1 of 11

Censorship and Revolt in the Middle East & North Africa

Ed Webb

Dickinson College

2 of 11

Repression of expression across the Middle East and North Africa in run-up to Arab uprisings.

​

​

Regimes of censorship in Egypt and Tunisia.

​

​

Preliminary conclusions about censorship, consent, and popular mobilization

3 of 11

“These demonstrations … wouldn’t have taken place without a broad domain of freedom of expression, freedom of press, and many other forms of freedoms that were granted to the Egyptian people by the reforms Egypt is embracing.”

President Hosni Mubarak, televised addresses to the people of Egypt, 28 January 2011

4 of 11

Freedom House Press Freedom Index

5 of 11

Table 3 – MENA states' relative rankings within the region in 2010 indexes

FH RSF

Algeria 7 10

Bahrain 11 (=) 13

Egypt 5 8

Iran 19 20

Iraq 8 9

Israel 1 2

Jordan 6 5

KSA 15 (=) 15

Kuwait 3 (=) 3 (=)

Lebanon 3 (=) 1

Libya 20 16

Morocco 9 (=) 11

Oman 11 (=) 7

PA 17 14

Qatar 9 (=) 6

Syria 15 (=) 19

Tunisia 18 17

Turkey 2 12

UAE 11 (=) 3 (=)

Yemen 14 18

​

6 of 11

Egypt & Tunisia as seen by FH & RSF

7 of 11

Red Lines – Egypt:

​

Military

​

President & Family

​

Religion, Sectarianism

​

Sex

​

Saudi Arabia

8 of 11

Red Lines – Tunisia:

​

President & Family

​

Succession

9 of 11

Censorship Tools

​

​

Laws

​

Ownership

​

Threats & coercion

​

Economic (dis)incentives

10 of 11

Trajectories

11 of 11

“They broke the tools”