Viewing Saudi Arabia

ADDED 02/09/2019

Authoritarianism 2.0: How Saudi Arabia and the UAE are silencing dissent

FROM 02/08/2019 | Middle East Eye

BY Andreas Krieg

The self-immolation of a street vendor in Tunisia in December 2010 broke a barrier of fear for Arabs, long muted and intimidated by authoritarian autocrats across the region. Mohamed Bouazizi’s desperate act of protest set in motion a wave of civil societal activism, disobedience, protest and eventually revolution that would ultimately overthrow some of the […]

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ADDED 07/21/2018

Authoritarians used to be scared of social media, now they rule it

FROM 07/21/2018 | Boing Boing

BY CORY DOCTOROW

A new report from the Institute For the Future on “state-sponsored trolling” documents the rise and rise of government-backed troll armies who terrorize journalists and opposition figures with seemingly endless waves of individuals who bombard their targets with vile vitriol, from racial slurs to rape threats. The report traces the origin of the phenomenon to a series […]

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