The Conversion of Cross-Border Networks 175 network ties to family and friends in the home-country. Once converted to the revolutions, these ties became cross-border conduits for information and material exchange (Kitts 2000). They also enabled activists to expand their contacts from kin to previously unknown partners through introductions, vetting processes, and referrals. Both preexisting and emergent cross-border ties deputized activists abroad as broadcasters, representatives, brokers, remitters, and volunteers for resistance efforts and made the channeling of remittances possible. The second type of resource conversion that made the Arab Spring abroad possible was the conversion of diaspora activists’ capital to rebellion and relief efforts. Capital took fungible and material forms, such as when activists moved cash and medical equipment to home-country locales under siege. They also converted their expertise and skills – what social scientists call social capital – to the Arab Spring (Portes 2000). Social capital ranged from doctors’ medical knowledge to activists’ language interpretation and translation skills, previous experiences in public relations, and technological savviness. Capital conversion lent invaluable resources to the revolutionary struggles and gave activists a way to participate in the action, whether directly or indirectly. Taken together, these different forms of capital facilitated each tactic in the transnational repertoire. To evidence this process, this chapter illustrates how Libyans in the United States and Britain had few problems overcoming the hurdles posed by physical distance to help their compatriots due to sufficient resource conversion. Syrians and Yemenis, however, faced a number of different challenges owing to waning or absent network ties and insufficient capital. As Table 1.3 (column 5) summarizes, Syrians’ resources decreased from being largely sufficient to insufficient over time, and Yemenis’ resources remained insufficient for the revolution’s duration. The comparison illustrates how resource conversion to political causes transforms distant sympathizers into transnational forces for radical change. While diasporas channel considerable resources homeward to their families amounting to billions of dollars each year (World Bank 2018), this chapter demonstrates that whether or not those resources get channeled to politicized causes is another matter. Owing to differences in community-level wealth, education, and activists’ emigration circumstances, diaspora movement capital may be or become insufficient to address needs on the ground, even when demand for their support is high. 6.1 the conversion of cross-border networks 6.1.1 The Conversion and Expansion of Libyans’ and Syrians’ Cross-Border Ties The conversion of Libyans’ and Syrians’ ties to family and friends in the homecountry was the first type of resource that made diaspora intervention possible during the Arab Spring. By serving as the diaspora members’ eyes and ears, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009272148 Published online by Cambridge University Press