Tweets Regarding the Revolutionary Stand Against Right-Wing Government in Turkey

Protestors have taken to the streets not only in Istanbul, but in Ankara, Izmir, Bursa and even the eastern Black Sea city of Samsun following police crackdowns against citizens bonding to protest plans to build on Gezi Park, the last remaining open space in Istanbul. The protests are also largely aimed at Turkey's right-wing government lead by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Here are some tweets regarding these events:

1) Hurriyet Daily News: #US and #EU concerned by violent raid against #Taksim Gezi Park protestors.

2) Gigi Ibrahim (a leader of the Tahrir Square movement in Egypt): Latest from a comrade in #Taksim Square: The movement is raising the slogan: "Turn Taksim into Tahrir!".........we support you.

3) Goksen Asia: "Watch Turkish people crossing the bridge for #occupygezi"

4) Zeynep Tufekci: "NYT has Turkey protests on cover. Turkish paper Sabah, not. Why social media matters."

5) Global Revolution: "Everyone has to watch this. All of #Istanbul flashes their lights in solidarity with #occupygezi protestors."

6) Heather Marsh: "More than 40,000 people are now crossing Bosporus Bridge in #Istanbul to join protests."

7) Simge Yarayici: "NYC! Tomorrow! Zuccoti Park! 12 pm! We will be in solidarity with #occupygezi occupiers."

Best Person of the Year for 2011- Gigi Ibrahim

"Time" magazine declared 'the protestor' to be the person of the year, but long before that, we had decided to name Egyptian Gigi Ibrahim, 23, as our Person of the Year. Ibrahim was one of the main organizers of the protests in Egypt during the Arab Spring.

While she was protesting on Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was trying to stay in power. But, his reign ended this year. Political protests also occurred in Libya, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and Syria this year with political change resulting in three north African countries: Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.

Ibrahim was influenced by Hasan el-Hamalawy, an early leader in the protest movement who had been tortured by Egyptian secret police in 2000. Ibrahim was also featured in a PBS/Frontline documentary about the protests in Egypt and she has even appeared on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

But, there have been political divisions amongst members of the movement as Ibrahim has openly criticized fellow activist Wael Ghonim who said that the protests needed to discontinue after Mubarak's resignation.

Today, Egypt remains in a state of political uncertainty, and many intellectuals, both liberal and conservative in the West, are concerned that the vacuum could be filled by Islamic fundamentalists, not only in Egypt, but in Tunisia and Libya as well.

Several Egyptian activists, including Ahmed Maher, have come to America to take part in both the Occupy WallStreet protests and the OccupyDC rallies, saying that 'America needs to ally itself with the Egyptian people as opposed to the Egyptian military."

Special Quote of the Week- Debi Thomas

Today, in our special edition of quotes from active and retired African-American athletes, we are focusing on two athletes who have become succesful in traditionally white, sub-urban sports. On our other blog, we have a quip from Freddy Adu, an American soccer play now playing for Rizespor in Turkey.

But, here we focus on Olympic and World Champion ice skater Debi Thomas who won a bronze medal at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Thomas also won gold at the 1986 world championships.

Nowadays, Thomas continues to be active in another arena as a physician.

In 2010, Thomas was one of a select number of American doctors who travelled to Nepal to assist poor local women suffering from arthritis who were in need of joint replacement surgery.

Here is the quote from Thomas:

"I just thought it was magical having to glide across the ice."

SIDEBAR: Tonight on most PBS stations here in the United States, one can watch a special edition of the documentary show "Frontline" which focuses on the recent revolutionary changes which brought an end to Hosni Mubarak's 30-year reign in Egypt. The special focuses on the young people who brought about the change, including Gigi Ibrahim, 24, who has become an Internet sensation with an unholy amount of followers of Twitter. Ibrahim is also among the activists who are going to be on the cover of an upcoming "Time" magazine issue that also looks at the events in Egypt.