoil. The discussions would continue in coming days and weeks, she said.This is our neighborhood ... Europe should be judged by its ability to act in its own neighborhood, she said.During the meeting, a number of foreign ministers, including those of Britain and Germany, blasted Gadhafi's regime and demanded tough measures against it, officials said. But others, including Italy and the Czech Republic, called for a more measured tone saying Libya was on the verge of chaos.British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged Libya to investigate the violence and hold those responsible to account, to allow international human rights monitors into the country, and to end restrictions on the internet and the harassment of journalists.

The credibility of the Libyan government in these matters has been undermined so far by their failure to protect their own people and to respond to their legitimate grievances, Hague said.But Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini expressed concern about a possible civil war and breakup of Libya, saying he feared that an Islamic state could be set up in the area bordering Egypt.I'm very concerned about the idea of dividing Libya in two, in Cyrenaica and in Tripoli. That would be really dangerous, he said. Cyrenaica is the country's eastern region, where the largest anti-government protests have taken place.Libya has seen the bloodiest crackdown of any Arab country of the wave of protests sweeping the region that toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia. Since the six days of unrest began, more than 200 people have been killed in Libya, according to medical officials, human rights groups and exiled dissidents.On Sunday, Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi's son went on Libyan television and offered to put forward reforms within days that he described as historic. Seif al-Islam Gadhafi said the regime was willing to remove some restrictions and begin discussions on a constitution. He also offered to change a number of laws, including those covering the media and the penal code.But Gadhafi's son also said Libya's armed forces are with his father, and We will fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet.The government in Tripoli has threatened to discontinue cooperation with the EU in blocking immigration from the North Africa to Europe, if the bloc continues backing the protesters.Frattini, whose country is European nation to Libya, had already received thousands of Tunisian migrants after the overthrow of that country's authoritarian government last month.

The EU has deployed a 35-member team of customs officials and border agents to assist Italian authorities on the southernmost island of Lampedusa off the North African coastline.We Europeans are very concerned about the migratory flows impact that would be one of the consequences of more turbulence in North Africa, Frattini said.But other ministers dismissed the Libyan threat.The European Union should not let itself be blackmailed (by Gadhafi), said Werner Hoyer, Germany's state minister for foreign affairs.Meanwhile, NATO's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was shocked at the use of indiscriminate violence against peaceful demonstrators in Libya.In an unusually strong statement, Fogh Rasmussen appealed to Libyan authorities to stop repression against unarmed civilians.The people of Libya ... have expressed a strong desire for democratic change, Fogh Rasmussen said. Their legitimate aspirations must be addressed. Freedom of expression and assembly are fundamental rights which cannot be denied.AP writer Raf Casert contributed from Brussels.

Philippines tells workers be aware, no evacuations
– Sun Feb 20, 10:13 pm ET

MANILA (AFP) – The Philippines said Monday it had advised its nearly 59,000 citizens in Bahrain, Libya and Yemen to be vigilant amid deadly state crackdowns on spreading street protests across the Arab world.However foreign ministry spokesman Ed Malaya said there were no immediate plans to bring home the group, mainly composed of expatriate workers.There is no necessity for repatriation at this time, he told AFP.

They have been advised to stay indoors, stay away from areas where protests are taking place and to monitor developments, he added.The ministry said it had counted 31,000 Filipinos in Bahrain, 26,000 in Libya and 1,400 in Yemen, part of an eight million-plus foreign-based labour force bringing in nearly 19 billion dollars yearly to the struggling country.

