This post is due by Tuesday, February 11 @ midnight for full credit.
Email late posts to rwilliamsATchamplain.edu for partial credit.
Read the assigned chapters above, and then:
1. Provide 3 SPECIFIC observations about the Arab Spring you learned from EACH chapter of our book, using 2-3 sentences combining the book and your own IYOW analysis.
2. Finally, ask ONE specific question you have of the Arab Spring after completing our reading.
Revolution 2.0
ReplyDeleteChapter 1:
1. Egyptian state security thrived on the emergency law. The law gives authorities the right to arrest, interrogate, and imprison any Egyptian for up to six months without a warrant or any legal grounds or even the right to an attorney. This law also empowers the authorities to ban all types of protests as well as gatherings of any group of people without a security clearance (2).
2. Some mothers used to wish that the proctors of their children’s exams would let them cheat. It is not surprising that cheating and fraud gradually became everyday activities in Egypt, making their way from education to business and commercial transactions, and ultimately to elections (13). It seems that the idea of corruption starts at a young age and then works its way into politics that we are so accustomed to seeing in the Middle East.
3. “The thing that impressed me the most was the freedom of religious practice – the respect for religions and every human being’s right to practice his or her faith. There were many organizations that defended Muslims and their rights. They were free to criticize the American government’s policies without fear of any secret police. (17)”
Chapter 2:
1. “Egyptians have always expressed political opinions, but only passively. We complain about education, health care, the economy, unemployment, police brutality, bribery, and corruption (28).” This sounds very similar to the complaints that Americans have been talking about for years just not as severe.
2. The number of internet users increased from 1.5 million in 2004 to 13.6 million in 2008. Discussion forums, chat rooms, and blog flourished, providing an outlet for many users to express opinions freely for the first time. State Security occasionally arrested bloggers but the number of politically focused bloggers only increased (38).
3. To collect signatures in significant numbers, the movement turned to the Internet. The petition was published online, and citizens just needed their name, address, and national ID number to sign. The organizers also helped people overcome their fear by publishing the initial hundred signees, who were public figures willing to use their authentic personal information (45).
Chapter 3:
1. Using the pronoun I was critical to establishing the fact that the page was not managed by an organization, political party, or movement of any kind. The writer was an ordinary Egyptian devastated by the brutality inflicted on Khaled Said and motivated to seek justice. This informality contributed to the page’s popularity and people’s acceptance of its posts (61).
2. Social networking allowed Egyptians to defy the fears associated with voicing opposition. The virtual world seemed further from oppressive reach of the regime, and therefore many people were encouraged to speak up. The more difficult task remained, which was to transfer the struggle from the virtual world to the real one (67).
3. State-owned newspapers began to attack Facebook by claiming that it was owned by the CIA and that a lot of spies and enemies anonymously used it to brainwash Egyptian youth. The regime despised it, since people were too easily able to express their opposition and discontent (74).
Question:
Without social media, would the progression from the Arab Spring movements have been possible?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteChapter 1
ReplyDelete1. Egyptian State Security was entrenched deep in the Egyptian society. It eavesdropped into the life of citizens. It was a state sponsored instrument of intimidation.
2. The regime fears a potential uprising by the masses. It did everything possible to instill fear in people. People encouraged their children to mind their own business.
3. The regime was unable to redress the long standing economic and social issues. These issues caused dissatisfaction amongst the masses. Popular resentment was gradually augmenting.
Chapter 2
1. Egypt has a history of successive autocratic regimes. The successive regimes created a façade of popular support. The state media reinforced this façade.
2. These regimes did manipulate the polls and referendums held over the years. Each poll and referendum indicated massive popular support for the regime. Gradually the regime inculcated a dynastic element during the reign of Mubarak.
3. The strategy of this regime was to systematically repress any possible political alternative. It came heavily on the political opponents like Muslim Brotherhood. It brutally repressed any form of public protests.
Chapter 3
1. The Egyptian security set up was brutal and lawless. The state security officials did not hesitate from resorting to brutal violence. There existed no mechanisms to complain against the injustice perpetrated by the state security set up.
2. Social media gave a viable chance to the Egyptian youth to mobilize them around a cause. The social media had an element of anonymity. It allowed young people to voice popular resentment without getting caught by the state machinery.
3. Considering the repression of the mainstream media by the regime, internet emerged to be a viable platform for dissent. The young people were attracted to the possibilities offered by the social media. It made it possible to organize and voice popular dissent.
Why was the Egyptian regime not able to manipulate or control the internet connectivity in the country?
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete1. The Egyptian State Security ran the country, in a way. It controlled who could be hired into select jobs and was legally able to detain citizens without just reasoning.
2. The regime used “weapons of mass oppression” (3) to cause fear among the citizens. They were afraid of any sort of uprising and wanted to choke out any such ideas.
3. “The ruling regime was extremely apprehensive about organized religious forces in Egypt, particularly ones that concerned themselves with public affairs. Their fears were intensified when thousands of Egyptians traveled to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets. Many returned…with ideologies that rejected Arab regimes, denouncing them heretical” (5). While it seems that the regime is trying to oppress religious groups, they still pretend to care about it in order to seem more friendly and approachable.
Chapter 2
1. Like many situation with oppressive regimes, voting doesn’t seem to work in Egypt because new leaders are usually chosen by the previous one.
