Article: The Statue of Camera

Many people believe that behind Arab Spring lies one poor vegetable street seller who was slapped in the face by municipality female officer who confiscated his vegetable cart as well. The late Mohamed Bouazizi is seen by many as the symbol of Arab Spring. But the real hero is not Bouazizi. The real hero behind Arab Spring is the smart phone with it's videotaping capability. Since when a dictator in the Middle East visits a wounded street seller in the hospital ? What brought down the regime of Bin Ali in Tunisia and sent him into hiding somewhere in Saudi Arabia is the smart phone. Had the seen been not videotaped , Bin Ali's corruption and dictatorship machine would be still grinding the Tunisian people and Tunisia's national income. Prior to Bouaziz's episode, there was Khalid Saeed, an Egyptian young man beaten to death by Egyptian police in June 2010. The photos of his disfigured corps spread through the internet. This coupled with another video of Egyptian police torturing a prisoner in a very harsh and humiliating way, have indeed ignited the Egyptian people and made them ready for the Bouaziz's domino effect. No doubts in my mind that the greatest set back to dictators, corrupt and even arrogant people, aside from the internet, is the availability of the smart phones with their video cameras at a mass level. So we, the people who adore freedom and hate dictators and dictatorships, need to show respect to the smart phone.

statue? by dno1967b

The question is how? Would it be fair for France to build another Statue of The Smart Phone and send it to New York to be raised next to the Statue of Liberty ?. Or may be a statue of another women raising in one hand a laptop and a smart phone in the other? I like the later, because this twin combination have the ability to capture a seen and air it across the world in a few minutes. What a powerful deterrent that made politicians, educators, business people and many others control their emotions and think twice before taking any step or move. Hamad S Alomar Riyadh