Episode 2 How Facebook Changed the World: The Arab Spring


Episode 2

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This year, the Arab world erupted as a generation of young people, no

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longer prepared to suffer in silence, rose up against the hated

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despots are ruled their country. By the end of February, it was

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beginning to look as if revolution was easy. A generation of young

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bloggers and tweeters were giving voice to democratic movements

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across the Arab world. People were starting to speak optimistically of

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a Arab Spring that events were now about to take a darker turn. Using

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the unique film record captured by protesters and their mobile phones,

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I will piece together the next chapter of the story. When we went

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out onto the street, we were expecting never to come back. It

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would be death or a long prison I will meet the activists who risk

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their lives to expose the barbarity of their governments. The most

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important thing for them is to take this and put it on YouTube say

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people will see it. Eventually these are the last moment of

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somebody's life. I will show how the Facebook

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generation took their fight to the streets.

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TRANSLATION: Even those who were filming would hold a camera in one

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hand and a rocket in the other. kick-started a war that would rip

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the Arab world of its most notorious dictators. Gaddafi is

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destroying our country and now we can get freedom and build our

:01:53.:02:03.
:02:03.:02:11.

Cairo, February 2011. For the first -- second time in the space of one

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month, people in the Arab world had driven out hated despot. Four weeks

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earlier, Zine Abedine Ben Ali had fled from Tunisia. Now it was the

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:02:37.:02:38.

turn of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak. The question was where with the

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revolutionary fervour spread next. After the dramatic fall of Hosni

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Mubarak in Egypt came the first stirrings of dissent across the

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Egyptian border in Libya. This was one of the most tightly controlled

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autocratic systems in the entire region and yet even here, the

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regime would soon become vulnerable. Sandwiched between Egypt and

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Tunisia, and Libya of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi could not insulate

:03:07.:03:17.
:03:17.:03:18.

itself from the democratic What was about to happen here would

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galvanise the entire international community and show that in the age

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of the internet, despots could no longer hide their outrages behind

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closed doors. For 42 years, Gaddafi had run the country as a personal

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fiefdom, lining his pockets and those of his relatives with oil

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revenue, while running down institutions and failing to invest

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in economic growth. He operated a divide and rule policy, exploiting

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the tribal differences in his largely desert country. He was

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notoriously paranoid about his people meeting to share ideas and

:04:00.:04:10.
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discouraged any form of public But as in Tunisia and Egypt, the

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internet had become a place where young people could meet and talk.

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People like Aya, a medical student, whose mother had been imprisoned by

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Gaddafi, and Mimi, whose political activist father had been killed in

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a Tripoli jail. We entered face but because we thought it is a way that

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you can express your opinions, feelings, in a very freely way.

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TRANSLATION: I started reading articles, browsing Facebook and

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finding out what might be possible, how there could be a revolution. I

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started to join some Facebook groups blogging about freedom.

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we saw the people making those groups and just talking and they

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just listen to you and it feels the same as you, we just feel that we

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can do a lot through Facebook. Unlike neighbouring Tunisia, Libya

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had poor communications and only 5% of people had access to the

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internet. Gaddafi did not see it as a threat. What he failed to realise

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is that divide and rule didn't work in the age of the internet. Social

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media at the power to unite young people against him. -- had the

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power. I had had enough. Things were so that so I started to

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encourage young people to stand up for themselves and I used online

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chat rooms in Libya. I was hopeful because I came across so many aware

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and well-informed young people. The usual excuses of, we are fed up,

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and, it is hopeless, were not there on Facebook. An invisible army of

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young Libyans was waiting in the wings. Unemployed graduates like

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Mohammed, Salim and Mohammed, who saw no prospect for themselves in

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Gaddafi's Libya. TRANSLATION: Everybody was just

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waiting for the first spark, especially after the revolutions in

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Egypt and Tunisia. Everybody was waiting to be part of something big.

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We were all waiting for someone to make the first sacrifice. This was

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the problem, waiting for the first person to break the barrier of fear

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and call for the regime to be toppled. It was no coincidence that

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the first spark of revolution in Libya was ignited in the eastern

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city of Benghazi. With Iddesleigh Conservative, the region had a long

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history of rebellion against Gaddafi's dictatorship --

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religiously Conservative. He had routinely rounded up political

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Islamists from here, imprisoning and torturing them. One incident in

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particular had left deep scars on the community. In 1996, over 1,000

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prisoners had been gunned down in cold blood while being held at the

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Abu Salim prison in Tripoli. Benghazi never forgot its dead.

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TRANSLATION: My son was killed in Abu Salim and his father became ill

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with grief and he cried so much, he lost his sight. He was 18 years old.

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He was imprisoned for three-and-a- half-year so. Why was he a vested?

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-- arrested? Just for praying in the mosque. For no reason? He was

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arrested for nothing. As revolution spread across Tunisia and Egypt,

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the Abu Salim family is now became a focal point for dissent in Libya.

