In the Western world, mobile telecommunications and social media became tools with which ordinary citizens could keep in touch with their friends and family.

Soon after, they developed into tools with which to blog – an ambiguous term, which in reality means web-logging – a form of online diary. After the Twin Towers attack in the US, security began to tighten in the West and many began to worry about the Big Brother aspect. For those who do not know what it is (and we are sure there are many), Big Brother was the ruler in George Orwell’s dystopia novel 1984. Big Brother can hear and watch anything you do, through listening devices and by seeing you through the television set in your room. Big Brother also mounts a disinformation campaign, whereby citizens of the West (English-speaking Australia, the UK and the US) are at war with the Asians, the Indo-Asians and the Communists (a loose interpretation). Failure to abide by the rules lands one in the Ministry of Love (love between couples is forbidden) for re-education. This was a torture complex.

This novel strikes various chords with the situation in the Maghreb, the West, China, North Korea and Europe. While Orwell predicts that technology will cause the degradation of human rights, in the Maghreb it was quite the opposite. It was technology that allowed people to communicate and to organise themselves to protest and bring about the overthrow of dictators such as Ben Ali of Tunisia, Mubarak of Egypt and now the siege of Gaddafi. It was Twitter and the internet that allowed us to see the true images of what was going on, uploaded by ordinary civilians, taking on the role of journalist, analyst and film crew – all in one. In fact, it probably resurrected the dying role of the news editor in the West’s newsrooms.

But Orwell’s book strikes a chord with what is happening in other nations. North Korea’s dictatorship has kept its people in the dark by eliminating technology. They are told that they are at war with the rest of the world and that they are winning. This is done through loudspeaker announcements. Without recourse to the outside world and technology, they know no better.

The West has also followed in the path set out by 1984. We have been so encouraged to embrace technology that everyone knows everything about us. EBay accounts, Twitter accounts, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr and many other social media have been used to disseminate information about each and every person out there. The best part of it all is that they have done it willingly. There have also been cases locally where people have landed themselves in trouble with the law by uploading pictures and videos on Facebook and YouTube, the video channel.

The world is changing and it is doing so very, very quickly. There is no need to denounce Gaddafi. We did it at the very start of the uprising and our tone towards him is now well known. We could talk about the price of oil and the inevitable rush to embrace Green technology (too little, too late, damn our addiction to oil). We could talk about instability and business, but we will leave that to other commentaries such as the one below. What we really hope to achieve through this leading article is to show people that the world has changed. It will never again be the same. The last widespread revolution was positive (depending on how you look at it), and that was the industrial revolution in the 19th century. This is the digital revolution of the 21st century. To quote a song: “It’s the end of the world as we know it”. R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe might have sounded incoherent, but it all makes a little more sense now: “Team by team reporters baffled, trump, tethered crop. Look at that low plane! Fine then. Uh oh, overflow, population, common group, but it'll do. Save yourself, serve yourself. World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed. Tell me with the rapture and the reverent in the right – right. You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched.” Maybe Stipe’s not that weird after all.