2. Lord Acton’s quote fit perfectly into the situation with Egypt, especially for Mubarak. He promised to stay in power for the maximum of 2 terms, yet ruled for more than twice that.
3. Parliament members were kept in power so long as they sided with the National Democratic Party. NDP members were given benefits so long as they stayed loyal.
Chapter 3
1. Social media had allowed vast amounts of people to see the gruesome death of Khaled Mohamed Said and breed more political activists over its injustice.
2. “We are all Khaled Said” was used as a Facebook page name because young Egyptians saw his death and though that he was just like them and what happened to him could happen to anyone. After all, everyone was feeling the oppression of the regime.
3. Using social media like Facebook to rally multitudes to a cause was key in the wake of Said’s death.
Ch 1
ReplyDelete1. The State Security had dossiers on everyone and anyone who had any influence whatsoever, anyone activist or even anyone with considerable financial or intellectual influence had an extensive dossier in his or her name, containing every detail the authorities had collected that could possibly be useful with blackmailing them into obedience.
2. The internet was used for Egyptians to communicate with people throughout the world, networking with people around the world, with the ability to conceal identity this gave people the ability to talk about controversial issues with others without being completely watched and documented by the government.
3. The Egyptian regime sought to plant fear in the heart of the Egyptians from an early age, fear was embodied in local proverbs, such as "walk quietly by the wall" and other sayings used to convince Egyptians to act quietly and not do anything controversial. This came to be called "weapons of mass oppression" this imposition of fear caused the Egyptians to live their lives without any intent of fighting back, only a few revolted at first.
Chapter 2
1. Egyptians have always expressed political opinions but in the beginning they were just expressed quietly, they would complain about: education, health care, the economy, unemployment, police brutality, bribery, and corruption, but this is as far as they would go, very seldom would blame be pointed toward the officials, most opinions would just be kept to themselves.
2. Egpytians who grew up in the 50s and 60s were the ones to bear the worst oppression in modern history, facing arrests, torture, military trials and other forms of oppression most of them chose safety over activism. The informers were so deeply implanted that many Egyptians were afraid to discuss politics in public, this generation raised their children with the fear of politics and the state security.
3. Employees of the government and public sector, which was more than 60 million Egyptians, were all ordered to vote for President Mubarak, the votes tallied to 88.6% for Mubarak, Mubarak after this cracked down on his two opponents, Nour, the head of the "tomorrow" party was sentenced to five years on allegations of fraud, and Gummaa the head of Al-Wafd Party, was removed from his position and expelled from his parties headquarters, "if you ran against Mubarak and you really meant it, you suffered" this quote really stuck out to me because this just shows the levels of oppression that was held on the Egyptians at the time.
Chapter 3
ReplyDelete1. After the murder of Khaled many facebook pages were created in order to spread news of his death, we see with the creation of these pages how quickly the news was able to spread and to what a massive audience was able to be reached and how quickly, the one page "We are all Khaled said" grew in popularity instantly, in two minutes 300 members joined the group, with this example we see how massively social media can play a role in the spreading of news.
2. Through the use of facebook after the event of Khaled's death many people throughout the country are brought together to support this killing and to fight against the government so that nothing like this will happen without repercussions. Because of the high levels of oppression in public we see here the Internet used as a gathering place for the people to work together and operate their protesting views and to spread the word at very quick rates to large audiences.
3. The protest idea "The Silent Stand" was a movement where people would gather in the streets at sunset, stand together holding hands, and silently pray for half an hour, this is a movement which gained the majority of its support through facebook and social media, this is a great example how social media can be used to organize events and really cannot be stopped by any forces, if any opposing parties were to post regarding this issue that would just have created even more of an uproar and upset more people.
Question
What would have happened in Egypt without social media or internet, would the revolution have even occurred if facebook was not available?
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete1. Conditions in Egypt were so bad that that thousands of people decided to look for jobs in other locations such as the United States, Canada, Europe, or the Gulf States. What got to me most though was what an Egyptian comedian said, “Egyptians’ future is in Canada.” That shows just how much hope was lost in Egyptians if they feel like they can’t even prosper in their native country (8).
2. Public school teachers in Egypt make so little that they need to have private lessons with students. These private lessons then become their main source of income (12).
3. At the end of the chapter Wael Ghonim says that the State Security found nothing to hold him on. I find it interesting and suspicious that an organization that has such a strong hold on the country didn’t think to look at his internet usage (27).
Chapter 2
1. The fact that the percentage of yes votes was always in the 90% range shows that the elections weren’t free. You can rarely get an entire country to agree on something, much less agree as decisively on that for decades (29).
2. After being released Ahmed Maher went straight to human rights activists to get pictures taken of his tortured body. An impactful quote from this section is, “regimes of terror cannot stand exposure.” The regime was able to get its way because everyone was terrified to speak their opinion therefore it was harder for the general public to be exposed to these happenings. (37).
3. For most of this chapter Mohamed Mostafa ElBaradei is seen to be the protector of Egyptian people and their rights. However, he was very adamant that he was not the savior of the Egyptian people, and that the Egyptian people need to save themselves (43).
Chapter 3
1. Wael Ghonim decided to create the “Kullena Khaled Said” page because the other page that was dedicated to Khaled Said was confrontational and used very strong language. For Ghonim that wasn’t the way to go about making the news a mainstream issue to be reckoned with (59).