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Anxious to stamp out the budding protest, on February 15th, Gaddafi

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arrested the family's lawyer, Fathi Terbil, who had lost his brother

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and two relatives in the massacre. TRANSLATION: there were 23 or 22

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security men. They came in six cars. They said, you must come with us.

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Before they left, they searched the house. They took my laptop, my

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mobile and some private documents. They took me to the headquarters of

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News leaked out of the arrest of Fathi Terbil. The Abu Salim

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families reacted furiously, gathering outside the building, the

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headquarters of the national security. They wanted the release

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of their lawyer. A delegation was allowed inside to meet Gaddafi's

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right hand man in Benghazi, his brother-in-law, Abdullah Al-

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Senoussi. TRANSLATION: He said if you go out

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and demonstrate, even peacefully, even with your hands behind your

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back, we will still shoot you. At the very least you will be arrested.

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He was very firm, he was hard fought in the way he spoke to us.

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He was not negotiating. He said, I But outside the National Security

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building, the crowd was growing. The word had spread further and

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there were hundreds of people on the streets of Benghazi. They were

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:10:29.:10:30.

now calling for the fall of the The face but activists could now

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see that their anger was shared across the city. -- the Facebook

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activists. TRANSLATION: The response was

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amazing. Young people, poor people, lawyers, teachers, doctors. It

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wasn't just one section of society. It was everybody. It was

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extraordinary. Anger was now growing across Libya.

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On 17th February, a huge crowd gathered in this square in the

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eastern port city of Tobruk. Their focus was a monument honouring

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Gaddafi's famous Green Books, which detailed his bizarre political

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philosophy. He the activists had learned from Egypt and Tunisia that

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for their revolution to succeed, they had to let the world be on

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Libya know what was happening. A young chemical engineers took

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action. I just tried, I take my phone, I am filming, I am forming.

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So you thought, I need to capture this moment? Yes. I think it would

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I see my brother here and he told me, go back to the house and upload

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it quickly. He told me internet will cut soon. That night, Tawfik

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knocked himself inside an internet cafe and a bloated his video fitted.

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-- and uploaded his video footage. I was uploading the sections one

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after the other, maybe five different videos. The internet

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signal was very weak. I was praying for the upload to be complete

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before they cut it off. Perfection about the Green Book of took me

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about 30 minutes to upload on to YouTube. The next day, the internet

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was shut down a cross Libya. Gaddafi had finally realised that

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in the World Wide Web, Libyans had a powerful weapon. All of the

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country's internet connections were routed through one company in

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Tripoli and could be instantly disabled. Mobile phone networks

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were also shut down. But Tawfik's crucial video had made it to the

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outside world. TRANSLATION: two hours after I

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uploaded the video, my sister called me to say the fall of the

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Green Book statute was being broadcast by Al-Jazeera.

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important do you think the pictures you filmed were to the revolution?

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TRANSLATION: It was very important because when revolutionaries from

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other cities saw it, they knew that Tobruk had fallen. The pictures had

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a great psychological impact on the protesters because the Green Book

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:13:53.:13:53.

was the most hated thing in the People all over the world could now

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see that the Arab Spring had not stopped in Egypt. In Benghazi, the

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demonstration step -- turned into the street war, when men wearing

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yellow helmets, believed to be Gaddafi henchman, descended onto

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the streets and attacked the What weapons did you have? Stones,

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just stones. You were just throwing stones at the police? Yes, stones

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for staff TRANSLATION: Some young people were in charge of filming.

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Even those who were filming would hold a camera in one hand and a

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GUNSHOTS. With the internet now cut off, it

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was much more difficult to get pictures out of Libya. But thanks

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to old technology, it was still possible. Over the next few days,

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Libyans drove here to the Egyptian border in all kinds of cars and

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battered taxes, with memory cards that they handed over to friends

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and supporters. They then upload it stemmed from Egypt. On 19th

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February, a funeral march for those killed in the fighting past

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directly in front of the Katiba, the military barracks in Benghazi,

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and the seat of Gaddafi's power. TRANSLATION: We all walked down

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Jamal Street and knew that once we got close to the military base,

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something was going to happen. Every single a young man in

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Benghazi was marching in this funeral. As the funeral march

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approached the kitty but, snipers started firing from the rooftops. -

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- at the Katiba. TRANSLATION: Of the snipers were charging --

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targeting people who were active in the revolution. They knew exactly

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who to shoot. These were professionals. They were not

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ordinary people with guns. Mohammed and his friend were

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TRANSLATION: A friend of mine was killed. My friend and I were

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shooting a video of what was going on, with this mobile I am holding

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Scores of protesters were killed, including Mohammed's friend.

