revolution

From the outside, Kim Jong-un appears to have cemented his control – but tales from defectors suggest there is more dissent and revolt in North Korea than meets the eye.

Egypt and Tunisia have made us believe “the revolution will be televised”, and that this is the era of “social media revolution” where demonstrators are organised by Twitter and Facebook, but Libya might yet prove that even when state TV is controlled, and the internet is largely shut down people can still bring down governments.

In a police state, officials are able to treat people with contempt. In Tahrir Square, the young, well-educated English-speaking demonstrators talk a lot about freedom and human rights. Everyone talks about corruption. But the poor and the religious talk mostly of dignity, pride and justice.

They’ve been shouting “Allah Akbar” from the rooftops since 10 o’clock last night. They say they’ll whistle throughout President Ahmadinejad’s speech later this morning. It’s the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution, and Iran’s Green Movement protestors are gearing up for action. But the government has been preparing too.

There are two Iran clocks – a democracy clock and a nuclear clock. But which is ticking faster? Lindsey Hilsum blogs for Channel 4 News.