Based on a theoretical exploration of issues of ‘media activism,’ ‘alternative media’ and ‘sites of resistance,’ this paper explores forms of alternative public political expression in the contemporary Arab world, specifically in Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt. First, by drawing on political science and media/cultural studies theories, the paper explores what is meant by ‘alternative media’ and ‘media resistance.’ The paper traces the theoretical roots of activism, especially as it pertains to expressions in public platforms, including a range of ‘old’ and ‘new’ media such as print, broadcasting, film and the internet, and less formal media such as graffiti, political posters, cartoons, blogs, and Facebook. There are two generally accepted definitions of ‘media activism’: one, the use of media by activists, and two, collective/individual activism targeted at media change. The paper fleshes out the difference between the two, and problematizes the appropriation of mainly Western theories onto the landscape of the Arab world, whose political and media make-up is unique, and in certain respects, relatively new. Looking at the Arab world, it is the former form of ‘media activism’ that is burgeoning, due to the political economic and legal structures of media, as will be described through the use of specific examples. Second, the paper explores what kinds of forms ‘media resistance’ take, based on the recognition that (alternative) political action is absorbed in the organization, transformation, erasure and subversion of physical and virtual ‘space.’ Here, the paper addresses empirical questions: what kinds of physical and virtual spaces are necessary for alternative expression? What are the historical and spatial roots of such forms? How effective are these expressions? And how would we begin to ‘measure’ such effectiveness: widespread recognition, political/social change, challenging hegemonic mechanisms of control, or otherwise? Third, based on contemporary examples drawn from Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt, the paper critiques various forms of expression and what it is that they seek to challenge, questioning the extent to which the media platforms determine and/or undermine those goals. This last part provides an analysis of the players, the messages’ reach, their intended and unintended audiences, and most importantly, what their relationship is to political change. Finally, the paper connects these examples of ‘media activism’ and alternative expressions to larger understandings of a new and vibrant Arab ‘political media.’