Egypt

Billboards in Cairo to welcome Erdogan by AymanM from yfrog on Twitter

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

After seeing the huge impact of social media on the Egyptian revolution, Egyptian blogger and Twitter user, Mahmoud Salem (@SandMonkey) decided to collaborate with a local non-profit organisation to help them raise funds using the power of Twitter to offer basic services in an impoverished neighborhood of Cairo.

Egyptian Christian business tycoon, and recent politician, Naguib Sawiris, posted a cartoon on his Twitter account showing Mickey Mouse with a beard and Minnie Mouse in Niqab, and commented on it saying: “Micky and Minnie after…”

He received lots of comments later from people who didn't accept what they see as mockery of the Islamic religion.

Ilan Chaim Grapel, an American immigrant to Israel, was arrested in Egypt last Sunday. Grapel is now detained for 15 days as he is being questioned by the State Security Prosecution over alleged espionage activities in Egypt, attempting to instigate conflict between the Egyptian people and the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, and to incite religious conflict between Muslims and Copts.

The appearance of Egyptian political activist and tweep Gigi Ibrahim on The Daily Show brought a wave of support and protests from fellow tweeps, who covered the Egyptian revolution.

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

Last February, Sheryl Stolberg of The New York Times wrote an article about the political science professor, Gene Sharp, whose ideas were credited by her as being an inspiration for the Egyptian revolution, as well as many other uprisings in the region.

Written by Ayesha Saldanha

What would you do if you found a camera, and wanted to return it to its owner? One Egyptian taxi driver decided to do it the Egyptian way and utilise the internet - with rapid results.

Written by محمد الجوهري · Translated by Mohamed ElGohary · View original post [ar]

Written by Gilad Lotan

In this post, we reflect on Egyptian blogger Hani Morsi's writing about technology driven activism and the role social media plays in providing incremental societal change. Hani's core argument focuses on the long term effects of social media. Rather than looking at it as a cathartic outlet for the oppressed, he stresses its value in making an otherwise impossible popular political discourse possible.

Written by Amira Al Hussaini

Now that ousted Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has fled the country, the question on everyone's mind is: Where is he headed to?

Netizens are putting their money on any one of the Arab Gulf Countries - which comprise of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman.