This dissertation closely looks at the role of social media during the uprisings in the Arab world in 2011 that broke out in a number of Arab countries. In the thesis, an example of the Egyptian protests is used. An analysis of the usage of social media during the protests serves as a clear illustration how new media platforms subjugate traditional forms of media. This dissertation focuses on describing the power of the Internet and discovers the other aspects which played a significant role during the revolution. The dissertation uses an established social movement theories, communication theories and ideas of community, to place its use within a wider context and to explain the inherent characteristics of social media that made it appealing to the activists in Egypt. Finally, also to be pointed out, is the connection between the power of the social media and social power, when for the first time in history, the Internet facilitated the virtual relationship between people with very different profiles, but with a common objective. Key words: social media, community, online community, communication, uprising, cyberactivism, social movement theory, Egypt.

The Prague uprising signified the end of the Second World War in Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. As the Soviet and American armies progressed through the country towards Prague and the war was apparently soon to come to an end, Czechoslovaks themselves wanted to take part in the resistance against the Nazi oppression. The uprising was also a turning point for the succesful liberation of Prague. After the Czechoslovak communist party seized power in February 1948, the way the public perceived the uprising had to be changed to fit the party's interpretation, purposely overlooking the contribution of any non-communist resistence. This ideologically suitable interpretation had to be accepted even by the main leader of the uprising. The aforementioned interpretation can still be seen in historiographic books, even those published after the Velvet Revolution. Interpretation of the same event with the targeted use of words and phrases allows for different sounds and thus influences the reader. Targeted use of historical events can achieve the long-term prevalence of rumors, the refutation of which is a necessity and the work of historians. On the example of key moments of the uprising, such as its spontaneous beginning, the involvement of The Russian Liberation Army or the surrender of German troops...

Ce mémoire porte sur les représentations qui ont circulé sur Internet avant et durant le mouvement historique et inattendu de révolte sociale au Brésil, pendant la Coupe des confédérations de 2013. La vague de manifestations a provoqué un débat passionné sur Internet à propos des méga-événements, mais des études sur ce phénomène récent sont encore absents de la littérature. La présente recherche est un effort de combler cette lacune en examinant le cas de la ville de Rio de Janeiro, qui accueillera la finale de la Coupe du monde de soccer de 2014 et sera la ville hôte des Jeux olympiques de 2016. Le but du travail est de comprendre quelles sont les représentations qui émergent des nouvelles en réseau au sujet des transformations et des conflits urbains dans le cadre des méga-événements. À partir d'une analyse logico-naturelle des documents publiés entre 2009 et 2013 sur des sites Web avec quatre profils communicationnels distincts, la recherche met en évidence dans quelle mesure les représentations sociales reproduisent (1) la stratégie de branding urbain de la part du gouvernement et (2) les stratégies de résistance civile de la part des populations affectées par les transformations urbaines. Du point de vue théorique et méthodologique, l'étude mobilise la notion de journalisme liquide, inspiré des travaux du sociologue Zygmunt Bauman, qui s’est concentré sur les conséquences culturelles, économiques et politiques de la mondialisation. Les résultats de l'analyse documentaire ont permis d'exposer les représentations sociales construites autour de trois thématiques centrales : les favelas, les expulsions forcées dans la ville de Rio de Janeiro et les manifestations de juin 2013. En plus d'une discussion théorique critique à propos des résultats, l'étude les confronte avec la littérature scientifique repérée dans la recension des écrits. / This master thesis deals with the representations circulating on the Internet before and during the historical and unexpected popular uprising in Brazil, during the 2013 Confederations Cup. The wave of protests, which triggered a passionate online debate about mega-events, is still an understudied phenomenon. To fill this gap, this research investigates the problem by examining the case of the city of Rio de Janeiro, host of the finals of 2014 World Cup and of 2016 Olympic Games. The study aims to analyze on the representations emerging from news networks in the light of the fast-paced urban transformations and conflicts that currently characterize mega-events in the city. A natural logic analysis of documents published between 2009 and 2013 by four particular types of news sites highlights how social representations reproduced: (1) the government strategy of urban branding and (2) the civil movements strategies to face urban transformations. At the theoretical and methodological levels, the study explores the research path of liquid journalism, inspired by the work of sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, who focused on the cultural, economic and political consequences of globalization. The collected data were analyzed from a critical and theoretical viewpoint. The results were discussed by confronting those obtained by the researchers who we referenced in the literature.