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TRANSLATION: What they did shocked all of Benghazi and Libya. The

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regime was taking it revenge, even against a funeral. They had no

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respect for the dead. The regime's attack on the furore would be

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decisive. -- on the funeral. Faced with orders to fire on the mourners,

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some local army and police units switched sides, joining the

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:17:38.:17:45.

The goal of the rebels was to take the Katiba. For TRANSLATION: I

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remember a young men heading towards the military base without

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weapons. But they were burying their chests and shouting at,

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shooters. -- bearing. With a few weapons, they used whatever they

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:18:07.:18:10.

TRANSLATION: What I really loved that -- was that why we a Ba'ath

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while we attacked the front, other people attacked the rear. It was a

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massive invasion. Thanks to the power of our faith and our will to

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live, it looked as though we were working to a plan, but there was no

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Within hours, the protesters had stormed through these gates and

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Gaddafi's rule over Benghazi had I was in the hospital that day. We

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were under stress because we were trying to nurse the injured people.

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We just heard screaming outside, screaming and gunshots, and so we

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went out. We left everything that went out to see what is going on.

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:19:41.:20:05.

We saw people were really happy. We When the protesters finally got in

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here, I think they must have been consumed by absolute fury, because

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what they have done to this place is nothing short of brittle. They

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have packed everything that they could do pieces -- brittle. You

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feel that they really took their opportunity to have their revenge

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:20:35.:20:39.

in what are the way they could. -- in whatever way they could.

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Gaddafi's ruled in eastern Libya was now over. But unlike Ben Ali in

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Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt, he refused to go quietly. Instead, he

:20:49.:20:59.
:20:59.:21:09.

buried his revenge. -- he asserted But his so-called "zenga zenga"

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speech backfired. This parody went via role in Libya and around the

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world. -- viral. The protest movement that had started in online

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chat rooms would become a full- scale civil war. Over the coming

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weeks, Western governments would have to decide whose side they were

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on. Like Mubarak in Egypt, the West had courted the bat -- Gaddafi.

:21:39.:21:44.

They wanted his oil and his intelligence on Al-Qaeda. But the

:21:44.:21:48.

triumph of democracy in Tunisia and Egypt had taught the leaders in the

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United States and Europe that it could be a mistake to hang on to

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their former friends. Protests were now breaking out in other Arab

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countries. Morocco, Algeria, Jordan, Yemen and the tiny island state of

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Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. At first sight, Bahrain seemed an

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unlikely candidate for revolt. As an oil-rich Gulf state, the small

:22:14.:22:19.

monarchy was a playground for the rich and famous and hosted prestige

:22:19.:22:24.

international events like the Formula One Grand Prix. Yet

:22:24.:22:34.
:22:34.:22:34.

underneath the glitz and glamour, The majority Shia population had

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long harboured grudges against Bahrain's corrupt Sunni leadership.

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Sheas were discriminated against and the country's claim to be a

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democracy were a sham. -- this year. Situated between the Sunni kingdom

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of Saudi Arabia and this year Republic of Iran, Bahrain was

:22:58.:23:03.

pivotal. It provided a strategic outpost for the United States and

:23:03.:23:06.

hosted its Fifth Fleet. Developments here would have

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repercussions far beyond the tiny island. Inspired by the uprisings

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in Tunisia and Egypt, a young Shia activist used Facebook to organise

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a protest in Bahrain. On 14th February, Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima

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and thousands of Bahrainis took to the Street to demand reforms from

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the ruling Al-Khalifa family and its head, King Hamad. Later that

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same day, armed police waited for a Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima outside his

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home. TRANSLATION: We heard screams and gunshots. We ran and from the

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doorway, I saw him lying at the end of the street. I didn't understand

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why he was lying there. I started shouting, come back, come back. He

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got up and started running towards me. He was running in a very odd

:24:11.:24:16.

way, like somebody who is very sick. I couldn't understand why. As soon

:24:17.:24:21.

as he was inside, I closed the door and he fell down on to the floor

:24:21.:24:27.

and started vomiting blood. father picked his son up to take

:24:27.:24:35.

him to hospital. TRANSLATION: The police were standing at the end of

:24:35.:24:42.

the alleyway. They had followed him and shot him. I put Ali in the car

:24:43.:24:49.

and I saw that the police were proud that they had hit him. They

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were holding their weapons high. As if to say, victory. They were

:24:55.:25:05.
:25:05.:25:05.

celebrating. TRANSLATION: When my brother went into the intensive

:25:05.:25:10.

care room, I heard screams and then I heard my father scream. And then

:25:10.:25:20.
:25:20.:25:24.

Within hours, that news of my shaver -- Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima's

:25:24.:25:28.

killing had spread across the island. 10,000 angry Bahrainis

:25:28.:25:38.
:25:38.:25:46.

CHANTING. That night, King Hamad made a rare

:25:46.:25:53.

TV appearance. He expressed his regret for the death of ballet and

:25:53.:26:03.
:26:03.:26:17.

