The power of blogging

This article discusses the events in history which have lead up to recent political unrest in Egypt, but as Hirschkind states, "it did not come out of the blue."  Many of the activists (both Islamic and secular) in this movement were utilizing the social web in order to make their statements. In 2004 a group of  Islamic groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, and secular leftist organizations found a common ground in support of one another.  Although these groups had much to quarrel about, they agreed on one thing: to end the Mubarack regime. Their coming together is known as the Kiyafa movement.  Many human rights issues in Egypt had been questioned prior but always denied.  However a local Egyptian uploaded a video to his blog of a prisoner being physically and sexually abused by police.  Within a year, these blogs jumped into the hundreds.  Many of these bloggers played huge roles in the recent events. Clearly new forms of media have made tremendous changes globally.
http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2011/02/09/the-road-to-tahrir/