2. The Ministry of Interior was worried that with the popularity of “Kullena Khaled Said” so they stated a defamation campaign again Khaled Said. They said he died of asphyxiation from swallowing a pack of marijuana and that he was wanted for four different crimes. However, that doesn’t coincide with what eyewitnesses said (65).
3. On page 73 Ghonim says on Facebook that the Silent Stand needs to be focused at certain areas. This was weird to see since we know that the protest was successful because it took place in different parts of the country and the State Security wasn’t able to conceal all the people since they were spread thin with the number of protesters running around the country.
Question: In the book it seems like the revolution wouldn't have happened without Wael Ghonim, even though the event that sparked the protests was Khaled Said's death. My question is would the Arab Spring have occurred without Ghonim's insistent social media use?
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete• (Pg7) “At University, I mixed with people from many religious groups and ideologies, including the Muslim Brotherhood, and I joined many of their activities at the school. But I always made my own sense of things. A famous sheikh whom I met with several times once said to me, “your problem, Wael, is that you only follow your own logic and you don’t want to have a role model to follow”
• (Pg12) In Egypt people receive a monthly salary of no more than a few hundred pounds, which does not cover the basic family needs. Private tutoring became a far more profitable option for teachers. In 2008 a survey revealed that 60% of Egyptian parents sought private lessons for their children and spends up to a third of their income on lessons.
• (Pg17) “ We’re being fooled in Egypt” thing that impressed the most was the freedom of religion practice, the respect of religions and every human being’s right to practice his or her faith. In this part the US seems like the ultimate goal that Egyptians among other people want their lives to be like.
Chapter 2
• (Pg28) Egyptians have always expressed political opinions passively. They complain about education, health care, economy, unemployment, police brutality and corruption but that is as far are Egyptians go. Only few would point at who is responsible unlike the rest who keep complains to them. This shows how most civilians are too afraid
• (Pg35). Six million of government employees were given orders to vote for President Mubarak. The tally came about to be 88% for Mubarak. Shows how much corruption and unfairness has been happening.
• (Pg36) Ahmed Maher was part of a youth movement and was severely punished and tortured by the police. This was a strategy, so people would think twice before joining a movement. This was a tactic by the government to prevent from people to riot and overthrow the government.
Chapter 3
• (Pg58) The picture that was shared on Facebook about person who was brutally beaten by two secret police officers from Alexandria. The use of media that allows this horrific picture to reach many people to see what their officers and government are going to their people is sending a big message.
• (Pg60) The quick response the support Facebook gave notice to the brutal beatings that the police have been giving. The message actually reach people and the “likes” show that civilians are getting notice of what is happening and joining rebellion groups.
• (Pg67) Trough Facebook the 3-step process to get more people involve into realizing what is happening to the citizens. First step: to convince people to join the page online. Second step: is to convince people to interact with the content by “liking” or “commenting”. Third step: is to get people to participate in the pages and online campaign and to contribute with the community. These steps will hopefully create more awareness among Egyptians and eventually the world.
Question
Without Facebook or other media sources, would the Arab Spring in Egypt be where it is now?
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete1. As of 2011, the emergency law had been in enforced for 44 years which allows executive authorities to arrest, imprison, or interrogate any Egyptian with little to no rights. An Egyptian could be imprisoned for up to six months without any legal grounds. This is very different from America’s law that civilians are innocent until proven guilty. (page 2)
2. The regime in Egypt planted fear into the Egyptians. The people viewed religious figures as role models because political figures lacked morals and values. This could be a reason why religion is so prominent in the Arab world. (page 6)
3. The Egyptian educational system was so corrupt that cheating was extremely common. Teachers and parents often allowed or encouraged cheating amongst students. (page 13)
Chapter 2
1. The first president of Egypt, Mohamed Naguib, was chosen by the military. He was supposedly planning civilian leadership for control over Egypt. Because of this he was forced to step down from president and was put under house arrest for the rest of his life. (page 29)
2. Gamal Mubarak, son of Hosni Mubarak who ruled as president for five terms, ran for president in 2005. He won with 88.6% by ordering about six million Egyptian government employees to vote for him. The opposing runners were punished with imprisonment and expulsion after the race. (page 35)
3. Dr. ElBaradei was supported by many activists who created a Facebook page for him and exposed his cause to the rest of Egypt. Activists were able to convince him to run for presidency and spread the word throughout Egypt. The last line of chapter 2 says “we did not need a savior; we had to do this ourselves.” This is very empowering because it wasn’t one powerful political figure making a change, it was the people of Egypt all coming together. (page 57)
Chapter 3
1. Khaled Mohamed Said was brutally and unjustly murdered by secret police officers. A Facebook page was created to search for justice and to spread the news. In about an hour 3,000 people joined the page. This shows what a large role social media plays in the Arab Spring. (page 60)
2. It was publicly declared that Khaled was not murdered but died from swallowing marijuana and was also a criminal in his life. This is almost humorous to me that they thought anyone would believe these excuses. (page 64)
3. A “Silent Stand” was organized to peacefully and quietly protest. About 8,000 people took part and photos of the stand circulated the internet. This made a huge impact on Egypt’s Arab spring. (page 79)
If social media was not available to the people of Egypt, what other methods would they use to spread information and gain support by activists?
