Arab Media and People Power

Abu Aardvark analyzes the role played by the Arab media in recent developments:

"While those who want to claim the current protests as a vindication of the Bush Doctrine might not like the analogy, the closest comparison to the current situation is the spring of 2002, when al Jazeera drove and energized Arab protests against the Israeli re-occupation of the West Bank not just by showing gory pictures but by showing Arabs that other Arabs were marching and protesting. I know from interviewing lots of people involved in those protests that the Arab media were really important in shaping their ideas of what was possible, inspiring them to march and to protest - and, in a very real way, making them feel that they were part of that same, common story that I mentioned above. When Jordanians marched in Amman, they weren't only 'talking' to King Abdullah, they knew that they were being seen by Egyptians, by Moroccans, by Palestinians."

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