small groups of protesters nearly every morning: Ministers in the transitional government in Tripoli in discussion with the authors, January 2012.
Al Jazeera English was quick to report on the number of protester deaths: “Fresh Protests Erupt in Syria,” Al Jazeera, last updated April 8, 2011, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/04/201148104927711611.html.
Al Jazeera Arabic website did not: David Pollock, “Al Jazeera: One Organization, Two Messages,” Washington Institute, Policy Analysis, April 28, 2011, http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/aljazeera-one-organization-two-messages.
the disparity was due to the Arabic station’s political deference to Iran: Ibid.
they acknowledged similar grievances: Activists from the Jasmine Revolution in discussion with the authors, January 2012.
Twitter account started by a twenty-something graduate student: Stephan Faris, “Meet the Man Tweeting Egypt’s Voices to the World,” Time, February 1, 2011, http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2045489,00.html.
posted updates about the protests: Ibid.
@Jan25voices Twitter handle was a major conduit of information: Ibid.
Andy Carvin, who curated one of the most important streams of information: Andy Carvin, interview by Robert Siegel, “The Revolution Will Be Tweeted,” NPR, February 21, 2011, http://www.npr.org/2011/02/21/133943604/The-Revolution-Will-Be-Tweeted.
they had formed the National Transitional Council (NTC) in Benghazi: “Anti-Gaddafi Figures Say Form National Council,” Reuters, February 27, 2011, Africa edition, http://af.reuters.com/article/idAFWEB194120110227.
prominent opposition figures, regime defectors, a former army official, academics, attorneys, politicians and business leaders: Dan Murphy, “The Members of Libya’s National Transitional Council,” Christian Science Monitor, September 2, 2011, http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2011/0902/The-members-of-Libya-s-National-Transitional-Council; David Gritten, “Key Figures in Libya’s Rebel Council,” BBC, August 25, 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12698562.
Citizens continued to protest the government: “Tunisia’s Leaders Resign from Ruling Party,” NPR, January 20, 2011, http://www.npr.org/2011/01/20/133083002/tunisias-leaders-resign-from-ruling-party; Christopher Alexander, “Après Ben Ali: Déluge, Democracy, or Authoritarian Relapse?,” Middle East Channel (blog), Foreign Policy, January 24, 2011, http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/01/24/apres_ben_ali_deluge_democracy_or_authoritarian_relapse.
“victim of the ministry of the interior”: conversation with Tunisian prime minister Hamadi Jebali, January 2012.
spent fourteen years in prison: David D. Kirkpatrick, “Opposition in Tunisia Finds Chance for Rebirth,” New York Times, January 20, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/world/africa/21islamist.html?pagewanted=all; Tarek Amara and Mariam Karouny, “Tunisia Names New Government, Scraps Secret Police,” Reuters, March 8, 2011, http://in.mobile.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-55387920110307?irpc=984.
“It is hard to imagine de Gaulles and Churchills appealing”: Henry Kissinger in discussion with the authors, December 2011.
“If you are a revolutionary, show us your capabilities”: Mahmoud Salem, “Chapter’s End!,” Rantings of a Sandmonkey (blog), June 18, 2012, http://www.sandmonkey.org/2012/06/18/chapters-end/.
He exhorted street activists to participate in governance: Mahmoud Salem, “For the Light to Come Back,” Rantings of a Sandmonkey (blog), March 30, 2012, http://www.sandmonkey.org/2012/03/30/for-the-light-to-come-back/.
Tina Rosenberg’s book Join the Club: For a more detailed interpretation of Tina Rosenberg’s Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World, see Saul Austerlitz, “Power of Persuasion: Tina Rosenberg’s Join the Club,” review, The National (Abu Dhabi), February 25, 2011, http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/power-of-persuasion-tina-rosenbergs-join-the-club#full; Jeffrey D. Sachs, “Can Social Networking Cure Social Ills?,” review, New York Times, May 20, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/books/review/book-review-join-the-club-by-tina-rosenberg.html?pagewanted=all; Thomas Hodgkinson, “Join the Club by Tina Rosenberg—Review,” Guardian (Manchester), September 1, 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/02/join-club-tina-rosenberg-review; and Steve Wein-berg, “C’mon, Everyone’s Doing It,” review, Bookish (blog), Houston Chronicle, March 27, 2011, http://blog.chron.com/bookish/2011/03/cmon-everyones-doing-it-a-review-of-tina-rosenbergs-new-book/.
Perhaps the most compelling evidence: Tina Rosenberg, Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World (New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 2011).
powerful story of Serbian activists from the past training future activists around the world: Ibid., 278–82, 332–36.
they subsequently reoccupied Tahrir Square: “Egypt Anti-Military Protesters Fill Tahrir Square,” BBC, June 22, 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18547371; Aya Batrawy, Associated Press (AP), “Egypt Protests: Thousands Gather in Tahrir Square to Demonstrate Against Military Rule,” Huffington Post, April 20, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/20/egypt-protests-tahrir-square_n_1439802.html; Gregg Carlstrom and Evan Hill, “Scorecard: Egypt Since the Revolution,” Al Jazeera, last updated January 24, 2012, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2012/01/20121227117613598.html; “Egypt Protests: Death Toll Up in Cairo’s Tahrir Square,” BBC, November 20, 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15809739.
Iranian regime during the 2009 postelection protests: Christopher Rhoads, Geoffrey A. Fowler, and Chip Cummins, “Iran Cracks Down on Internet Use, Foreign Media,” Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124519888117821213.html.
Egyptian regime effectively shut down all Internet and mobile connections: James Cowie, “Egypt Leaves the Internet,” Renesys (blog), January 27, 2011, http://www.renesys.com/blog/2011/01/egypt-leaves-the-internet.shtml.
exception to this all-ISP block: James Cowie, “Egypt Returns to the Internet,” Renesys (blog), February 2, 2011, http://www.renesys.com/blog/2011/02/egypt-returns-to-the-internet.shtml.
The country’s four main Internet service providers: Cowie, “Egypt Leaves the Internet,” http://www.renesys.com/blog/2011/01/egypt-leaves-the-internet.shtml.
mobile-phone service was also suspended: Associated Press (AP), “Vodafone: Egypt Ordered Cell Phone Service Stopped,” Huffington Post, January 28, 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/28/vodafone-egypt-service-dropped_n_815493.html.
Vodafone Egypt, issued a statement that morning: “Statements—Vodafone Egypt,” Vodafone, see January 28, 2011, http://www.vodafone.com/content/index/media/press_statements/statement_on_egypt.html.