But his speech did not appeal the enraged Bahrainis, he now took

:26:17.:26:24.

their demonstration into the heart of the capital. -- who now. The

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protesters were looking for their equivalent of Cairo's Tahrir Square,

:26:28.:26:33.

and they came here to what was then known as Pearl Roundabout. Teachers,

:26:33.:26:38.

lawyers, religious elders, men, women and children. They pitched

:26:38.:26:45.

their tents here and vowed not to leave until their demands were met.

:26:46.:26:50.

They demanded political reform and equal rights for all citizens, but

:26:50.:27:00.
:27:00.:27:09.

Shia and Sunni. -- both. Human rights activist saw that something

:27:09.:27:18.

unique was happening. This was a frightening moment for them. Belle

:27:18.:27:25.

Khalifah had prospered by playing one section of the people off

:27:25.:27:30.

against each other. But now people were looking for political freedom

:27:30.:27:40.
:27:40.:27:40.

and civil rights. Today's later, government security forces took up

:27:40.:27:48.

position on the bridge overlooking the roundabout -- two days later.

:27:48.:27:58.
:27:58.:28:26.

What happened next was captured on Everyone is sleeping early morning,

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and suddenly they were attacked. Their tents were set on fire and

:28:31.:28:41.
:28:41.:28:47.

burnt and many were killed. Men and women were running here and there.

:28:47.:28:51.

They didn't even -- even give them a chance to clear the place. They

:28:51.:29:01.
:29:01.:29:06.

As the clashes turned deadly, the wounded were brought here to

:29:06.:29:11.

Bahrain's made it past -- hospital. In the car-park, there were crowds

:29:11.:29:16.

of protesters, some of them using loudspeakers to leave the chance

:29:16.:29:24.

for the Al-Khalifa family to go. -- lead the chanting. Inside, the

:29:25.:29:28.

medical staff were shocked at the nature of the injuries, including a

:29:28.:29:33.

gunshot wounds to the head. Some of the doctors gave emotional

:29:33.:29:38.

interviews to the foreign media. is a massacre, by all means,

:29:38.:29:42.

because they are innocent. They haven't done anything, they were

:29:42.:29:47.

just protesting. What is this? We are that we do first century. We

:29:47.:29:51.

are civilised people, they were only demonstrating and they were

:29:51.:30:00.

Outrage medical staff joined the protesters and the police began to

:30:00.:30:10.
:30:10.:30:19.

see the hospital as a hub of anti- But the crackdown did not stop the

:30:19.:30:27.

protests. The protesters tip to the streets and someone was filming,

:30:27.:30:33.

unaware that security forces were lying in wait.

:30:33.:30:43.
:30:43.:30:55.

The images were uploaded onto YouTube and went around the world.

:30:55.:31:04.

One man's blood-soaked shirt became symbolic of the terror that had

:31:05.:31:14.
:31:15.:31:23.

Caught in the international spotlight, the government called

:31:23.:31:30.

off its offensive and lifted its ban on demonstrations. But the

:31:30.:31:38.

concession came too late. Many Shia protesters would not be satisfied

:31:38.:31:48.
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as long as the hated dynasty was in power. Within hours, they reclaimed

:31:49.:31:59.
:31:59.:31:59.

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 40 seconds

:31:59.:32:40.

The regime was fighting for its life and it fought back with

:32:40.:32:44.

calculated menace. The Government now acted to exploit the religious

:32:44.:32:48.

differences of the people. Checkpoints were set up to identify

:32:48.:32:54.

and target Shia protesters and overnight, bulldozers appeared,

:32:54.:32:59.

destroying Shia mosques like this one. It was it clear provocation to

:33:00.:33:09.
:33:10.:33:12.

Age-old hostilities between Sunni and Shia reignited. Disorder on the

:33:12.:33:22.
:33:22.:33:27.

streets was dealt with it The chaos that followed was the

:33:27.:33:31.

excuse the regime needed to crack down on the uprising once and for

:33:31.:33:41.
:33:41.:33:55.

all. Claiming that the unrest was

:33:55.:33:58.

fuelled by the show macro government in Iran, Bahrain

:33:58.:34:04.

enlisted the support of Sunni Saudi Arabia -- the Shia government. On

:34:04.:34:10.

14th March, Saudi troops rolled across the border and the next day,

:34:10.:34:20.
:34:20.:34:27.

On March 18th, troops fired in centuries into the heart of the

:34:27.:34:36.

roundabout and shock the protesters as they fled. This time, when the

:34:36.:34:41.

injured and dying arrived at a hospital, the security forces were

:34:41.:34:51.
:34:51.:34:55.

