Impact of Social Media on Political Change in Egypt - Term Paper Example

No: s Introduction General definition of social media Social media is a way of communication between different organizations, communities and countries. It operates through a web as world has become a global village so anything happening in one part of the world is directly broadcasted around the world by means of this social media. Social media like twitter, Facebook and YouTube are among the most famous means of communication nowadays. It includes web blogs, social blogs and many internet communication sites. The important feature of social media is that it is easily accessible that’s why it has brought people closer (Choudhary et al 75). Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have become the most famous sites of social media. These sites bring people on a single platform and give them information all around the world. These are good at interacting people and to stay connected round the clock. It gives updates about what is happening around the people. Moreover, these give freedom of expression to every person residing in any part of the world, which is important to maintain peace in the region (“The New Arab Revolt”) The role of Social Media in Arab spring (Middle East) The events that took place a year ago in the Middle East made an intense debate on the role played by the social media. The Arab countries are facing two big challenges, which are economic growth and job creation. Hisham Matar considered revolution a boring thing (Albanyadmin). In such situations what was the role of social media? According to Matar, internet was an exaggeration, which represents that the internet was accessible to the elite in the Middle East also; they knew only how to use it who were the ones that brought revolution (Albanyadmin). The second view was that the social media spike an online revolutionary talk after the events that took place in the Middle East. It also helped in spreading the democratic ideals (Suarez 5). Besides the censorship of Government on these platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogging etc, the process of broadcast cannot be stopped. During the process of revolution, the protestors were supported by these social sites. These helped them in planning and in the execution of their protests, which lit the flames of revolution. The protestors made wide use of these platforms in order to keep united, which gave fanning to the flames. Moreover, it proved that the revolutionary power could not be controlled or stopped by the government authorities. The government had almost failed in their attempt to stop these protests, which were being aided by the social media. When the Egypt government shut off the internet and mobile networks for 5 days from January 28, 2011, it brought out more protesters on the roads, which became a real big problem for the Egyptian government. Social media provided a platform to the Egyptians to raise their voices. It became a source of news and courage to the protestors (Albanyadmin). Matar said that the internet has created a new language (Albanyadmin). The protestors became more violent by this support of social media. Secondly, the outside world has uprisings, which created Arab spring in the past. The protests, disturbances and revolutions were not new. In 1990s, the green mountain of the Libya had uprisings in the east of the country. Also the same things happened in the 2011 revolution in Libya. The helicopters were sent by Gadaffi to limit the protestors, which also made bombardments on its own citizens (Albanyadmin). There was no as such news about it around the world as there was no proof of it. Especially in Egypt’s revolution, social media played a crucial role. Merely in 18 days, Egyptians succeeded in stepping down President Hosni Mubarak from the power, which reigned almost 30 years. In Tunisia’s revolution, it took 28 days but the result was less peaceful than in Egypt. In Libya, it took 9 months for a revolution to take place with poor peace results (Richards). Reports show that the usage of social sites in Arab spring has a higher ratio than the rest of the world. Facebook, Flicker, Twitter and YouTube are among the most widely using social sites in the Middle East (“The New Arab Revolt”). And when we talk about the use social media in the Middle East then we see that Egypt has the highest usage graph of Facebook and Twitter than the rest of the Middle East countries which include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, UAE, Algeria, Oman, Sudan, Jordan, Kuwait, Tunisia, Lebanon, Morocco, Bahrain, Syria, Qatar, Libya, Yemen. That was a complex area where you cannot reach to any conclusion easily. Social media played a role of catalyst in speeding up these processes that went a long time in the Middle East. It simply fanned the flames of revolution and helped in shaping the environment. It was indeed human courage and dignity, which stood up against the authorities. But at the end, it was not totally social media which lit these sparks, if it was so then why they did not make improvements in freedom of expression and of press during these protests which took many months. