Washington loathes Wikileaks; Arabs love it

Hard to determine the real accuracy of such a poll but fascinating nonetheless:

Six out of ten Arabs believe that the world is better off with Wikileaks and nearly three quarters would like to see the whistle-blowing website publish more on the Arab world.

Support for Wikileaks and a demand for greater transparency emerged from a wide-ranging Doha Debate poll that surveyed the views of Arabs in 17 Gulf, North Africa and Levant countries, including Egypt and Tunisia. Fieldwork was conducted between the 1st and 6th of February 2011 and included over 1000 respondents.

The results closely mirror the results at a public forum in Qatar where 74 percent of the audience at the recent Doha Debate carried the motion ”˜This House believes the world is better off with Wikileaks’.

In the aftermath of the fall of the Ben Ali regime Tunisia, nearly 60 percent of respondents believe Wikileaks played a part in the events in Tunisia and the demonstrations in other Arab countries.

More than 60 percent believe that Wikileaks will change the way governments behave.

55 percent of Arabs revealed in the poll that they believe little to nothing of what their governments tell them.

This figure is highest in North Africa where 65 percent of citizens believe little to nothing of government information.

Half of those surveyed want full access to information and transparency.

Despite the support for WikiLeaks, more than half of those interviewed believed the materials released are not 100 percent accurate and truthful. Additionally, an equal number were unsure of whether WikiLeaks has a political agenda or not.

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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