Military vehicles had barricaded every entrance and uniformed

:34:55.:35:00.

soldiers in masks were patrolling this car park. No one was allowed

:35:00.:35:06.

in or out. Even by their standard of recent events, what happened

:35:06.:35:11.

next was shocking. This hospital was turned into a military prison

:35:11.:35:14.

and doctors and nurses who treated the protesters were arrested and

:35:14.:35:21.

tortured. I secured an interview with a senior member of the ruling

:35:21.:35:27.

family to see how he would justify such deadly violence. We waited for

:35:27.:35:34.

a month and at the end of that month we saw total anarchy, we saw

:35:34.:35:40.

violence spread, we saw fear installed, so we had to take the

:35:40.:35:45.

necessary measures to restore order. Wasn't the Bath majority of the

:35:45.:35:49.

force employed by the security forces here -- was under the vast

:35:49.:35:54.

majority? YouTube has many clips showing your security forces in

:35:54.:36:00.

Bahrain shooting at unarmed people. I do not deny that, mistakes were

:36:00.:36:05.

made from both sides. There is no denying that. But the bottom line

:36:05.:36:10.

is we had to restore law and order. Why is it necessary to put doctors

:36:10.:36:19.

and nurses on trial? They say they were going about their job, that

:36:19.:36:23.

their only crime was to bear witness to the injuries of those

:36:23.:36:27.

protesters. Nurses and doctors that have been charged broke the

:36:27.:36:33.

sanctity of going about their profession, no one is above the law.

:36:33.:36:38.

Doctors, politicians, member of the ruling family or any man on the

:36:38.:36:43.

street. The law must be a buyer did and enforced. The Saudi back

:36:43.:36:51.

clampdown could not have come at a worse time for Western governments

:36:51.:36:54.

as they struggled to find their feet in the constantly shifting

:36:54.:37:02.

landscape of the Malath -- of the Arab Spring. In Libya, time was

:37:02.:37:07.

running out for the revolutionaries as Colonel Gaddafi forces rapidly

:37:07.:37:11.

advanced on rebel-held territory. Western governments are hotly

:37:11.:37:18.

debated intervention. On 17th March, a UN resolution was passed,

:37:18.:37:22.

authorising the use of military force against Colonel Gaddafi in

:37:22.:37:32.
:37:32.:37:37.

But in Bahrain, strategic interests and the price of oil carried the

:37:37.:37:42.

day. As the Bahrainian regime pulverised what remained of its

:37:42.:37:47.

people's bid for democracy, the United States and Europe looked the

:37:47.:37:54.

other way. It was now three months since the death of a young fruit

:37:54.:38:00.

seller in Tunisia had sparked revolt across the Arab world.

:38:00.:38:06.

Tunisia and Egypt had overthrown dictators. Libya was embroiled in

:38:06.:38:11.

civil war and in Yemen, protests threatened the President's 30 year

:38:11.:38:15.

rule. But there was one country that appeared to be immune to the

:38:15.:38:23.

turmoil. Syria. The hardline regime in Syria, just across the border

:38:23.:38:31.

behind me, had been in the vice- like grip of the Assad family for

:38:31.:38:36.

over 40 years. In Syria, the control of the army, security

:38:36.:38:41.

forces and emergency laws made political opposition impossible.

:38:41.:38:46.

With journalists banned from Syria, I headed to Beirut. Just two hours

:38:47.:38:51.

drive from Damascus, it had become a relatively safe haven for Syrian

:38:51.:38:56.

dissidents who had less across the border -- who had fled across the

:38:57.:39:06.
:39:07.:39:11.

I was here to meet Syrian exiles and cyber activist who had created

:39:11.:39:16.

a face put paid to hold the regime to account two years earlier. To

:39:16.:39:22.

disguise his real identity, he had used a composite photo of faces to

:39:22.:39:24.

create an Everyman called Malath Aumran. Early this year he had

:39:25.:39:28.

received warnings that the authorities warn his trail so he

:39:28.:39:33.

had fled to Beirut, where he set up a network to help protesters inside

:39:33.:39:40.

Syria get their message out. I was thinking we have 20 years of really

:39:40.:39:45.

hard work before anything changes in Syria. We were preparing

:39:45.:39:50.

ourselves in the long term. The problem is we have no hope. We were

:39:50.:39:54.

thinking even the political activists, human rights activists,

:39:54.:39:59.

what is the solution? And there was no solution. It was completely

:39:59.:40:05.

black. There was no light at the end of the tunnel. President Bashar

:40:05.:40:09.

Al-Assad came from a dynasty it with a notorious vet -- reputation

:40:09.:40:14.

for political repression. His father, Hafez Assad, had been

:40:14.:40:18.

responsible for the massacre of more than 10,000 people in the City

:40:18.:40:26.

of Hama in 1982. Bashar Al-Assad appeared to be a reformer. He made

:40:26.:40:30.

moves to liberalise the economy and opened up political dialogue with

:40:30.:40:34.

the West and he introduced the internet. Roughly 20% of the

:40:34.:40:38.

population now had access to the internet but unlike other Arab

:40:38.:40:43.

dictators, Assad understood its power and had blocked Facebook and

:40:43.:40:47.

