Nobel Peace Prize may recognize Arab Spring activists

Nobel Peace Prize may recognize Arab Spring activists

The Peace Research Institute Oslo has predicted that some of the cyber activists who played important roles in the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions are in line for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. Every year, this Norway based organization speculates on who will win this prestigious award. And with the Arab Spring dominating the headlines this year, they think it’s only logical that the Nobel committee will be focusing on the revolutions in the Arab World.

They see Egyptian activist Esraa Abdel Fattah together with the April 6 Youth Movement which she helped set up as top contenders. In 2008, the 30 year old blogger created a Facebook page calling for a general strike on the 6th of April. Thousands of Egyptian workers took to the streets that day; over the months that followed the movement started to take a clear shape and went on to play a pivotal role in the uprising.

Cyber activist Wael Ghonim has also been named as another candidate. This former Google executive is the administrator of a Facebook page which was instrumental in starting the anti-Mubarak uprising in January. He was held in custody for 10 days during the revolution, and upon release he received a hero’s welcome in Tahrir Square.

And Tunisian blogger Lina Ben Mhenni could also well be in line for the award. With the government of Ben Ali gagging the press, the 27 year old tirelessly posted daily reports on her blog, recounting the revolution which changed her country’s history.

Over 200 other candidates join these cyber activists in the running for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, and the winner will be announced on October 7th.

Occupy Wall Street movement spreads

It would appear that the "Occupy Wall Street" movement which was started by American activists in New York’s financial district around 10 days ago is spreading to other parts of the country. Numerous protest groups have been emerging on the web over the past few days, expressing their solidarity with the New York demonstrators and denouncing a system which they believe favours the rich to the detriment of the rest of the country.

The site "Occupy Together" lists all the different protests being organized across the United States. The stated aim is to represent the 99 % of the US population that wants to see real political and economic reforms. Photos of the many protests taking place across the country have also been uploaded onto the site, like here in San Francisco, or Chicago, illustrating the scale of the mobilization.

And demonstrators have been coordinating their efforts essentially via social networks. Great use has been made of Facebook and Twitter to rally as many citizens as possible to the cause. Over the past few days, activists from “occupy Boston" have been calling for protests in the city of Massachusetts.

Demonstrators have been directly inspired by the peaceful protest movements in the Arab World and as we can see in this video for example, which was made by activists from Los Angeles, they are asking fellow citizens to stand together, and force the US government to listen to their grievances.

Dead Sea Scrolls go digital

It is now possible to view five of the Dead Sea Scrolls online. The Israel Museum and Google have teamed up and scanned these scrolls which are over 2 000 years old and recount important passages from the Old Testament. Discovered between 1947 and 1956, the Dead Sea Scrolls are considered to be one of the greatest archeological finds of the 20th century. As they are now available online, the museum will no longer have to exhibit them, meaning they can be preserved in the best possible conditions.

Now trending on social networks

One of today’s top trending search terms on social networks is "Tevez excuses". The Argentine forward who plays for Manchester City football Club has been accused by the team’s manager of refusing to come on as a substitute during Tuesday’s Champions League match against Munich. The player denies these allegations and has told the press that there had been a misunderstanding with his manager and the matter was now closed. Web users do not seem convinced by his statement and have been gleefully mocking Tevez’s excuses and criticizing his attitude.

Video of the day

Amy Shackleton is a Canadian painter and works entirely without a paintbrush. The 25 year old sprays the paint on the canvas and then flips it over so it runs in the direction she needs to create the desired effect. You can check out her work in this accelerated video which is currently doing the rounds on sharing sites, the painting is called “Terraced City” and it is Amy’s futuristic vision of an urban landscape.