SANTRAUKA Sovietinės okupacijos metu žuvo ir nukentėjo apie 350 tūkst. Lietuvos gyventojų. Visų jų atminimui nuo 1941 m. su pertraukomis buvo statomi įvairių tipų paminklai. Tyrimo objektas – rezistencijos dalyvių ir sovietinio genocido aukų įamžinimo paminklais procesas, jo ypatumai ir kylančios problemos, taip pat vietovių ir statinių, įamžintų paminklais, apskaitos ir įpaveldinimo klausimai. Jie iki šiol nenagrinėti ir nėra sulaukę tyrimo. Darbo tikslas – atskleisti Lietuvos gyventojų sovietinio genocido aukų ir rezistencijos dalyvių atminimo įamžinimo ir įpaveldinimo procesus bei su jais susijusias problemas. Tam įgyvendinti yra iškeliami šie uždaviniai: 1. nustatyti paminklų statybos etapus ir statytojų grupes, jas apibūdinti; 2. išsiaiškinti, kaip vykdoma vietovių ir statinių, pažymėtų paminklais, apskaita, koks šių objektų skirstymas; 3. apžvelgti, kaip vykdomi vietovių ir statinių tvarkymo bei įamžinimo darbai; 4. išsiaiškinti, kokios yra įamžinimo ir įpaveldinimo problemos. Tyrimo chronologija – tyrimas pradedamas XX a 5–uoju dešimtmečiu, kadangi jame prasidėjo pirmoji paminklų statymo banga ir įamžinimo darbai. Procesas nėra baigtinis, jis vyksta ir dabar, todėl apsibrėžiame 2006 m. Remiantis darbo tyrimu paminklų statyba sovietinio genocido aukų ir rezistencinio judėjimo dalyvių atminimui Lietuvoje vyko trimis etapais, kur memorialinių vietovių teritorijų tvarkymą, paminklų statybą ir memorialinių statinių ženklinimą vykdė įvairūs žmonės ir organizacijos, kuriuos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / SUMMARY OF MASTER’S WORK During the Soviet occupation, around 350,000 Lithuanian residents suffered and died. From 1941 on, with interruptions, monuments of various kinds have been built to commemorate all of them. The subject of this investigation is the process of immortalizing members of the resistance movement and victims of Soviet genocide in monuments, the specific features of and problems encountered in this process, as well as issues concerning the inventory and memorialization of sites and buildings recognized as monuments. These have not been the subject of any study hitherto and have not been the focus of investigation. The goal of this work is to disclose the processes and associated problems of commemorating and memorializing Lithuanian victims of Soviet genocide and members of the resistance. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were formulated: 1. to determine the phases of monument construction and groups of builders, and to characterize them; 2. to explain how inventory of sites and buildings recognized as monuments takes place and how these objects are categorized; 3. to survey how work is carried out for the maintenance and commemoration of sites and buildings; 4. to ascertain the nature of problems involved in commemoration and memorialization. Based on the work of our investigation, the construction of monuments commemorating victims of Soviet genocide and members of the resistance movement took place in three phases in Lithuania, a process in which... [to full text]

HIMA! / NOW! - translation from Armenian In light of recent and ongoing protests, demonstrations and riots in Ukraine, Egypt, Israel or Armenia, some actual questions arise such as how is the built environment used as an area of protest, how it is chosen as a focal point or path for resistance, what are the common characteristics of revolutionary spaces and how the environment effects on success. Lack of democracy from the government and in everyday life of Armenia society, total corruption and feeling of impunity oligarchy, the government and most of governmental institutions, weak economic growth accompanied by alarming number of emigration as well as successful scenarios in neighboring Georgia and Ukraine, force to predict a inescapable eruption of protests Armenia in near future. History shows that protests and civil disobedience are inevitable and necessary expressions of dissent in any democratic nation and country. However there are different passive tools to improve democratic institutions in the society and country in general such as public forums, open discussions and debates, freedom of speech and media etc. With this project I want to create a great Park with generous program embracing main democratic principles as a Public Space and Forum for everyone in capital of Armenia, Yerevan, BUT in case of nascent civil resistance the Park will become a space as a tool with urban inventory that people can use, manipulate, claim in order to defend their values and save own life's. This will be a Playground/Fortress for Democracy !

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Thesis (MPhil (Journalism))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / There are certain images of war that are horrific, frightening and at the same time, due to an outstanding compositional structure, they are fascinating and do not allow its observers to keep their distance. This thesis examines three images of war that have often been described as icons of war photography. The images “children fleeing a napalm strike” by Nick Ut, “the falling soldier” by Robert Capa and Sam Nzima’s photograph of Hector Pieterson are historical reference images that came to represent the wars and conflicts in which they were taken. It has been examined that a number of different factors have an impact on a war photograph’s awareness level and its potential to commit itself to what is referred to as collective consciousness. Such factors are the aesthetical composition and outstanding formal elements in connection with the exact moment the photograph was taken, ethical implications or the forcefulness of the event itself. As it has been examined in this thesis, the three photographs have achieved iconic status due to different circumstances and criteria and they can be described as historical reference images representing the specific wars or conflicts. In this thesis an empirical study was conducted, questioning 660 students from Spain, South Africa and Vietnam about their awareness level regarding the three selected photographs. While the awareness level of the Spanish and the South African image was rather high in the countries of origin, they did not achieve such a high international awareness level as the Vietnamese photograph by Nick Ut, which turned out to be exceptionally well-known by all students questioned. Overall, findings suggest that the three selected icons of war photography have been anchored in collective memory. Ut, Robert Capa, Sam Nzima, semiotics, Spanish Civil War, the falling soldier, Vietnam War

