What is the “Arab spring” becoming? After three months of upheaval, repression and conflict, the democracy wave in the region, including Iran, is at a crucial stage. Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi comments. Read more »
Arab Spring
Time: The 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2011
Commentators are still debating the extent to which media contributed to the 2011 Arab uprisings, but one thing’s for sure: to the extent that the revolution was tweeted, much of it came through the feed of Sultan al Qassemi. Read more »
Asad Hashim speaks to Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi
Al Jazeera’s Asad Hashim speaks to Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, a columnist in the UAE and prominent microblogger, about prospects for political change in Egypt and a rising tide of pan-Arabism. Read more »
Through Protests, One Man Helps Define Twitter
One of the most popular and prolific Twitter reporters is Sultan Al Qassimi, who tweeted minute-by-minute updates of the events in Egypt and Tunisia, says NPR. Read more »
Egypt: from revolt to change
A single incident that took place in the Egyptian city of city of Alexandria on 6 June 2010 anticipates the wave of protest in the country that was to explode in January-February 2011. It involved the arrest of 28-year-old Khaled Saeed, who was detained on his way to visit an internet café in the Sidi Gaber district. Read more »
Twilight of the Arab republics
The Arab world watched in awe last week as brave Tunisians overthrew their corrupt president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, of the past 23 years. As in other Arab “republics” established in the populist ferment of the 1950s, Tunisians have been suffering from rampant corruption and economic deprivation for decades — leading to frustration that eventually boiled onto the streets despite their government’s tight restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly. Read more »