مطلب التغيير - A Call for Change -

Symbols and Social media illustrate the contrastive movements of revolution in the 21st century.

North Africa is bustling with change at the moment. It is a fascinating lesson in understanding modern day Independence movements. The final results of south Sudan's recent referendum to split the North from the South will be announced at the end of the month. The vote, which remained reasonably peaceful is an enormous stride for a country devastated by civil war again and again since Independence. Sudan has one of the lowest literacy rates, at about 20-27% of the population. Thus, the voting was done using symbols to represent 'separation' and 'unity'.

Sudanese voters choose their vote by marking on of the circles with their fingerprint.

A bit further northwest Tunisian citizens are also stirring change in the 'Jasmine Revolution,' which was sparked in December when a 26 year old man lit fire to himself in protest after police tried to seize his unlicensed vegetable stand. He was a well-educated, unemployed young man trying to make a livable wage. Tunisians have been under the seemingly untouchable police state of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali for 23 years. But this month all that changed. The people of Tunisia are taking to the streets without fear and demanding democracy. They have successfully ousted Ben Ali, freezing his bank accounts and removing close cabinet members from power. And the means they have been using to do so? Discontentment, and social media, including telephones, twitter, messaging and online forums. Harnessing these tools are the way forward in 21st century revolutiona, granting more freedom to the people. As we witnessed last year in Iran, for the first time people are able to use the internet and cell phone cameras in order to speak out and expose beyond the boundaries of tyranny.

The Washington Post points out other leaders in the region who are increasingly out of touch with the next generation of youth;

All around him is a depressingly familiar pattern. Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi (68 years old) has been in power since 1969; Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh (64) has ruled since 1978 and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (82) since 1981. Algeria's Abdelaziz Bouteflika (73) is a relative newcomer, having been in power only since 1999.

May these elderly autocrats take heed of the changing times as people in the Arab world and North Africa are becoming increasingly fed up with decades of marginalization and are using all their resources to call for change.

Tunisian woman stands up in a recent revolt, Tunis.

If you'd like to read more about the Jasmine Revolution I tend to recommend Al Jazeera for Arab news because it is covering it much more widely than the NY Times.