Iran Feature: As Strong as Our Signal --- Social Media and Activism (Mostatabi)

How can we, as an ever expanding internet network of activists, reach beyond the limitations of traditional activism, and the almost too limitless and too cluttered world of online activism, to find an effective way to take online action in a way that will affect real life change? How can we mitigate the tug of war for our attention, the broadcasts shoved into our faces, the murky, polluted stream of information, and realize that for all our good intentions, fascinating stories, and revs to action, we – our stories, our aspirations, our movements – remain only as strong as our signal?

Syria Video: Friday's Protests

Saturday: Funeral of a Slain Protester

Burning the late President Hafez al-Assad in Al-Rastan:

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The Latest from Iran (15 April): Two Months Later --- The House Arrests and the Opposition

2140 GMT: The Ahwaz Day of Rage. Activists in Ahwaz claimed at least nine protesters have died, scores have been injured, and hundreds have been detained by security services this week.

2130 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Student activist Foad Sojoudi-Farimani has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Sojoudi-Farimani was arrested on 13 September 2010. After 45 days, he was released on $500,000 bail, but he was barred from pursuing his postgraduate education.

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Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Calling for Assistance

2135 GMT: In Saudi Arabia, hundreds of Shia protesters gathered in Qatif and Awwamiya in Eastern Province for a second consecutive day, calling for the release of prisoners held without trial and for political and religious rights.

2125 GMT: Bahraini students in Britain say the regime has stripped government-funded scholarships from at least nine candidates who attended a pro-democracy protest outside the BBC building in Manchester last month. The students claimed officials had told parents to order their children home, and they feared they would be arrested if they returned.

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US Politics Analysis: "The Game's Afoot" --- The Budget Battle and Obama's Historic Speech

This was a speech that will be in the history textbooks in 50 years' time. Their verdict on its importance may be uncertain as yet, but Obama showed on Wednesday the essential role of the Chief Executive in framing the context of debate in the United States. Now the budget battles over the future of the entitlement programs in America can begin in earnest.

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Saudi Arabia Opinion: "Why I Am Boycotting the Elections" (al-Guwaifli)

I believe the elections deserve to be boycotted because they are not serious enough, because they are preposterous, and because their results don’t really affect my life. I boycott the only elections in Saudi Arabia because at this moment and more than anytime before, I want democracy, and the way I see it is through a fully elected parliament with a legislative authority and powers of oversight and accountability. I’m boycott the municipal elections because they mock my dreams.

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China Feature: An Interactive Guide to the Detained and Missing

The Guardian of London has established an Interactive Guide to "China's Detained and Missing", providing information about 43 dissidents and activists. Examples:

Ni Yulan (Beijing): Rights lawyer disbarred and beaten after defending residents against forced demolitions. Reportedly detained by police on 7 April; police believed to have notified family she is at Xincheng detention centre

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EA on the Road: Talking American Studies

I will be at the annual conference of the British Association of American Studies on Thursday and Friday. 

Updates on the Iran and North Africa/Middle East LiveBlogs will be limited until Saturday morning. However, I will check in with EA staff to post some news, and readers are encouraged to keep us up-to-date through posts in Comments.

And while I'm gone, we have a feast of features --- today, you can read about the myth of a central US-Iran confict in the uprisings from Libya to Bahrain, learn how the US military blocked a UN investigator from seeing detained US soldier Bradley Manning, charged with providing information to WikiLeaks, see how "social media" is far from a new phenomenon in Egyptian protest and activism, and laugh at Stephen Colbert's Twitter demolition of Senator Jon Kyl,.

The Latest from Iran (14 April): Honouring a Detained Lawyer

A "Free Sotoudeh" Poster With Her Children2050 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The European Union has published the names of 32 Iranian officials who were subjected to sanctions this week. Included are Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi, Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, Basij commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi, and Iran police chief Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam.

2045 GMT: Media Watch. Another curious suspension of a conservative publication --- the English-language site of Tabnak, the outlet of Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of the Expediency Council and 2009 Presidential candidate, has not updated since 1 February.

Ayande has not published in Persian since 9 March.

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Let's Make It All About Iran

Presidents Assad and Ahmadinejad2040 GMT: Reuters reports a protest of about 300 people in the Druze city of Sweida in Syria. Police with sticks dispersed the demonstrators.

2020 GMT: An opposition fighter describes today's bombardment by regime forces of Misurata:

The port area was heavily shelled today and the destruction there is huge. I was there and saw for myself. Over 200 Grad missiles fell on the port area, including residential neighborhoods near the port. They shelled this area because the port is Misurata's only window to the outside world.

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