The-cat-and mouse game between protesters and governments in the Mideast and North Africa is not just taking place in the streets.
Some regimes, including Egypt’s, have limited internet and cell phone service as they realized that the voice of protest is amplified through social media and on the Web — though recent reports suggest some services are back up in Egypt.
Young digital revolutionaries are using social networking to both share their best practices and inspire would-be activists throughout the region — so-called “liberation technology.”
The entire region is grappling with rising unemployment and a huge demographic shift in which a sizable majority of the population is under 35.
After watching the fates of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak and Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, some leaders in the region previously opposed to reform are bartering and negotiating concessions as if in an Arab bazaar.
On Tuesday, Jordan’s King Abdullah dismissed his government following protests in recent weeks in which several thousand people demanded economic and political reforms.
Elise Labott and Josh Levs, CNN