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press is very important in the building of the nations. Peace is painfully slow. “Connection technologies act as accelerants. They help compress time cycles” (Alqudsi-ghabra 156). Background of Egypt’s Revolution Mubarak took 18 days for his deposition, but the oppositional movement brought his reputation down which was a product of much longer planning and builds up, a year of repression that resulted in it. Social media played its vital in the whole process. According to Joel Benin, a Middle East scholar, there were almost 3000 protests, which were led by the workers in Egypt over the last decade, which indicated the discontent of the people with Mubarak’s regime. (Storck, 20) Egypt is unable to provide jobs and benefits to large young demographic as Arab countries are facing the two big problems, one is economic growth and the other job creation (“New communications” 51). A report on the youth employment in Arab world says that in a region of 100 million youth between 15 and 29 years old who represent 30% of the Arab’s population needs employment on urgent basis (“New communications” 51). The unemployment is higher among the university graduates, which are educated and growing quickly. They are dependent upon the government for the employment. In these situations, the Egyptian government has been just unaware of the needs of their Egyptians, which led the protests against the Mubarak regime. Kefaya movement in 2001, which was started for the revolution of the Egyptians. It proved a starting point of protests against the Mubarak regime. It was started against the poor governance of Mubarak and to provide Egyptians a platform to speak out their needs (Nelson). How People Interacted Using Social Media People started using social sites to call others for protests. There is always a need of change but President Hosni Mubarak forgot this thing. He remained in power for 30 years but he failed in empowering Egyptians and improving Egypt’s economy. Under such conditions, revolution became essential in Egypt as people were living below the living standards. They did not have jobs, which were the real problem for them. The ratio of unemployment was increasing and in such conditions, the policies made by Mubarak’s cabinet were not working out or in other words we can say that they were not doing any good for their people in actual. They were unaware of their needs. Under such conditions, Egyptians were compelled to step down Mubarak, which only took 18 days because of the role of social media (Storck 21). They started to sign up Facebook and Twitter. The use of these social sites in Arab spring is much more than the rest part of the world. In 2008, at 27 years old human resource coordinator Esra Abdel Fattah created a group on social networking website, which called the participation of people in a 6th April worker strike for a textile mill in Al Mahalla Al Kubra in the Nile delta. 70,000 members were there in that group from which 10% were of Egypt’s active Facebook users. This strike was organized by 57 civil engineers and Kefaya member Ahmed Mahar which was basically against the rise in the basic livings, decreasing wages and inflation that was a problem but the Egyptian government continued to privatization. The result was the creation of a new movement: the April 6 youth movement, which played an important role in organizing the protests in 2011 (Nelson 19-20). In 2006 for example, Dina Shehata noted that "young people with a secondary education or more represented 95 percent of the unemployed in their age group" (Nelson 19). In June 2010, Facebook made another scene of the Egyptian political activism (Storck 21). It was to commemorate the death of a young blogger Khaled Said who was killed brutally after the allegation that he posted incriminated video of police officers. Wael gaming, Google’s marketing director for Middle East, created a Facebook page named as “we are all Khaled said”, which attracted 500,000 members and the bit became a platform for online discussion against the Mubarak regime. Wael Ghonim was arrested by the Egyptian state police. The sparks to Egyptian activists were provided by the protest in Tunisia and fall of Ben Ali. They gave practical advices for protests (Storck 21-22). Besides of the fact that revolution and changes were needed, Egyptian government tried to suppress their people instead of hearing them, which led to the protests which became violent. Events On January 25, 2011 the first large protest took place in Egypt’s national police day which is a national holiday that commemorates the policemen of 1952 revolution. Mubarak was stepped down from power on February 11, 2011. During these 18 days uprisings protestors relied heavily on social media such as Facebook and Twitter to organize the protest. On January 26, 2011 the protest became heated when forces tried to stop them. The Egyptian government blocked Facebook (Choudhary at al 77-79) due to which protestors became violent. Even then Google and other social media provide them the ways to get connected to these social sites like Facebook although Mubarak took the plug off of the internet. But Egyptians still managed to use it and Google helped Egyptians a lot in this respect. So, social media helped a lot Egyptians in this revolution process. Next day, protests were led by the lawyers in Alexandria and Toukh which showed additional hate for Mubarak’s regime. Mohammad Al Baradei joined the protestors in Egypt on the same day which led to the changes in Egypt. By January 28, 2011 internet was blocked almost completely. "Mubarak's downfall was the result of three factors: increasing corruption and economic exclusion, the alienation of the youth, and the 2010 elecdons and divisions among the Egyptian elite over questions of succession." (Nelson 20). Government Intervention to Curb Social Media Use Egyptian government became terrified by the Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube; they close these sites which added a huge loss to their economy. They choose the way of this loss to their economy in order to settle down the heated protests against Mubarak’s regime. Despite the internet blockade, protests continued to take place as they had already organized their protests sessions through Facebook and Google document posted to a Facebook group. On the same evening, Mubarak addressed Egyptians that he has resolved the cabinet but he would remain in power. He imposed a little curfew. On January 31, 2011, 250,000 