YouTube. The battle for control of Syria would take place not just on

:40:47.:40:55.

the streets but also in cyberspace. TRANSLATION: Anyone going into an

:40:55.:41:00.

internet cafe in Syria must handover their passport. All of

:41:00.:41:03.

their online searches will be monitored. The country is

:41:03.:41:07.

completely in the iron grip of the security services. I was completely

:41:07.:41:11.

certain about the sadistic way in which the regime would respond and

:41:11.:41:18.

the sadistic techniques they would used if anyone rebelled. Throughout

:41:18.:41:21.

February, while other Arab countries were in open revolt,

:41:21.:41:25.

there was no sign that Damascus would get caught up in the turmoil.

:41:26.:41:31.

In spite of the repressive nature of the regime, the Bath party

:41:31.:41:36.

commanded significant support in Syria for its stance against Israel

:41:36.:41:42.

and the United States. Assad confidently declared that the Arab

:41:42.:41:50.

uprising would never have reached his country. In February, he and

:41:50.:41:54.

blocked Facebook but would appear to be a magnanimous gesture was

:41:54.:42:00.

understood by insiders to be a ploy. The website could now be used to

:42:00.:42:05.

gather information about his opponents.

:42:05.:42:10.

TRANSLATION: there were those who advised Assad to use filtered

:42:10.:42:14.

monitoring, which means that their lives of anyone suspected of having

:42:14.:42:17.

any political activity and anyone who has any communication with

:42:17.:42:26.

opposition figures abroad. strategy backfired. That was, I

:42:27.:42:32.

would say, the worst mistake for the Syrian government. Mistake for

:42:32.:42:37.

them. They opened Facebook. Instead of hundreds joining Facebook, we

:42:37.:42:42.

started to have thousands and thousands. It was like a platform

:42:42.:42:47.

for a national brainstorming. face become blocked, the internet

:42:47.:42:53.

bars with covert chat about revolution and uprising. Then

:42:53.:42:57.

something happened which tapped into the deepest anger of the

:42:57.:43:07.

arrested in the southern town of Fort -- town of Deraa. They were

:43:07.:43:11.

caught spray-painting the walls of their school but what enraged the

:43:11.:43:16.

authorities was the choice of words. Their graffiti was the now iconic

:43:16.:43:21.

slogan of the Arab revolutions: "the people want the regime to

:43:21.:43:27.

fall". Nothing was heard of the children for 10 days. Simeon

:43:27.:43:31.

dissident Omar was in Damascus when the children disappeared. He and

:43:31.:43:37.

other dedicated regime opponents organised a demonstration.

:43:37.:43:45.

TRANSLATION: I had an overwhelming desire to protest but this was

:43:45.:43:48.

blocked by intense fear. When we went out onto the street we were

:43:49.:43:52.

expecting never to come back. It would be death or a long prison

:43:53.:43:57.

sentence. That really is what it was like. I remember how I embraced

:43:57.:44:01.

my son with a lot of love thinking that I would probably never see him

:44:01.:44:07.

again. On the day of the protest, Omar and a small band of activists

:44:07.:44:11.

marched openly through the streets of Damascus, pushing their way

:44:11.:44:21.
:44:21.:44:24.

TRANSLATION: One of the slogans we shouted was for the release of the

:44:24.:44:27.

children in Deraa and the people on the Street responded with a lot of

:44:27.:44:37.
:44:37.:44:39.

emotion. To be honest, the Syrian people took little notice. What it

:44:39.:44:45.

was that moved them was the arrest of the younger children. When news

:44:45.:44:48.

leaked out that the schoolchildren had been tortured by the

:44:48.:44:55.

authorities, the citizens of Deraa rose up in open rebellion. Syria

:44:55.:45:02.

had joined the Arab Spring. Over the next few days, 3,000 to up to

:45:02.:45:12.
:45:12.:45:17.

The authorities sealed off the city and said plainclothes police

:45:17.:45:23.

amongst the crowd. -- cent. Many protesters were beaten up and

:45:23.:45:28.

arrested, but they were undeterred. On the 5th day, the police sent a

:45:28.:45:32.

clear message that there would be zero tolerance for a Syrian

:45:32.:45:42.
:45:42.:45:43.

GUNSHOTS. They opened fire, killing five

:45:43.:45:52.

people. Enraged by this response, the people there wanted more than

:45:53.:45:59.

the release of their children. They wanted to topple the regime. For

:45:59.:46:03.

the Syrian activists, at the challenge was how to harness the

:46:03.:46:13.

protests in Deraa into a full-scale national uprising. TRANSLATION: We

:46:13.:46:19.

had to think from the start about how to transmit our voice abroad.

:46:19.:46:23.

