THE Maghreb's Citizen Kanes have facilitated street protesters demands for societal freedoms already experienced by those who have internet access.
The virtual anonymity of social media facilitates a kind of free-flow of comment and opinion for citizen journalists without fear of peer group censure or any requirement to conform to social norms.
The disjointed story told by a reading of such frenzied uploads by cyber hacks, out of context and out of sequence, has wrong footed the region's dinosaur leaders as technology enabled agitation outpaces their ability to control dissent.
The diffusion of raw, unedited, mobile phone images to our TV screens is a mix of political and social dissent mixed in with public spectacle.
The street killings and recent hanging by Iranian authorities of 'dissidents' for alleged involvement in street protests three years previously indicates a personal sacrifice paid by demonstrators.
The ownership or control of cyber comment in western democracies will challenge their citizens tolerance for freedom and liberty when such countries are already engaged in an aggressive campaign to close down comment or viewpoints framed as 'politically incorrect' or perceived as being out of step with societal norms.
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