Okay, so obviously I totally failed my first attempt at NaBloPoMo. Bad blogger! 🙂

On a more serious note, however, I’m currently glued to the internet (more than usual, that is, or at least in a less frivolous fashion *g*) following the protests in Egypt after Tunisian protesters managed to oust their long-term dictator. Some serious change seems to be in the air in the Middle East as populations reach the point where they no longer accept living under undemocratic governments. The violence is shocking, and my heart goes out to the mostly youthful protesters. I don’t know how long this will go on – but hopefully it will at least result in the Western world stopping its support of dictatorships in the name of stability in the Middle East.

I get most of my news from Al Jazeera’s English coverage, with video, liveblogs and tweets from correspondents. Despite internet and mobile networks being mostly blocked, there’s also quite a lot of updates from protesters.

All of this immediacy is the biggest difference from how it used to be, I think – like during Iran’s Green Revolution we get to feel as if we’re a part of the situation, as if we know those people. The protests don’t happen somewhere far away, tiny images filtered by newsreporters, they’re going on RIGHT NOW, happening to people just like us, people that use Facebook and take videos on their phones. This is a good thing – it definitely makes spin-doctoring much more difficult as both sides are able to get their voices heard, not just those in power.