US condemns crackdowns on Mideast protests
By DOUGLAS BIRCH, Associated Press - Sun Feb 20, 3:57 pm ET

WASHINGTON – A senior U.S. diplomat on Sunday condemned the brutal crackdown on opposition protesters in Libya, saying Arab leaders facing pro-democracy protests need to lead the way rather than resist reform.Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the Obama administration was very concerned about reported armed attacks by Libyan security forces on peaceful protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi.We've condemned that violence, Rice told Meet the Press on NBC. Our view is that in Libya as throughout the region peaceful protests need to be respected.
Libyan forces fired machine-guns at mourners marching in a funeral for anti-government protesters in Benghazi Sunday, a day after commandos and foreign mercenaries pummeled demonstrators with assault rifles and other heavy weaponry. A physician in Benghazi told The Associated Press that at least 200 had been killed in demonstrations against the regime of Moammar Gadhafi.Al Jazeera television reported that Benghazi demonstrators had seized army vehicles and weapons, that the police academy had been set ablaze and that some soldiers had joined the demonstrators.

Libya's response to opposition demonstrations may be the most brutal since uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt began spreading across the region.State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the U.S. has received a number of credible reports that hundreds of people have been killed and injured in the unrest, although the extent of the violence is unknown because Libya has denied access to international media and human rights groups. Crowley said the U.S. has raised strong objections to the use of lethal force against peaceful protesters.The European Union also denounced the Libyan government's response to the protests, with the EU's foreign policy chief calling for an end to the violence.Rice said meanwhile that President Barack Obama and other top administration officials apparently persuaded the government of the island kingdom of Bahrain to halt its violent crackdown on protesters. Five demonstrators were killed and some 230 wounded last week when riot police stormed the demonstrators' makeshift camp in the capital's Pearl Square, wielding clubs and firing tear gas.We've been very clear with our partners in Bahrain that they ought to exercise restraint, that there's no place for violence against peaceful protesters there or anywhere else, Rice said. Bahrain had apparently responded, she said, citing reports that military forces had been withdrawn from Pearl Square and jubilant protesters had returned.Rice said Bahrainian officials had begun a real effort at dialogue with the opposition.Asked if King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalif's pro-U.S. government could survive the challenge to its rule, Rice said: I wouldn't want to be in the business of predictions in this very volatile environment. She added that Mideast leaders need to respect calls for reform and need to get ahead of it by leading rather than being pushed.Rice rejected allegations that the White House has been inconsistent, for example by pressuring Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to resign while standing by Bahrain's King Hamad. If U.S. policy differs between countries, she said, it is because the situations are different.We are not pushing people out or dictating that they stay, she said. What we're doing is we're saying consistently across the board that there are universal human rights that need to be respected.

Rice downplayed concerns raised by the risk that the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, tightly controlled under Mubarak, would gain influence in a newly democratic Egypt. The newspaper USA Today, in an interview with a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman last week, reported that the group was seeking more political power, and planned to use it to push for laws that would punish gays, require women to wear headscarves and condemn adulterers to death by stoning.First of all, there is no indication that the Brotherhood is going to dominate Egyptian politics, she said. We have faith in the people of Egypt and we have faith in democracy.Sen. Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican and the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Sunday that the U.S. has to recognize that it will have limited influence over Egypt's future political course.The military has right now the ball in their court, Lugar said on CNN's State of the Union.Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, appearing on ABC's This Week in an interview taped Friday, rejected criticism that the Obama administration has pulled back from President George W. Bush's support for democracy and human rights in Egypt and elsewhere.Clinton said successive administrations had been pressing Mubarak to adopt democratic reforms for 30 years.None of us were particularly successful, because we kept running into an absolute rejection that (reform) was not going to be done in Egypt, she said.

Violence broke out during protests Saturday in Yemen, where riot police fired on marchers, killing one and injuring five. Seven have been killed since in Yemen, a key ally in the U.S. war against al-Qaida militants, since the unrest began. Al Jazeera television reported that hundreds of Algerian riot police broke up an anti-government rally in the capital Saturday, beating and kicking protesters with steel-toed boots. At least three protesters were arrested and three opposition political leaders injured, the network said, citing eyewitnesses and local media.

