Social Media and the Syrian Revolution

Editors’ note: Syrian blogger Hussein Ghrer wrote the first draft of this article on 14 February 2013, shortly after he was released from his first arrest for 37 days in December 2011. In it the writer sheds light on the role that social media have so far played in the Syrian revolution. Two days later, on 16 February 2012, Ghrer and 15 of his colleagues at the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) were arrested during a raid on their office by the Syrian security forces. Over a year has now passed without trial, indictment or court referral. Maurice Aaek, a friend and Syrian online journalist, added his comments as an afterword in February 2013, a year later