Small Protests in Saudi Arabia

[earth_as_one]

The protests are small, but considering the risk these people take....

Under the surface, Saudi Arabia is at risk of revolution just like other Arab dictatorships. These protests could grow...
Saudi Arabia bans protest rallies - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

A Saudi revolution would have a huge impact on the world economy

 

[petros]

March 11 is the "Day of Rage" planned in Saudi Arabia.

 

[Mowich]

I was away house-sitting for the month of February and had no access to TV and little access to the intenet so I might have missed something that would explain why all this unrest is happening. What started this push for democracy in so many places in the Middle East? From what I have read, there is nothing to explain why so many countries seemed to spontaneoulsy erupt in demonstrations against their governments.

What was the spark that started it all?

 

[petros]

I was away house-sitting for the month of February and had no access to TV and little access to the intenet so I might have missed something that would explain why all this unrest is happening. What started this push for democracy in so many places in the Middle East? From what I have read, there is nothing to explain why so many countries seemed to spontaneoulsy erupt in demonstrations against their governments.

What was the spark that started it all?

Fear of China doing what they are doing in mid and southern Africa so the push of the power block (oil) is doing what it can to secure energy by stimulating the unrest of the youth.

 

[Mowich]

Fear of China doing what they are doing in mid and southern Africa so the push of the power block (oil) is doing what it can to secure energy by stimulating the unrest of the youth.

Okay, petros, but how did it start? Who started it - was it a social media thing or what?

 

[Johnny Utah]

The protests are small, but considering the risk these people take....

Under the surface, Saudi Arabia is at risk of revolution just like other Arab dictatorships. These protests could grow...
Saudi Arabia bans protest rallies - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

A Saudi revolution would have a huge impact on the world economy

No ****, should the Saudi Royal Family fall and the country fall into the hands of the hard line Islamic Extremists we're all in trouble..

 

[petros]

Okay, petros, but how did it start? Who started it - was it a social media thing or what?

Twitters and Facebook until Egyptian Gov pulled the plug on cell phones and the internet. By then it had grown bigger and bigger as the protestors stopped for prayers and word of mouth in the Mosques and Coptic churches. Muslims surrounded the Coptic Christians so the police couldn't raid them while they were at Church. It wasn't really a Muslim uprising rather than a youth uprising that crossed cultures and religions.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Twitters and Facebook until Egyptian Gov pulled the plug on cell phones and the internet. By then it had grown bigger and bigger as the protestors stopped for prayers and word of mouth in the Mosques and Coptic churches. Muslims surrounded the Coptic Christians so the police couldn't raid them while they were at Church. It wasn't really a Muslim uprising rather than a youth uprising that crossed cultures and religions.

During these uprisings Twitter and Facebook have shown they're powerful tools which almost makes the MSM obsolete because you are getting first hand accounts of what's actually going on rather than the usual media spin..

 

[petros]

During these uprisings Twitter and Facebook have shown they're powerful tools which almost makes the MSM obsolete because you are getting first hand accounts of what's actually going on rather than the usual media spin..

Yuuup and that is why I can say that it was a cross cultural and cross religious youth uprising instead of some boogeyman lead anti- Jew thing.

The facts got out before the MSN could taint the truth.

 

[earth_as_one]

Okay, petros, but how did it start? Who started it - was it a social media thing or what?

The fuel: Rising food prices, extreme poverty, food insecurity combined with a connected internet savvy youth who are educated and unemployed, because of corruption and nepotism.

The spark:

December 17: Mohammed Bouazizi, an 26-year-old man trying to support his family by selling fruits and vegetables in the central town of Sidi Bouzid, douses himself in paint thinner and sets himself on fire in front of a local municipal office.
Police had confiscated his produce cart because he lacked a permit and beat him up when he resisted. Local officials then refused his hear his complaint. He is taken to a hospital near Tunis for treatment of his third-degree burns.
Bouazizi's act of desperation highlights the public's boiling frustration over living standards, police violence, rampant unemployment, and a lack of human rights. The protests begin in Sidi Bouzid that same day. They quickly spread across the region, then the country.

Tunisian Time line:
Timeline: Tunisia's civil unrest - Tunisia - Al Jazeera English

Egypt:
A people's uprising against empire - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

BTW, Al Jazeera covers the action live.
AJE - Al Jazeera English

 

[DaSleeper]

You forgot .......aljazeera is unbiased.....:roll:

 

[Trotz]

The fuel: Rising food prices, extreme poverty, food insecurity combined with a connected internet savvy youth who are educated and unemployed, because of corruption and nepotism.

We NEED these protests in Canada.

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Live fast, die old

But many companies are still failing to realise the importance of a market which is set to grow from 9.5 million to 15 million by 2040. Among this group will be the baby boomers, who currently hold 80% of the UK's wealth and buy 80% of all top of the range cars, 80% of cruises and 50% of skincare products.

Compared to our Grandparents who had only known the poverty of the Great Depression...! my generation in Canada; even though we are better educated than our parents, only have access to less than 20% of the wealth in the entire country and our futures are also being compromised by the boomer-engineered mass immigration; who want immigrants to both increase the value of real estate market and to take care of them when they are elderly.

Good riddance! My generation will be enslaved for decades to come to pay for the old farts' healthcare and pension plan. Youth in Canada (or everyone under 35) should be in revolt over this inequality of wealth



Guess who the Libyans went after first in the revolt? The world sure was quick in rushing those ferries to pick up all the European, Pakistani and Chinese labourers in Libya.

 

[petros]

We NEED these protests in Canada.

Why so this time the cops can use steel bullets instead of rubber ones like in Toronto?

 

[Trotz]

I'm sure that would go down well...

 

[earth_as_one]

A great opinion piece about the current state of Saudi Arabia:
Why a king's ransom is not enough for Saudi Arabia's protesters | Comment is free | The Guardian

 

[Tonington]

You forgot .......aljazeera is unbiased.....:roll:

So wait, is Al Jazeera correct or not? Are there protests in Saudi Arabia? Are the timelines correct? I'd like to know before clicking...dial-up internet means I scrutinize content much more than I used to, including threads here! :lol:

 

[earth_as_one]

You forgot .......aljazeera is unbiased.....:roll:

Sure they have their biases like other news sources, but if you weren't in Tahrir Square or watching Al Jazeera during the Egyptian uprising, then you never saw it. I watched Al Jazeera and the 24 hour a day live coverage was second to no other news source. The raw images came from Tahrir Square straight to my laptop unfiltered. No other news source did that until the uprising was almost over.

Nothing to worry about in Saudi Arabia... yet. Mark March 11 on your calender....

meanwhile here are the links to al Jazeera:
http://english.aljazeera.net/

Region in Turmoil

Read our comprehensive listing of unrest in Middle East / North Africa or click on the panels below.

 

[CDNBear]

The facts got out before the MSN could taint the truth.

Ya, and anyone with an internet connect and a FaceBook account is all about the facts!!!???

 

[Trotz]

That's the amusing thing is that we often learn of the news before the boomers even make word of it. It's even more laughable when CNN is actually using Facebook and YouTube as a source for their news reports (ugh - maybe it's time to shut down those news stations!)

 

[earth_as_one]

Facebook and twitter are about as reliable as talking to someone. On the plus side, the message is controlled by the individual rather than someone like Ruprt Murdoch. Also you have potentially millions of sources, rather than the 2 or 3 which control the MSM.