people gathered in Tahrir square against the Mubarak’s addressed in which he said that he will remain in power. On February 1, 2011, one million protesters gathered at the same venue which showed that it would never be ending until Mubarak leaves the power. On February 3, 2011, forces opened gunfire on the protestors which resulted in five killings. Wael phoneme was released on February 7, 2011 after which the number of protestors increased in Tahrir square on 8th February. And finally the day came when the revolution took place and Mubarak stepped down from his power on February 11, 2011. Egyptian government made all the necessary and needed steps in order to stop these protests but the extent to which they tried to limit these protests, they grew more and more (Choudhary et al 78). Not only internet service providers were asked to limit their services in some of the cities but also mobile service providers were also asked to do the same. Facebook and Twitter were blocked which provided the protestors a single platform to join together. The number of tweets was increased during these protests. On the other hand, cellular services were also limited. The purpose was to disconnect people from each other and make them unaware of the latest happenings in Egypt. Several people were arrested during this process. Hence, the Egypt government tried to omit this social media which made people aware of their needs. They took every possible step to disconnect Egyptians from the rest of the world so that no one would be aware that what was going on in Egypt (Nelson). Journalists were also asked not to give coverage to these protests. They were also asked to leave Egypt according to some sources. In some areas of Egypt, they were even arrested in observing in their duty and punished. They were also tortured by some external sources. They were compelled to show the false reality going in Egypt. Also, after the release of Wael Ghonim, the protests arose more highly. The amount of protestors increased. They were harassed by the security forces and the police department. Hence, the Egypt government made every possible step to restrict the social media which were fanning the flames of revolution (Alqudsi-ghabra 154). How people overcame government interventions The role of social media was positive in Egypt’s revolution. They gave them a platform to get united in order to get them free from the Mubarak’s regime. Egyptian activists dismissed Mubarak in 18 days and relatively peaceful in comparison to the uprisings in Tunisia and Libya which took 28 days and 9 months in Libya. It was due to the efficient use of social media which led the Egyptians to success. Google provided them well with the internet even when it was plugged off by Mubarak (Nelson 21) the Egyptian activists transferred the information and data so rapidly to the Egyptians by means of this social media. Wael Ghonim’s face book page “we are all Khaled said” provided a good platform to connect over a common interest. Not only that Facebook provided them a platform to unite but also provided the opportunity to potential protesters to join hands with each other. The page allowed different activists to meet each other including 6th April Kefaya movement. It increased the number of protestors in these protests due to social media. The activists ran different campaigns like they started to spread their words via taxi drivers, self reinforcing started. They used the traditional ways of spreading information like hand out fliers in the streets (Alqudsi-ghabra 154). The protests spread to Egypt on January 25, 2011 by the overthrow of Tunisia’s Ben Ali. The protests were declared as “day of rage” by the opposition leaders in Egypt. In these protests, the protesters spoke against the reign period of 30 years of President Hosni Mubarak. The protestors included all fields of persons. As the days proceeded, the number of protestors increased as their exact number could not be estimated; social media provided their photographs and videos which were massive in Cairo, Alexandria and in other Egyptian cities (Sander). The protestors used twitter, Facebook and YouTube to record their protests. They tweeted every minute which shows the role of social media in Egypt’s revolution. More than 90,000 people signed up Facebook for the protest which took place on January 25, 2011 which was against the poor governance of Mubarak which resulted in huge unemployment, declining economy and low living standards. In this scenario, Egyptian government banned social media like Facebook and Twitter which were leading more people to join the protests. The usage of Facebook and Twitter was increasing after every day protest. The internet blockade was made from January 28, 2011 when the government announced to censor these social sites. Internet and cellular services were made limited to some cities like Cairo and Alexandria meant cutting off of social media. Some reports said that journalists were asked to leave Egypt and not to give coverage to these protests. Vodafone said that the Egyptian government has asked cellular service operators to restrict their services in some cities of the Egyptians (Choudhary et al 77-79). The changes achieved as a result of using social media As the Egyptian government tried their best sources to distance people from using social media by blocking social sites like Facebook, twitter and YouTube, also they blocked cellular services in some cities of the country, they asked journalist to restrict themselves from protest areas but they failed to save Mubarak from stepping down from power (Sander). Just in 18 days, Mubarak stepped down from his power merely because of this strong social media which supported people during this whole process. In comparison to Tunisia where it took 28 days to bring revolution and in much worse conditions. 