After veto, US restricts staff travel in West Bank
– Sat Feb 19, 5:13 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US consulate in Jerusalem ordered staff Saturday to avoid the West Bank city of Jericho, after the United States vetoed a UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories.Personal travel on two roadways through the West Bank linking to Jordan was also restricted to pre-authorized travel only, the consulate said in a statement posted on its website.The security restrictions were to remain in place through Monday.On Friday, a Palestinian drive to win the UN Security Council's condemnation of Israeli settlements was foiled by a US veto.The Islamist movement Hamas that rules the Gaza Strip slammed the outrageous US veto and called for an end to all Palestinian-Israeli contacts.Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down last September after a temporary freeze on Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank expired.

US attempts to coax Israel into renewing the freeze ran aground in December, with the Palestinians refusing to return to the negotiating table while Jewish settlers build on land they want for a future state.Jewish settlement activity on Palestinian land seized during the 1967 Six-Day War is considered illegal by the international community, including the United States.Even before Friday's vote, US personnel had been under security restrictions for limited travel in the West Bank and Gaza. Jericho is one of the exceptions for personal travel.

Libya, Yemen crack down; Bahrain pulls back tanks By MAGGIE MICHAEL and BRIAN FRIEDMAN, Associated Press – Sat Feb 19, 3:22 pm ET

CAIRO – Security forces in Libya and Yemen fired on pro-democracy demonstrators Saturday as the two hard-line regimes struck back against the wave of protests that has already toppled autocrats in Egypt and Tunisia. At least 15 died when police shot into crowds of mourners in Libya's second-largest city, a hospital official said.Even as Bahrain's king bowed to international pressure and withdrew tanks to allow demonstrators to retake a symbolic square in the capital, Libya's Moammar Gadhafi and Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh made clear they plan to stamp out opposition and not be dragged down by the reform movements that have grown in nations from Algeria to Djibouti to Jordan.Libyans returned to the street for a fifth straight day of protests against Gadhafi, the most serious uprising in his 42-year reign, despite estimates by human rights groups of 84 deaths in the North African country — with 35 on Friday alone.Saturday's deaths, which would push the overall toll to 99, occurred when snipers fired on thousands of mourners in Benghazi, a focal point of unrest, as they attended the funerals of other protesters, a hospital official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.Many of the dead and the injured are relatives of doctors here, he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. They are crying and I keep telling them to please stand up and help us.

Earlier, special forces had attacked hundreds of demonstrators, including lawyers and judges, who were camped out in front of a courthouse in Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city.Authorities also cut off the Internet across Libya, further isolating the country. Just after 2 a.m. local time in Libya, the U.S.-based Arbor Networks security company detected a total cessation of online traffic. Protesters confirmed they could not get online.Reports could not be independently confirmed. Information is tightly controlled in Libya, where journalists cannot work freely, and activists this week have posted videos on the Internet that have been an important source of images of the revolt. Other information about the protests has come from opposition activists in exile.A female protester in Tripoli, the capital city to the west, said it was much harder to demonstrate there. Police were out in force and Gadhafi was greeted rapturously when he drove through town in a motorcade on Thursday.Throughout the Middle East, protesters for weeks have been crying out against a similar litany of injustices: repressive governments, corrupt officials and pathetic wages among them. Government responses seem to be hardening. While there was violence during the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, the government retaliation in Yemen and Libya in particular appeared to be more sustained.In Yemen's capital of Sanaa, riot police opened fire on thousands of protesters, killing one anti-government demonstrator and injuring five others on a 10th day of revolt against Saleh, a key U.S. ally in fighting al-Qaida.As on other days earlier this week, protesters marching from Sanaa's university were met by police and government supporters with clubs and knives who engaged in a stone-throwing battle with the demonstrators. At one point, police fired in the air to disperse the march.A medical official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said one man was shot in the neck and killed, raising the total death toll from Yemen protests to seven.