CH1
ReplyDeleteAfter shortly reading this book I can see that there are many similarities to what happened in Egypt with the Emergency act and what happened here with the patriot act. Even though these two acts happened at completely different times the condition that the two nations were in at the time seems to be quite similar.
Another interesting familiarity with this situation is the extreme fear and efforts to sensor or try and stop the spread of information in Egypt. This has close similarities to what is currently going on in China, from what I can tell if a revolution can happen in Egypt there is no reason one can’t happen in China.
Anytime I ever thought of Egypt in the past I never associated it with this harsh treatment of its citizens. In a way it somewhat sounds like North Korea from what I understand.
CH2
It seems that no matter where revolutions take place religion becomes a large part whether it was first intended to be or not. Economic status seems to be the complimentary piece that follows right behind religion.
Politics are also a huge part of any revolution as well. That seems to be especially true with what happened in Egypt as well.
Even with all of these sever problems it seems Egypt has come a long way. It seems that Egyptians’ in the past had to deal with even worse problems.
CH3
The creation of this security team seems to be doing more harm than good. I can’t understand why it was allowed to go on for so long without repercussions.
Social media seems to be a key part in any revolution. It reveals the ghastly events, such as what happened to Khaled Mohamed.
It seems that the Arab spring was a perfect storm ready to hit. It only took the right events to help move it into potion to begin.
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete1) Egyptian State Security is almost completely involved in one’s life. They run on the Emergency Law, giving the police the right to imprison, arrest, and/or interrogate someone for up to 6 months without a warrant. (page 2)
2) The economic conditions were horrible, which is not surprising, after reading this elsewhere. What is surprising is the number of people it effected. The number of people who had no other option but to risk their lives trying to get to Europe illegally. (page 8)
3) The integrity of the school systems, where the “teachers supervised without allowing cheating were described by students as bothersome” (page 13). This starts early on, and I can now understand why there might be so much corruption in some of the Middle Eastern countries.
Chapter 2
1) The privileges that government officials had started to erode the rule of law. The higher up the chain you were, the less restricted you were by the law. There was widespread bribery and corruption. (page 30). This is a perfect reason, as read about the Yemen uprisings, widespread corruption caused much unrest and the non-government suffered dearly from it, especially economically.
2) The politics and the elections seemed to be rigged. As stated on page 35 in the text, “If you ran against Mumbarak and you really meant it, you suffered." This leads me to believe that the elections are stacked and people basically know who is going to win. People meaning the government officials for each party.
3) When people started to use the Internet, joining a Facebook group on who to vote for. The regime was thrown off balance, not used to this type of uprising. People wanted change and didn’t want to keep suffering under the same president, inviting other political leaders or activists to step forward and take part.
Chapter 3
1) The Egyptian government came down hard on the recent uprisings, using brutal force to get their point across. (page 58) The internet was a great way of getting this information out there, and it outraged many people, making matters worse.
2) The internet was an extremely powerful tool for Egyptians. It allowed them to voice their opinions anonymously, without fearing punishment from authorities. It grew into something very large and soon became a world wide thing.
3) Many policial activists and those opposing the current government came together for the “Silent Stand”. It was a way for people to show dissatisfaction with the regime, avoiding physical confrontation with security forces. This was very important because people from all over became involved and were heard.
Why didn’t the Egyptian government see internet as an issue before it got out of hand. The cause for the rapid spread of dissatisfaction and uprisings were in front of them the whole time.
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ReplyDeleteChapter 1
ReplyDelete1. Egyptian state security thrived on the emergency law. The law gives authorities the right to arrest, interrogate, and imprison any Egyptian for up to six months without a warrant or any legal grounds or even the right to an attorney. This law also empowers the authorities to ban all types of protests as well as gatherings of any group of people without a security clearance.
2. The regime used “weapons of mass oppression" to cause fear among the citizens. They were afraid of any sort of uprising and wanted to choke out any such ideas.
3. The regime was unable to redress the long standing economic and social issues. These issues caused dissatisfaction amongst the masses. Popular resentment was gradually augmenting.
Chapter 2
1. These regimes did manipulate the polls and referendums held over the years. Each poll and referendum indicated massive popular support for the regime. Gradually the regime inculcated a dynastic element during the reign of Mubarak.
2. These regimes did manipulate the polls and referendums held over the years. Each poll and referendum indicated massive popular support for the regime. Gradually the regime inculcated a dynastic element during the reign of Mubarak.
3. These regimes did manipulate the polls and referendums held over the years. Each poll and referendum indicated massive popular support for the regime. Gradually the regime inculcated a dynastic element during the reign of Mubarak.
Chapter 3
1. To collect signatures in significant numbers, the movement turned to the Internet. The petition was published online, and citizens just needed their name, address, and national ID number to sign. The organizers also helped people overcome their fear by publishing the initial hundred signees, who were public figures willing to use their authentic personal information.
2. 1. Social media had allowed vast amounts of people to see the gruesome death of Khaled Mohamed Said and breed more political activists over its injustice.
