Filming and Sharing the Revolution in Tunisia and Egypt
Considered as the first social movement « documented by its own players », the Arab uprisings initiated in late 2010 have resulted in a profusion of images, shot with mobile phones and posted online. The amount of operators, their constancy and risk-taking in front of repression, and the declarations, repeated in the recordings, such as « It must be filmed ! », establish the act of filming as a crucial gesture, necessary to tell the world what is happening... and to state their own existence. Too often reduced to a « citizen journalism », this practice is not just dedicated to inform and serve different functions such as to allow the re-appropriation of representation. The « filming citizens » appear as struggling for the recognition of their collective and individual dignity.