We thought about a variety of ways. The YouTube was the most obvious

:46:23.:46:28.

choice, because YouTube is a popular media our kit which had

:46:28.:46:33.

spread across the whole world in minutes. -- outlet. We had to use a

:46:33.:46:36.

method which didn't draw the attention of the security units,

:46:37.:46:43.

and that was the mobile phone. that the genie was out of the

:46:43.:46:48.

bottle, the protest quickly spread to the cities of Baniyas, let

:46:48.:46:57.

tackier, Homs and Hama. -- that tackier. Distributing the up --

:46:57.:47:01.

uploaded video clips to use all the negotiations around the world was

:47:01.:47:06.

critical. Bashir to news organisations around the world was

:47:06.:47:16.
:47:16.:47:18.

This is the last thing we received, the first martyr. A so somebody has

:47:18.:47:28.
:47:28.:47:54.

been killed in a Hama? -- so So in that particular video, some

:47:54.:48:01.

people are trying to save the man of's life, and that least number --

:48:01.:48:05.

at least two people are recording it will stop the most important

:48:05.:48:11.

thing for them is to take this and put it on YouTube. So people can

:48:11.:48:16.

see it. As soon as possible. thought I would be prepared,

:48:16.:48:20.

actually, because we have been hearing about these protests for

:48:20.:48:24.

such a long time, but it is quite incredible and essentially, these

:48:24.:48:34.
:48:34.:48:41.

are the last moments of somebody's Syria's security services were

:48:41.:48:44.

closely tied to the regime for through family, tribal and

:48:44.:48:51.

religious links. Assad's paramilitary thugs did the regime's

:48:51.:48:59.

dirty work on the ground. TRANSLATION: This video shows

:48:59.:49:03.

without any doubt that they behaved like animals. They don't know how

:49:03.:49:08.

to behave like human beings. They have no ethics, they treat people

:49:08.:49:14.

in a horrendous way. Just as they used to treat people secretly in

:49:14.:49:18.

presence. But now they use these methods openly in the streets in

:49:19.:49:25.

front of everyone. The regime justified its crackdown public

:49:25.:49:29.

insisting it was the work of Islamic terrorists. But mobile

:49:30.:49:34.

phones allowed the man in the street to speak directly to the

:49:34.:49:43.

wild and refute the propaganda. -- Could the world. They say we are

:49:43.:49:51.

terrorists. It is a big live. -- it is a lie. We want freedom. They

:49:51.:49:57.

want the rights, they want justice in Syria. On 16th April, Assad

:49:57.:50:07.
:50:07.:50:19.

When I was hearing Assad's speech, it was for me, overwhelming.

:50:19.:50:25.

Because you can tell that he is lying and he is lying in front of

:50:25.:50:29.

the cameras, and he knows that many people out there know he is lying

:50:29.:50:36.

and he doesn't care. Yes, I am lying, but because I have the

:50:36.:50:40.

strength, the power, the army, and the secret police, you cannot do

:50:40.:50:50.
:50:50.:50:52.

anything. Then on 25th April, at the regime showed its true colours.

:50:52.:50:56.

Tanks were sent into the cities of Deraa, Homs and Baniyas, to crush

:50:56.:51:06.
:51:06.:51:15.

TRANSLATION: This video is from the city of Baniyas. It shows one of

:51:15.:51:19.

the most courageous acts of peaceful resistance against the

:51:19.:51:22.

army's invasion to crush the demonstrators. The young men came

:51:22.:51:27.

out with naked chests and ran across the sea -- streets to

:51:27.:51:30.

prevent the tangs coming into the city. They waved their hands into

:51:30.:51:35.

the air to give the side of victory to make sure that everybody knew

:51:35.:51:39.

the demonstration was entirely peaceful. We don't know what

:51:39.:51:46.

happened to these protesters. The pictures relayed by Rami Nakhle and

:51:46.:51:51.

from Beirut were sent around the world, providing outrage. But there

:51:51.:51:54.

was no appetite from Western leaders to to get involved in yet

:51:54.:52:02.

another Arab conflict. The Syrian authorities now took steps to stop

:52:02.:52:07.

any more images of the uprising from reaching the outside world.

:52:07.:52:12.

They arrested anyone filming with a mobile phone. They posted

:52:12.:52:19.

surveillance teams and snipers on rooftops. In turn, the activists

:52:19.:52:23.

became more sophisticated in their techniques, avoiding the danger of

:52:23.:52:27.

uploading mobile phone footage by using Skype to broadcast their

:52:27.:52:37.

message live. They are calling it now? Yes. This

:52:37.:52:41.

is an old friend from Baniyas. He has just given us this picture from

:52:41.:52:49.

his laptop. This is from his home? No. He is here and the spider is on

:52:49.:52:54.

the other route. He is hiding his head and just showing them. -- the

:52:54.:52:59.

sniper is on the other roof. He is crouching down with the laptop over

:52:59.:53:06.

his head? Just to see what is going on. It is a big risk. Every Friday

:53:06.:53:12.

across Syria, there was warfare on the streets. By the middle of May,

:53:12.:53:16.

the number of people killed by the security forces was estimated to

:53:16.:53:26.
:53:26.:53:28.

have reached 1,000. As more and more demonstrators were

:53:28.:53:33.

arrested or killed for filming, the activists outside the country

:53:33.:53:38.

devised way to smuggle in secret filming devices. -- ways.