3."In two minutes time three hundred members joined the page"
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete1.) “My arrest is 2011 was not the first time I had encountered Egyptian State Security. One winter afternoon in 2007, I received a call from a man who presented himself as Captain Rafaat al-Gohary, from the bureau in Giza, Egypt’s third largest city, which is part of greater Cairo. Needless to say, Rafaat al-Gohary was not his real name. State Security officers feared the potential wrath of citizens they interrogated and tortured, so they used pseudonyms.” (1)
2.) “State Security would have immediately targeted me if it had discovered that I was the creator of an Islamic website, no matter how moderate it might have been. When I received the call from Captain Rafaat, I prayed that it would have nothing to do with my IslamWay days. Luckily, he never mentioned it during the interrogation, so I didn’t either.” (15)
3.) “The Internet has been instrumental in shaping my experiences as well as my character. It was through the Internet that I was able to enter the world of communications (when I was barely eighteen) and network with hundreds of young people from my generation everywhere around the world. Like everyone else, I enjoyed spending long hours in front of a screen on chat programs. I built a network of virtual relations with people, most of whom I never met in person, not even once.” (24)
Chapter 2
1.) “Mubarak ruled for five terms, each of which lasted six years. His best terms were the first and second, when he released political prisoners arrested by Sadat and promised widespread reforms. He vowed to fight corruption. He also pledged not to rule for more than two terms, as the constitution required. Many political analysts believe that Mubarak did not start out as a corrupt man. But Lord Acton’s rule prevailed: power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (30)
2.) “And increasingly, technology made public exposure inevitable. Egypt has seen a significant shift in media patterns over the past decade, thanks to the rise of privately owned printed newspapers and magazines and the spread of satellite television. The private media are not as tightly controlled as the official state-owned media, but they have faced their share of manipulation. Many famous anchors and talk show hosts have been forced out of their jobs. Still, the new private outlets have produced more even-handed stories, even though their owners tend to have strong connections to the regime.” (37)
3.) “One of the important activities I initiated on the ElBaradei page was the use of opinion polls to make decisions. Despite the fact that Internet polls are far from scientific, they still offer a good means for testing trends of opinion. Besides, in Egypt, offline opinion polls, carried out through actual interviews, were possible only with a permit from the Ministry of Interior. Needless to say, the ministry had no interest in helping political activists gather information from the public.” (50)
Chapter 3
ReplyDelete1.) “I spoke on the page in the first person, posing as Khaled Said. What drove me, more than anything else, was the thought that I could speak for him, and if even a single victim of the regime could have the chance to defend himself, it would be a turning point. Speaking as Khaled gave me a liberty that I did not have on ElBaradei’s quasi-official page. It also had greater impact on the page’s members. It was as though Khaled Said was speaking from his grave. (60)
2.) “A few days following Khaled Said’s murder, opposition newspapers and some private television channels began supporting the cause. I asked page members to apply pressure to TV talk shows. Together, we compiled the telephone numbers of the different talk shows and posted them on the page. I encouraged everyone to call in and demand that show hosts discuss the case of Khaled Said. Earlier, some shows had attacked Khaled, while others had tried to remain neutral. A few had supported his cause, and we were hoping they would now increase in number. (69)
3.) “We wrote a press release to distribute to the media. The purpose, in addition to general publicity, was to mobilize press coverage before the event in order to enable common Egyptians to participate. More than 100,000 members were reached through the page in a few short days.” (73)
Question: Does the State Security still carry out interrogations on the population of Egypt?
Revolution 2.0
ReplyDeleteChapter 1
1 The state monitored and terrorized political opposition groups, religious activists and anyone involved with public service. The regime exercized its ability to terrorize and monitor the public through its control over the media like satellite television, newspapers and magazines as well as through the coercive techniques of the Ministry of Interior and local proverbs from early ages.
2 The acts of crazy fanatics have been portrayed in the west as representative of Islam. According to the author it seems the acts committed on 9/11 were inspired by political ideologies not adherent to Islmasit law; “The faith in which I had been raised both unequivocally prohibits the killing of innocent civilians under any circumstances and completely forbids suicide.” (17)
3. The impact of the internet as a communication and activist tool was not forseen by the government. ..“ If Capatain Rafaat and his colleagues had spent more time thinking about the Internet than classifying Egyptians by type of religious belief, they might have been better prepared for the digital tsnuami under way.” (27)
Chapter 2
1. The concept of divided powers was executed as theory but not as practice throughout Hosoni Mubarak’s presidency. Instead most of the power was highly consentrated in the executive branch making it so most of the members in parliament were closely dependent on the regime. Lolaylty was kept through “chain of interests” or privliges and benefits shared with those who were members of the ruling NDP.
2. Certain staged attempts “ to polish the regime’s image” for the international community were crafted in order to ensure Gamal Murbarak’s presidential power. For instance a presidential referendum “was turned into a simulacrum of a presidential election”; creating the illusion that alternative parties or representatives existed.
3. Despite heavy censorship by 2008, media and virtual worlds had effectively begun to unsettle the regime and threaten their “rein of terror”. The combo of greater numbers of private media ownership, emergence and popularity of satellite channels like Al Jazeera and the increase of internet users all contributed to an atmosphere which many hoped would help to “expose” the regime.
Chapter 3
1. The informality that Ghonim used to create the “ Kullena Khaled Said” page is thought to have helped contribute to the page’s popularity and people’s acceptance of the posts. This informality was created through Ghonim’s use of the word “I” and in effect representing himself as an individual instead of an organization or political group with an agenda.
