Repressing revolution in the rest of Africa

The impact of social media on the uprisings in North Africa has been well documented. But spare a thought for the way these developments have played out further south:

- Eskinder Nega, a journalist in Ethiopia, was picked up by the authorities from an internet cafe in Addis Ababa just for writing about the Egyptian demonstrations. According to Ethiomedia, an online African-American news site, "A deputy police commissioner warned him to desist from 'attempts to incite an Egyptian and Tunisian-like protests in Ethiopia'."

- In Zimbabwe, 46 people were arrested at a meeting of the International Socialist Organization. their only crime being to watch videos of events unfolding in Egypt. According to Roselyn Hanzi, Head of the Human Rights Defender Project for the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, quoted on a blog, "They were watching DVD news clips of the protests in Tunisia and Egypt. It was nothing different to what many other Zimbabweans watched."

It is not only activists who are finding inspiration from the new communication possibilities: those in power are equally adept at learning new tricks, such as blocking websites that might prove a threat to their regime. 

The African department of the Committee to Protect Journalists (on Twitter: @africamedia_cpj), from which the above examples are taken, is a valuable observer of these matters, recording threats to freedom of speech and attacks on those who are working towards a more open society throughout Africa.

Suzanne Franks is Senior Lecturer and Director of Research at the Centre for Journalism, University of Kent.