Within cyberspace there is a growing network of individuals and groups coalescing around the key demands for an end to Israeli occupation of Arab territories and the creation of a Palestinian state. This network constitutes a ‘swarm’, an Internet-related term referring to a global body of people with a common cause using the Internet to share information, mobilise support and coordinate direct action online and, at times, on the streets…. While pro-Israeli activists may be attempting to mobilise their own ‘swarm’ in order to defend and enforce the existing balance of power in the Arab-Israeli conflict, the potential size and power of a pro-Palestinian ‘swarm’ is worth considering. Read more about Cyberspace: a 21st century diwan 

Of course this “resource for countering myth, distortion and spin from the Israeli media war machine” is going to have a pro-Palestinian spin, but because of that, it was a site to check on Arab-American reactions to the 9/11 attacks, violence against Arab Americans and Arab- and Muslim-owned buildings, and answers to such rumors as those alleging that the Reuters footage of celebrating Palestinians after the 9/11 attacks was old film from a different event. (It wasn’t, say the editors, but why didn’t American media also show the one million Palestinian school children who observed a minute of silence in support and sympathy for American victims?) Read more about The Electronic Intifada; Holt uncensored: alternative sources for news 

Abunimah, writer and commentator on the Middle East and Arab-American issues, was refreshingly optimistic about the increasing Arab presence in the media. To make his point, he cited the Palestine Media Watch group (www.pmwatch.org), the Palestinian Right of Return Coalition’s website and media group (www.alawda.org), the “Electronic Intifada” he helped to create (www.electronicintifada.net), and the rising number of letters to the editor and opinion pieces being published in newspapers publicizing Arab perspectives. Although Abunimah was optimistic, he was not unrealistic, noting that this was not enough and we can do even more. He advised the audience to focus more on the local level with grassroots media activism dealing with local media and presenting local angles on national and international stories. Abunimah concluded by declaring that we cannot stay silent because “the cost of silence is too great.” Read more about Activists Spend Sunday Morning Strategizing