2. Ghonim believes it is the certain capabilities that social media (unlike other forms) possess which enabled his facebook page to become so successful. These factors include the ability to be anonymous, proliferation of a visual documentation, an interactive experience and the efficiency of communication. All these things working together helped to create an atmosphere of hope amongst members. “There is a difference between writing to urge people to do something and showing am image that proves it can be done.” (79)
3. “ The barriers of fear were slowly being torn down”. (69) Ghonim saw people’s ability to post freely on his page as well as their encouragement toward one another and the sentiment of the page as a sign that the terror of which the regime had reined upon people was deteriorating. It seems Ghonim also felt the turn out during the Silent Stand of Prayer confirmed this notion and created movement from the virtual to physical world.
Question: How can the transference of activists efforts from the virtual to physical world make more of a lasting/ tangible impact for the future of Egypt’s people?
Chapter 1:
ReplyDelete• The Egyptian regime instilled fear in its citizens in order to keep them from forming opposition. This was done through the state security and the media. An emergency law that was passed in 1958 and still holds as of 2011 allows the arrest and interrogation of citizens without reason or right to an attorney.
• When the security force looks for citizens who are potential threats to the government, they look check if the person has any ties to political activism or religious groups. The reason that Ghonim thinks he was originally selected to be interrogated was because he had begun traveling abroad more often, and through those travels was exposed to real democracies.
• The educational system in Egypt condones cheating on school work, and any teacher that does not allow cheating is referred to as bothersome. Additionally the wages of the teachers are so low that they need to do private tutoring outside of work hours to be able to support themselves
Chapter 2:
• Mohamed ElBaradei was a popular political figure among Egyptians who had a movement started by his followers intending to have him run for president in 2011. Much of this following was organized through Facebook additionally, online survey tools were used to gauge the support of Elbaradei and aggregate the most popular questions asked by followers.
• In the end ElBaradei announced that he would not be running for president and that instead of pinning the county’s hope for change on him, all the citizens should take action to become the saviors of their own nation. This announcement was due to pressure and threats from the government against his and his family’s wellbeing.
• During elections the citizens are told who to vote for so that the illusion of democracy gets maintained. The citizens have the ability to vote, but if they vote for the wrong person then there will be repercussions.
Chapter 3:
• Running the Kullena Khaled Said Facebook group involved many small changes in the wording of a statement or the attitude that posts were intended to show. These edits were made in order to appeal as large an audience as possible and to avoid offending anyone. The posts were written in an Egyptian dialect that was used by younger people since the younger generation was the target audience of the posts and Ghonim wanted people to feel like they could relate to what was being posted.
• The government-funded media outlets tried to ruin the image of Khaled by saying that he was a drug addict, and that he was only attacked because he was refusing to cooperate when informers questioned him about his drug use. Since private broadcasting stations were not at risk of getting their funding cut, they could focus on more accurate information.
• The Electronic Committee of the NDP began posting negative comments about Khaled on the Kullena Khaled Said Facebook group in order to dissuade people from following the group.
Question: Have there been many other groups like Kullena Khaled Said that have played a role in the Arab uprisings?
Chapter 1:
ReplyDeleteThe first two pages was Wael talking about the guy refusing to meet any other time than the one he choose. He wanted to meet for a “cup of coffee”. The fear Wael has that other people have disappeared in situations like this makes it feel so real right from the start.
“With over 40 percent of Egyptians living below the poverty line, the authorities were consistently trying to curb anyone who might mobilize the masses for a future political cause.” (Pg. 8) I think the leaders reach a point where they know the government is so corrupt that they can expect a revolt at any point so they squish any attempt to make it happen.
The real reason for this interrogation being to ensure he isn’t a political or religious activist. It seems a lot of the chat he was trying to seem friendly and harmless but this may not be the case in actuality.
Chapter 2:
The first point he made in the chapter being a lot of Egyptians are not really into politics. This is a direct result of fear and the possibility of disappearing for a long time. Alot of them live under the mindset that they can’t do anything so why bother.
First two terms of Mubarak terms he focused on releasing prisoners arrested by Sadat and promising widespread reform. This was good but of course in his next two terms he became severely corrupt. It seems the power has the ability to do that to these people who we consider leaders.
The strikes by the Egyptians were not very effective until the use of the internet was put into effect. The internet exposure made it inevitable that everyone knew about this uprising. A lot of political cartoons and such were spreading like wildfire but no one was willing to take credit as you would expect.
Chapter 3:
Pictures on facebook of people being gruesomely beaten really stirred the pot. Our author claims that when he first saw an image on facebook of a mans face so distorted cover in blood and teeth bashed he was in denial. This was done by two officers to a 28 year old. To me this is not a good way to go about controlling these riots.
Wael started a Facebook page “Khaled Said.” This page gained a lot of momentum and was very successful. The author loved his page because he was speaking from the grave. This mans death was a serious driving factor for the page and Wael could virtually use this as his alias for his own thoughts.
The use of these Facebook groups were important in spreading pictures and ideas of the oppression occurring. The Facebook groups were working together as a unit to spread information and help advance the fight. It is interesting that Facebook groups were this effective.
Question: Who could have foreseen the use of Facebook in such a manner? Would the revolution have held up without Facebook?
Chapter 1:
ReplyDelete1.State Security in Egypt had files on anyone who they thought could have a significant amount of influence on politics. This would include Religious leaders, intellectuals, people involved in the internet movements and people traveling abroad. These files would include details that could be used to black mail individuals should the need arise.
