The New Arab Street: Past, Presents and Futures in Dissent

Creative dissent in the Arab public sphere did not begin with the popular uprisings that swept the Arab region in 2010 against autocratic leaders and did not end in the streets, however successful or troubled their conclusion. The story of these uprisings and the painful struggles of their protagonists is, in many ways, the story of the power of agency in a time of constraints; the power of everyday acts of daring boosted by transformations in the Arab communication sphere, enabling ordinary citizens to challenge hegemonic media narratives in the framing and communication of their stories. It is definitely not an agency that was ‘awakened’ by popular uprisings but rather it was rooted in historical trajectories of dissent, diverse in their agendas and aspirations, and in their application of media as a means of communication.