This submitted paper aims to give a communicative image of the conflicts of the Czech Estates Uprising in the south of Bohemia. The focal point of the research has been three clashes of Protestant and Catholic armies. The first was the Battle of Lomnice, which took place on November 11, 1618, between the allied estates troops of Jindřich Matyáš Thurn and Jiří Fridrich Hohenlohe and the catholic military assembly of Karel Bonaventura Buquoy. After the battle that was victorious for the generals of the estates, the military actions moved to the area around České Budějovice, which was besieged by the army of the estates, as the catholic troops withdrew here. Ending the siege of the South Bohemian metropolis caused the third conflict, which has become part of this work. The battle at Záblatí took place on June 10, 1619, by the troops of Petr Arnošt of Mansfeld, the general of the rebellious Czech estates, and the military corps of imperial mercenaries commanded by Karel Bonaventura Buquoy. The aim of the author was to capture the fullest range of information framework, which was completed by reports of these military clashes of the Czech Estates Uprising. As part of research activities, attention was paid first to the works which explored the battle of Záblatí from political and military point of view. This view became a basic framework in which the research was conducted. However, the work should not only to recapitulate the conclusions already drawn, but the aim was to look at the examined issue with a new look. Such a view was based in the research of either new or to-nowoverlooked sources, such as the period news that historical science began to discover in recent years. A relatively large part of the historical community took the argument in saying that under the tide of propaganda and perspice it is not possible to find the truth about individual events of the Czech Estates Uprising. It would certainly be possible to claim that credible authentic information was scarce in the leaflets of the Czech Estates Uprising. These who contracted the prints, however, attempted to influence the readers of contemporary journalism and help them orientate in their intellectual worlds that were in this way uncovering to us. Another possibility for viewing the conflicts of the Czech Estates Uprising was offered through the view of the ordinary villages and towns inhabitants that were coming into contacts or were just observers of the South Bohemian battlefield. Although the preservation of the sources of the early 17th century from the environment of towns and villages was far from abundant, we managed to find some authentic testimonies that evaluated the battles of the Czech Estates Uprising from the very distinctive angles of view. The author interpreted sources of song lyrics reporting to the rural environment and sources of interurban correspondence, through which he tried to uncover at least part of the mental world of ordinary residents of South Bohemia affected by war in the first third of the 17th century and their view on the South Bohemian battlegrounds. Similarly, he also proceeded in the interpretation of the noble correspondence, whether it were warriors or the aristocrats affected by war misfortunes.

This thesis aims to analyze the events that led in the years 1791-1795 to the gradual decline of the Polish-Lithuanian state. The year 1791 was chosen as a starting point for the reason that it was during this year that the so-called Great Sejm adopted the Constitution of 3 May, considered a last attempt to reform the dysfunctional constitutional system that paralysed the political life of the Commonwealth, crippled its ability to defend itself and made it a marionette in the hands of powerful neighbours, especially Prussia and Russia. The thesis concentrates on the ambiguous role played in this period by the last king Stanisław II August. It also focuses on the opposition against the constitutional changes, associated in the so-called Targowica Confederation, the ensuing Russo-Polish War of 1792, the Second Partition of Poland, Kościuszko Uprising and the final Third Partition of 1795 - all these events are discussed in the wider context of European politics. The author makes use of sources and secondary literature in Polish, Russian, German, English and French.

In 1950, the leader of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Walter Ulbricht, began a policy of connecting foreign threats with domestic policy failures as if the two were the same, and as if he was not responsible for either. This absolved him of blame for those failures and allowed Ulbricht to define his internal enemies as agents of the western powers. He used the state's secret police force, known as the Stasi, to provide the information that supported his claims of western obstructionism and to intimidate his adversaries. This resulted in a politicization of intelligence whereby Stasi officers slanted information so that it conformed to Ulbricht's doctrine of western interference. Comparisons made of eyewitness' statements to the morale reports filed by Stasi agents show that there was a difference between how the East German worker felt and the way the Stasi portrayed their attitudes to the politburo. Consequently, prior to June 17, 1953, when labor strikes inspired a million East German citizens to rise up against Ulbricht's oppressive government, the politicization of Stasi intelligence caused information over labor unrest to be unreliable at a time of increasing risk to the regime. This study shows the extent of Ulbricht's politicization of Stasi intelligence and its effect on the June 1953 uprising in the German Democratic Republic.