9 months took place in the revolution of Libya and in many poor conditions than Egypt. The results were peaceful in the end in case of Egypt rather than in the case of Tunisia and Libya where blood fleshed a lot. Navid Hassanpour, in a doctoral thesis, stated, "In the early hours of January 28th, the Mubarak regime shut down the Internet and cell phone networks across the country." (Nelson 21). Due to this social media, the revolution process became peaceful in the end. The motto was, less blood and less flesh. Above all this, Egyptians got rid of 30 years of old Mubarak’s regime. Egypt’s economy has started improving after Mubarak’s reign. It resulted in the freedom of Egyptians. Time Taken To Rally People to Demonstrate In the Streets It only took 18 days in Egypt’s revolution. Social media played a vital role in this revolution. Campaigns started before 2011 in Egypt when the economy started to drop and the unemployment ratio started increasing. But the heated protests started in January 2011. From January 25, 2011 to the Mubarak’s date of stepping down February 11, 2011, it took only 18 days just because of this social media which helped them a lot. Besides of the steps taken by the Egyptian government, social media supported Egyptians with all the restrictions and limits which Egyptian government puts on them. Conclusion In the Middle East, Twitter and Facebook have been used during the current uprisings and protests. Social media has an important role in such problems as they are widely under discussion in blogs and scholars during these protests. The question is do social media play an active part in such conditions? According to these authorities, social media is not the mainly cause in uprisings and revolutions. Internet facility is found everywhere around the world whether in some regions it is available with certain restrictions as we are not living in a world of global revolt. The political systems are confined in particular nation states with their own political, economic and cultural problems which are being exaggerated by the elites. In such conditions, social media is a useful tool for the protestors to compel government to hear their voices to get knows what citizens want in actual. New technology certainly has its pros and cons as one wish to see. With the unpredicted value of speed of transferring information to a huge crowd, the revolutionary process has come fast in shorter periods of time. The instance has been discussed of Egypt but social media can much more do than that. Social media can be used to inform your followers about the economic and political issues. Also, social media can be used to inspire your supporters into action i.e. A Facebook page “ we are all Khaled said which was created by Wael Ghonim, Google marketing executive, which was dedicated to preserving the legacy of Khaled and gave details of the Egyptian police that killed Khaled (Alqudsi-ghabra 154). It gave courage to the Egyptian people to stand against the injustices and abuses by the Egyptian state. It can also be used as a tool to employ like-minded people as on Facebook and twitter, there are many followers and supporters which share each other ideas and views which can be forwarded to other political movements who can make them their worker in order to vastly the span of their support. People have started using Facebook and Twitter to find out about their political sensibilities, which develops a sense of political identity. Egyptian activists have used social media to announce that their activities marked the first ever publicly pre-announced revolution in the history. Government is learning from the past events in Egypt that’s why cracking down on internet and cellular services. Social media plays an important role in overcoming collective action problems. The protests like against Mubarak in Egypt struggle in getting a number of people to leave their homes, workplaces and educational places to protest. Social media was a key driver in Egypt’s revolution. Because it brought people on one platform, gave them information every second and made them updated on the present ongoing. So, it proved a larger and better anti government which included everyone from the Egypt and from the rest of the world. Freedom of expression made revolution easy in Egypt as it acted as a catalyst in the protests. If Hosni Mubarak had paid attention to its citizens rather than on taking the ways to make people shut their mouths then he would be in a better place. Change is always needed so leaders must understand their citizens and they should make ensure their good living. Every person should have freedom of expression, which lacked in Mubarak’s regime (Sander). References Albanyadmin. "The Arab Spring and the Impact of Social Media". Albany Associates. 23 Mar. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. . Alqudsi-ghabra, T. Creative use of Social Media in the Revolutions of Tunisia, Egypt & Libya. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 6 (6) (2012): 147-158. Choudhary, A., Hendrix, W., Lee, K., Palsetia, D. and Liao, WK. "Social Media Evolution of the Egyptian Revolution." Communications of the ACM. 55 (5) (May 2012): 74-80. Print. Nelson, Brad. " The Role of Social Media in the Middle East Uprisings”. Ahram Online - News, Business, Culture, Sports & Multimedia from Egypt. 1 Apr 2011. Web. 20 Nov 2012. . Nelson, M. Social Media and the Egyptian Revolution. Peace Magazine, 28(2) (2012): 19-22. New Communications. Middle East, (July 2012): 51. Richards, Luke. "Stats: Social media growth and impact across the Middle East" Web log post. Econsultancy: Digital Marketing Excellence. August 8 2010. Web.November 21, 2012. [http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/10491-stats-social-media-growth-and-impact-across-the-middle-east]. Sander, Thomas. 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