The Arab Opinion Index 2011 from the Doha Institute, the first of its kind, provides incredibly useful data on the social outlook of Arabs across the Arab world. In a time in which the world is increasingly anxious about the rise of Islamists in Arab countries, it may be useful to keep some perspective.

Over the course of the Arab Spring, one of the more fascinating aspects of the revolutions has been the use of language and the evolution of slogans between Arab countries. Without a doubt, the central slogan of the Arab Spring has been “The People want the Overthrow of the Regime” (الشعب يريد إسقاط النظام). I’ll dissect important words of the slogan, because each word has its own story.

This testimony in Arabic is from an Egyptian engineer, Mohammed Maslah of Port Said who witnessed the events of the recent riots at the Port Said football game between al-Ahly and al-Masry. This summary of his testimony was translated from Masrawy.

1) The stadium turnout was very large and I had reserved a ticket with great difficulty.
2) Before the start of the match, security did not search people before entering the stands.
3) Security did not check tickets.
4) I had reserved a seat in the western wing of the stadium but I was able to move to the media box without any restrictions.
5) There was a group of Baltagiyya inside the media box and they were holding white weapons.
6) When the match started everything was normal, but after Al-Ahly made their first goal the Baltagiyya started to incite people to riot and descend onto the field, but that didn’t happen.
7) Throughout the match these Baltagiyya incited and taunted people and said that “you people are silent while al-Ahly is on your field…”
8) At the final whistle, dozens of people trampled a group of [...]

An all-women’s batallion, named after the famous Muslim female warrior Khalwa bint al-Azwar has been formed in Deraa to “defend our lands and our children”. They call upon all free Syrians to join the revolution, as they say “you are all our sisters.”

On December 28th, Iranian Vice president Mohammed Reza Rahimi threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz should the West apply sanctions against Iran’s oil exports, saying that “If sanctions are adopted against Iranian oil, not a drop of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz.” On January 9th, 2012, Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi contradicted Rahimi’s threat. Key quotes from Persian-