:53:38.:53:43.

TRANSLATION: We were able to get hold of cameras which could be

:53:43.:53:50.

hidden in a shirt pocket or race leave or a button. -- asleep.

:53:50.:53:56.

inside Syria, activists created their own makeshift devices, harp -

:53:56.:54:00.

- hiding their phones so they could keep filming what was happening on

:54:01.:54:06.

their street. The regime responded by intermittently shouting down the

:54:06.:54:11.

internet in volatile parts of the country. -- shouting. But the side

:54:11.:54:17.

operation had done his job. Syrian exile's around the world now

:54:17.:54:21.

rallied in support of the uprising, supplying satellite phones to the

:54:21.:54:25.

dissidents. They are not cheap, they cost over �1,000 each and are

:54:25.:54:29.

being paid for by wealthy Syrian exile's the one to make sure that

:54:29.:54:35.

the message continues to get out of Syria -- who want to. Of firms like

:54:35.:54:40.

this are incredibly difficult to trace and allow the user to bypass

:54:40.:54:43.

controls of the internet on crucial days like Friday. So if you fill a

:54:44.:54:48.

protest on one of these, you can uploaded directly to the internet

:54:48.:54:55.

that film. A full-scale war broke out between the activists and the

:54:55.:55:01.

Assad regime. TRANSLATION: We know the regime had a dedicated team of

:55:01.:55:04.

computer hackers who specialised in the internet and hacking and

:55:04.:55:12.

electronic warfare. The Syrian police started hacking into the

:55:12.:55:18.

websites of the activists and Facebook page us. They sent them

:55:18.:55:22.

death threats and tampered with websites to make the world believe

:55:22.:55:30.

they were Israeli spies. So this is about a vocation that a

:55:30.:55:36.

harmful side is trying to connect - - a notification. Yes, but by

:55:36.:55:40.

security programme has managed to block this. This didn't used to

:55:40.:55:46.

happen before? No. This week -- to the Syrian government is becoming

:55:46.:55:50.

more sophisticated. Are you worried they will catch up with your

:55:50.:55:54.

security settings? Yes, but we think we are more advanced than

:55:54.:55:58.

them in hacking. But despite that confidence, the

:55:58.:56:05.

regime was closing in on him. At the end of July, the Government

:56:05.:56:09.

sent tanks into Hama, the traditional Islamic stronghold at

:56:09.:56:15.

the heart of opposition to the Assad dynasty. Three weeks later,

:56:15.:56:22.

Rami Nakhle or and Omar Edilbi received death threats from within

:56:22.:56:28.

the Syria. Rami Nakhle has now left Beirut. -- within Syria. As the

:56:28.:56:34.

summer drew to a close, at Assad's killing machine seemed unstoppable.

:56:34.:56:39.

And despite international condemnation, the Syrian regime

:56:39.:56:49.
:56:49.:56:52.

The bleak outlook for Syria must not be allowed to overshadow the

:56:52.:56:59.

extraordinary change that has swept the Arab world this year. For the

:56:59.:57:04.

Egyptian President Mubarak is facing trial. -- former. The

:57:04.:57:08.

military hold power and people are frustrated by the pace of reform,

:57:08.:57:11.

but both Egypt and Tunisia are planning to hold their first free

:57:11.:57:18.

elections before the year is out. But the most dramatic change has

:57:18.:57:24.

come in Libya. On August 21st, the news broke that rebel forces had

:57:24.:57:31.

taken Tripoli, driving Colonel Gaddafi from power. Now Tripoli is

:57:31.:57:35.

experiencing the same euphoria that I witnessed in Benghazi after it

:57:35.:57:40.

was liberated. It has been a remarkable at best

:57:40.:57:46.

beer in Benghazi since the revolution. Every night, people

:57:46.:57:50.

gather and listen to speeches. For many of them, it is the first time

:57:50.:57:54.

in their lives they have a really been able to express themselves.

:57:54.:57:58.

None of this would have been possible when Gaddafi was in power,

:57:58.:58:04.

but in a free Libya, they are loving every moment.

:58:04.:58:09.

Only in Libya has the Arab Spring ushered in a true revolution. Now a

:58:09.:58:13.

new country must be constructed from the ashes of Gaddafi's toxic

:58:13.:58:18.

rule. No one has any illusions about the difficulty of what lies

:58:18.:58:27.

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