In a meeting with civic leaders, Saleh said Yemenis have the right to express themselves peacefully and the perpetrators of the unrest were trying to seize power by fomenting instability.The homeland is facing a foreign plot that threatens its future, Saleh said, without elaborating.Saleh, who has been in power for three decades, has tried to blunt discontent by promising not to seek re-election when his term ends in 2013.But he is facing a restless population, with threats from al-Qaida militants who want to oust him, a southern secessionist movement and a sporadic armed rebellion in the north. To try to quell new outbursts of dissent, Saleh also has reached out to tribal chiefs, who are a major base of support for him. So far, however, that has not changed the response in the streets.In the tiny island nation of Bahrain, thousands of joyful protesters streamed back into the capital's central Pearl Square after the armed forces withdrew from the streets following two straight days of a bloody crackdown. The royal family, which was quick to use force earlier this week against demonstrators in the landmark square that has been the heart of the anti-government demonstrations, appeared to back away from further confrontation following international pressure.President Barack Obama discussed the situation with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, asking him to hold those responsible for the violence accountable. He said in a statement that Bahrain must respect the universal rights of its people and embrace meaningful reform.In a telephone call to the crown prince, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he welcomed the government's military withdrawal and strongly supported efforts to initiate a dialogue.The demonstrators have emulated protesters in Tunisia and Egypt by attempting to bring political change to the government in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet — the centerpiece of Washington's efforts to confront Iranian military influence in the region.Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, deputy supreme commander of the armed forces, appealed for calm and political dialogue in a brief address on state TV.

As night fell, though, defiant protesters in Pearl Square erected barriers, wired a sound system, set up a makeshift medical tent and deployed lookouts to warn of approaching security forces.Protesters took over the square earlier in the week, setting up a camp with tents and placards, but they were driven out by riot police in a deadly assault Thursday that killed five people and injured more than 200. The government then clamped down on Manama by sending the tanks and other armored vehicles into the streets around the square, putting up barbed wire and establishing checkpoints to deter gatherings.On Friday, army units shot at marchers streaming toward the square. More than 50 people were injured.Some of the protesters were wary of Bahrain's leaders, despite the military withdrawal.Of course we don't trust them, said Ahmed al-Shaik, a 23-year-old civil servant.They will probably attack more and more, but we have no fear now.The cries against the king and his inner circle reflected a sharp escalation of the political uprising, which began with calls to weaken the Sunni monarchy's power and address claims of discrimination against the Shiite majority.Algerian police, meanwhile, thwarted a rally by thousands of pro-democracy supporters, breaking up the crowd into isolated groups to keep them from marching.Police brandishing clubs, but no firearms, weaved their way through the crowd in central Algiers, banging their shields, tackling some protesters and keeping traffic flowing through the planned march route.A demonstrating lawmaker was hospitalized after suffering a head wound when he fell after police kicked and hit him, colleagues said.

The gathering, organized by the Coordination for Democratic Change in Algeria, comes a week after a similar protest, which organizers said brought an estimated 10,000 people and up to 26,000 riot police onto the streets of Algiers. Algeria has also been hit by numerous strikes over the past month.President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has promised to lift the state of emergency, which has been in place since early 1992 to combat a budding insurgency by Islamist extremists. The insurgency, which continues sporadically, has killed an estimated 200,000 people.Bouteflika has warned, however, that a long-standing ban on protests in Algiers would remain in place, even once the state of emergency is lifted.Algeria does have many of the ingredients for a popular revolt. It is riddled with corruption and has never successfully grappled with its soaring jobless rate among youth — estimated by some to be up to 42 percent — despite its oil and gas wealth.The people are for change, but peacefully, said sociologist Nasser Djebbi. We have paid a high price.Ahmed al-Haj in Sanaa, Yemen; Hadeel al-Shalchi and Barbara Surk in Manama, Bahrain; Elaine Ganley in Algiers, Algeria, and John Affleck in Cairo contributed to this report.