This year, hundreds of thousands of citizens across the Arab World rose up against the daily corruption, censorship and abuse that they have endured for decades at the hands of their governments. Now, with the rising popularity of the blogosphere and social media in the region, their stories are being broadcast around the world, mobilizing international solidarity.

Speaking at this year’s Personal Democracy Forum in New York City on June 6, Egyptian feminist, activist and writer Mona Eltahawy explains the importance of the blogosphere and social media in breathing life into the Egyptian Revolution. The personal narratives that made their way around the world thanks to the internet used what Eltahawy calls the power of the "I" to put a human face on the quick-moving news out of the country.

—Anna Lekas Miller