2. The Egyptian regime was terrified of the potential of an uprising and they did everything they could to make people afraid of the government and live in ignorance. Parents even encouraged this behavior in their children because they thought it was for the best.
3. Public schools and their staff were so badly financed that the teachers were forced to hold private lessons outside of the classroom to make enough money to live on.
Chaper2:
1. The voting system was obviously corrupt, with every election the person had one with over 90% of the vote, there is very little chance that that large of a majority can agree on something so important.
2. “the number of Internet users in Egypt increased rapidly, from a mere 1.5 million in 2004 to more than 13.6 million by 2008”The rapid uptake in internet usage by Egyptians provided a new community to talk in chat rooms discussion forms, and blogs.
3. “ElBaradei had it right all along: we did not need a savior; we had to do this ourselves.” This is a great quote, and I’m happy this is how Ghonm ended the chapter. I feel the sentence captures the spirit of democracy.
Chapter 3:
1. Facebook allowed people to share pictures of oppression. By using this type of media, images and ideas can reach millions of people very quickly without censorship.
2. The situation within Egypt was so intense that the Ministry of the Interior felt that the opposition needed to be controlled. They did this through the use of defamation campaigns. Specifically, they told the public that Khaled Said dies of asphyxiation from swallowing a packet of marijuana and that he was wanted for multiple crimes.
3. Ghonim used a four step process to try and achieve his goal, this was: Phase 1: Convince people to join the page. Phase 2: Convince people to interact with content by liking and commenting. Phase 3: Participate in online campaigns and contribute content. Phase 4: This would occur when people decided to take the activism onto the street, his ultimate aspiration.
Question?
Facebook seems to play a major role in “Revolution 2.0”. Would this revolution have been possible without the presence of Facebook? What if Myspace was still the dominating factor in social media?
Chapter 1.
ReplyDelete-The emergency law allowed Mubarak's autocracy thrive. Without it I could not see him last six terms in office. What also helped him was how the last president was assassinated right after ending the law. That event gave him the wonderful reason not abolish the law.
-It was interesting to note that upper middle class are treated with kindness, while the lower class was treated like dirt. He did a great job of showing just how Mubarak viewed his people.
-The ending of the chapter sets the entire book well.”If Captain Rafaat and his colleagues had spent more time thinking about the Internet than classifying Egyptians by type of religious belief , they might have been better prepared for the digital tsunami under way.” It just shows how naive the government was.
Chapter 2
-Ali ElBaradei taking the stance that he was not a savior, but someone who wished to see change was his saving grace.It made a him not as threating to Mubarak regime as he could have been.
-It is amazing just how much Mubarak government underestimated the internet and did not act as efficient as they could have.
-Ali Elbaradei saying he can not save Egypt from itself, but that youth must stand up and change Egypt to their own image.
Chapter 3
-The killing of Khaled created a massive black eye for Mubarak government. Makes you wonder if they regret brutally killing the college student
-It is amazing just how on top Mubarak’s government when it comes to disbanding the gatherings of the protesters
- It was a touching moment when Wael Ghonim daughter asked him why cops killed that boy when they were supposed to protect people like him. It is an interesting look at how things have turned for the worst in Egypt.
Question: How does Wael Ghonim become arrested when he spends the better part of the revolution in Dubai?
Shukran for your reflections here, colleagues.
ReplyDeleteLet's explore REV 2.0 - yalla!
Dr. Rob
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete• During the time described by Wael, Egypt was under a state of massive oppression from the government. Wael was arrested because he was “causing a stir” and the regime didn’t like some of the messages he was getting out to people. This shows that the regime had a certain level of fear about their autocracy, because they knew a little teamwork and effort could have a great effect on them.
• A major factor in Wael’s realizations about how poorly people were treated in Egypt came from his visit to America. Wael came to America on business when he was about 20 years old. He was impressed with the way things were in the U.S.: freedom of religion, freedom to criticize the government, concern for civil rights, etc. All of this resonated with him and his return to Egypt made him realize that he needed to let people know that they were being “fooled”.
• Ghonim had become quite obsessed with online communities and virtual communication. He went to school and learned about this sort of thing and he became very fond of Google. It was his dream to work there and he always applied for any positions that became available at the company. It took him a few years, and failed interviews, before he landed a position at Google, but this coupled with his feelings towards making a change in Egypt played a key role in the Egyptian uprising.
Chapter 2
• Rule in Egypt was always plagued by corruptions. The three leaders it has had in the past basically ruled until they died. There were “term limits” but they were changed and/or ignored. The last president, Hosni Mubarak, came in to the presidency with good ideas and he seemed to want to change. However, he became like the rest and ruled with fear and absolute power. His corrupt actions were a big part in the uprisings.
• A lot of different groups, even some that opposed each other organized together on April 6, 2008. The groups organized a strike rather than a protest, because they weren’t as comfortable protesting; the government would feel more threatened this way. Nothing much came of the strike, however it proved how effective the Internet could be in organizing groups of people together in Egypt.
• While Egypt was nearing another election, the young people grabbed onto the likeness of Mohamed Mostafa ElBaradei. He had won a Nobel Peace Prize and stood for change in Egypt. Ghonim did a lot of online work to help his cause. He said he spent up to 15 hours a day of projects that improved ElBaradei’s online presence.
