Syrian activists beseech soldiers to join them

Syrian activists beseech soldiers to join them

This video appears to have been filmed in Deraa where the Syrian uprising began on the 18th of March. Protesters are calling out to soldiers, calling them “my brothers”, trying to fraternize with them. The soldiers ignore their attempts and end up opening fire…

Although the army has been deployed to quash protests in major cities, protesters are hoping it will end up on the same side as the people, as was the case with the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. And an increasing number of slogans have been chanted during rallies in recent days, calling upon soldiers to join the opposition.

And the Syrian army does appear to be showing signs of division. In this video, currently circulating online, a man who introduces himself as a soldier working in the outskirts of Damascus says he has refused to fire at protesters.

Ammar Abdulhamid, an activist in exile in the US, is discussing reports of mutiny amongst troops deployed in Deraa.

These rumours are backed up online in videos like this one which is thought to show soldiers wounded during clashes between two army units. According to cyber activists, soldiers from the 5th division have reportedly defected and are now protecting the people from attacks by the fourth division led by Maher al-Assad, the brother of the Syrian president.

And videos of the bloody repression across the country continue to pour in online. This video was uploaded on Saturday and appears to show security forces open fire on protesters in Latakia, in the north west of the country.

Egypt: graffitis to remember the revolution

Artists in Egypt have decided to pay tribute to those who lost their lives fighting for freedom, and are hoping to immortalize the revolution, so that Egyptians do not forget. Ganzeer, is a young graffiti artist from Cairo, and has posted photos of his latest creation on his blog: it’s a giant portrait of Tarek Abdel Latif, a demonstrator who died after being arrested in January during the anti-Mubarak rallies.

This phenomenon is not something new. Throughout the revolution, Egyptians expressed their grievances with the regime on the walls of the country, as we can see in these numerous shots which have been uploaded onto Flickr. This means of expression is still used in the post revolution era, and according to blogger Tonsy, is directly inspired by the time of the Pharaohs when history was actually written on walls.

And although the authorities have tolerated these works of graffiti up until now, some have now been painted over, like this tribute to another martyr of the revolution, Islam Raafat. You can now just about make out the outlines of the portrait, located in Cairo’s Falaky Square.

Egyptian artists are likening this to censorship and are urging people to take part in a Graffiti weekend in the capital on the 6th and 7th of May. The so called “mad graffiti week-end” is being organized mostly via Twitter and a thread has been set up especially for the event.

"Plagiarism hunters" plague German politicians

Anonymous cyber activists are currently examining politicians’ doctoral dissertations for plagiarism. These web users are reporting any passages that have been ‘borrowed’ from other authors on the collaborative site “VroniPlag”, but are not naming names. The so called “plagiarism hunters” have already caught out former defense minister Karl-Theodor Guttenberg who resigned following the revelations, and also Silvana Koch-Mehrin, a leading member of the European Parliament with the Free Democratic Party of Germany.

Celebrities with Steve Buscemi’s eyes

A look can change everything … and this is definitely the case for the site "Chicks with Steve Buscemi Eyes", which as the name suggests contains photos of female celebrities which have been edited to replace their eyes with those of the actor Steve Buscemi. The results are pretty amazing.

Video of the day

In this video, Jacob Sharpe, an American artist who is considered to be one of the best jugglers in the world, gives an incredible juggling display in which he impressively handles the balls equally well with his feet and his hands.