Chapter 3
• Wael was completely blown away when he saw pictures of Khaled Said, a young Egyptian man that was beaten to death by Egyptian secret police. The picture was extremely graphic and it struck a chord in Ghonim. He decided to start a Facebook page: “We are all Khaled Said”, in order to spread the acts of terror.
• The group gained members at an exponential rate and Ghonim tried to keep the spirit non confrontational as well as staying away from endorsing any specific political cause. The more active members in the group wanted to mobilize and move the online community out into the real world, but Ghonim didn’t think that this was a good idea. He organized a few virtual events, like taking pictures in front of an Egyptian flag and posting them, however, not all the members though this did very much.
• The massive amounts of people in the group eventually mounted in a protest effort out in the streets. The Silent Stand took place and eventually pictures and tweets of the act were being posted to online media. This really put a scare into the Egyptian government and they became more wary of social media. They bashed it in state-owned media outlets and tried to keep their reign in tact.
Question:
What do the people who created Facebook and Twitter think about this kind of revolutionary happening via their websites?
Chapter One:
ReplyDeleteEgyptian State Security thrived on the emergency law which had been enacted in 1958 but not enforced until 1967. The emergency law was still in effect until 2011, talk about outdated enforcing policies. The law gives executive authorities the right to arrest, interrogate and imprison ANY Egyptian for up to six months without a warrant or any legal grounds, or the right to an attorney. This law also gives way to ban ALL types of protests. The use of this seems highly outdated and is very oppressive to the people, only working toward the better for a small exclusive group of people afraid to lose power. Governments or individuals with political power over the masses who know they are doing something that isn’t in favor of the masses I believe use this tactic.
“The Egyptian regime lived in fear or opposition.” This quote ties in directly to what I stated above. In order to maintain and control the power that the regime had accumulated they enforced by whatever means, not thinking of the backlash that it may cause in the long run. They allowed their fear of this lose to govern their decisions for their own personal well being. At the end of the chapter it is noted that if the state spent more time thinking about the internet than classifying its’ people by religion that they may have been more able and better to adapt to the situation currently at hand.
Wael makes note of the differences in the schooling system and the oppression that not only the students were facing, but the professors and the schooling staff were being subjected to equally unstable environments that are not subjective to optimum learning atmospheres. The amount of culture and different social structures in such a small environment with no real organization disabled most of the community to be able to thrive and achieve what was needed to not only live a successful fulfilling life but to even meet the basic human needs. The school system was an example of the corruption taking place in the government, virtually the same forms of corruption and benefit networking were taking place in the most basic form of social every day life that mimc the governments behavior.
Chapter Two:
ReplyDelete“This generation raised their children first and foremost to fear politics and State Security.” There was no feeling of safety and security in Egypt as the masses were floundering in response to the poor economic and social instability. Proverbs were made to coheres the public into believe that not questioning the regime was the proper thing to do; Brainwashing generations to have no say in their daily lives.
Groups of intellectuals were considered to not be a threat to the regime because they would not be able to grasp the attention of the masses to be able to support their cause for change. In 2004 a group of opposition activists founded the Egyptian Movement for Change or other wise known as Kefaya. This group mainly opposed the renewal of Mubarak’s presidency for yet another term and the passing of power onto his son. This group however was very diverse in its members but lacked a way of communicating and organizing to include the mass population. I believe that this group could have been more successful and viewed as more of a threat if they had been given the proper tools to do so. This group were the first to openly stand up and oppose the regime during this time, they paved the way and psychologically broke a barrier to other Egyptians, allowing them to openly disagree with the regime’s ways.
More then six million Egyptians were told to vote in favor of Mubarak for president because they were government and public sector employees. This would be terrifying, ordinary people being told to vote a particular way because they work for the state. These people were basically threatened on a basic level to possibly lose their jobs, or fear that the security forces would know how they would vote and be reprimanded for not following the direction given to them. That is not just skewing the numbers of an election, that is threatening the lively hood communities and enforcing that fear the regime thrived off of. I don’t see how many of those employees could have done anything but comply.
Chapter Three:
One of the deciding factors of appeal to the youth through the facebook page was the use of the pronoun “I” to establish that the page was not used by organizations or political parties. The page was made to relate to the youth population, to the average normal citizen. I liked that the purpose was to make the writer an ordinary egyptian devastated by the critical state of their nation.
When police brutality was committed that very few of the cases were ever convicted and IF they were the officers would return directly to work immediately after their prison sentences ended. To me this sends the message that they are not police officers for the good of the community OR the government but that they are seen as untouchable, militaristic professionals invading another nation. I know that isn’t actually the case, or what is going on but thats what their actions and prosecutions say to me.
That the use of images and positive moral were key factors in mobilizing the members of the facebook page. The images made it easier for each member to relate to one another, to show support and to break down those barriers of fear. I believe that posting pictures of each individual with a specific message really worked to unite the people and unite the cause.
Question:
On an emotional level why did the Egyptian youth decide to unite for this one person? To me the concept is difficult to grasp. I’m assuming that it has to do with the difference in American and Egyptian communities, which the author touch on in the first few sections of the book. Egyptians are more about the family and the community, while Americans strive to be individuals, which makes this concept a little more difficult to grasp.