This post is due by Tuesday, February 18 @ 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.
Chapter 4:
ReplyDelete- Wael was so careful about keeping his anonymity when using the Facebook Page and when receiving emails. He made a point never to expose his IP address or any information that could possibly lead someone to him in fear of threats. It makes me wonder how easy it would be to keep yourself anonymous like this in America because I think for us it would be much harder.
- After the organization of the silent stand happened Wael ran a survey on his page to see how people felt about. It seems strange to me that there was such a wide spectrum of mixed reviews about the action. Wael later figured out that about 70% of the people who participated were under 25.
- This page created a community for the people as the page continued to gain popularity. He claims no matter how divided Arabs may seems they were all able to unite as one behind the shared feelings of anger. This is where the Arab Spring had begun.
Chapter 5:
-Mohamed Bouazizi, an unlicensed vegetable cart operator, had his cart confiscated by a police women and was slapped in the face when he complained. He went to police headquarters where he was refused so he set himself on fire on the steps and then later died. This really got people's attention.
- Torture became the most used to way to acquire information about crimes as a result of the lack of technology. A lot of the officers salaries were so low that they would pull people over just to see if they could get bribed. The people were referring to the egyptian police as the government because it seemed like they were the people running the country.
- A new book The Road To The Presidents Palace by Mohammed Ali mentioned that if 100,000 people gathered in Tahrir Square they would get what they wanted. This message really spoke to Wael. On January 25th he organized the protest that hundreds of thousands of people were to be in attendance.
Chapter 6:
- On January 23rd he flew to Cairo to be able to join in the protest in which he had started somehow making it through customs with little stoppage. He stayed in a hotel just incase the police showed up at his house looking for him.
- One major post that caught the attention of many was an image with the caption: “I am Amir Botros, a Christian Egyptian who will protest on Jan. 25 to demand justice for Sayyid Bilai (a young muslim tortured to death after the church bombing)... I am Youssef Ahmed, a Muslim Egyptian who will protest on Jan. 25 to demand justice for Maryam Fekry (a young Christian women killed in the bombing).” (page 143) The two groups needed each other so it was important that they worked together.
- On January 25th the protesters were met by armed guards not allowing them through. After a while some people in the front lines pushed through the police and ran the square as fast as they could in the direction of Tahrir. The protesters were brutally beaten until the police were ordered to stop and people made it to the square where they began to protest.
- Question: Could the gathering of Tahrir Square have happened if not from Facebook? Would word of mouth been enough to gather a group of this quantity?
Chapter 4
ReplyDelete1.) “Traffic on the page increased remarkably on Friday. Until that day the average number of members who “liked” the daily published content had not gone about 5,000 and the comments had never exceeded 7,000. But on that Friday the numbers of “likes” reached 37,000, and the comments 120,000. This sent me a clear message: action on the ground raised the level of interaction among page members, which was vital for the page’s sustainability.” (84)
2.) “Two days before the second Silent Stand, which was scheduled for June 25, the NDP announced a children’s march in Alexandria “coincidentally” scheduled for 5 PM along the Alexandria corniche. It was a new tactic by the regime: perhaps they could control the voices of the new youth movement by competing for them rather than crushing them. Traditional police methods had proven ineffective with the first stand – maybe even harmful. They decided to use our own logic and our own tools against us. The difference was that their participants were not self-driven while ours were.” (93)
3.) “My own enthusiasm was beginning to fade. It seemed like I had done all I could do. I no longer wanted constantly to write posts on the page. I was careful not to write something that I did not genuinely feel. If I felt upset and pessimistic, I did not try to appear optimistic and happy. I believe that messages from the heart reach the heart and messages that are forced appear for what they are: artificial. As a result, the participation level on the page dropped between September and November. There were hardly any campaigns or initiatives other than following up on news, particularly about Khaled Said’s case.” (114)
Chapter 5
1.) “Most of the police’s efforts were directed towards protecting the regime. The entire State Security apparatus, which was the strongest and most influential police division, shouldered a single mission: hunting down political opponents and individuals who showed signs of opposition. They terrorized them, threatened them, tortured them, and framed accusations against them. No wonder Egyptians referred to the police as the “the government.” (123)
2.) “Egypt occupies a unique position in the Middle East. Egyptians proudly consider themselves to be the cultural and scientific leaders of the Arab world. Our pride had now been challenged: Tunisia had taken the lead in the quest for liberty. It was a shot in the arm. The psychology of the proud and courageous Egyptian played a major role in enabling our country to follow in Tunisia’s footsteps.” (133)
3.) “Mention of Mubarak had been off limits on the page. But as soon as Ben Ali fled Tunisia, this was no longer the case. Either I was anxious not to lose the support of the silent majority; I wanted to remain in touch with the Egyptian masses and not attract accusations of political motives. Now everything was different. I began to criticize Mubarak and his autocratic practices directly.” (142)
Chapter 6
ReplyDelete1.) “I decided to compile all the information relevant to Jan25 in a document that was easy to print and to distribute online. It summarized the reasons for protesting and for choosing this day and these locations. It also described the unified chants that had been chosen and provided phone numbers for activists responsible for supporting arrested protesters and for redirecting demonstrators to other locations if the protesters at any one place were obstructed. I uploaded the file to Google Docs, where more than 50,000 people accessed it. Its content was also disseminated through various online forums, political websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts.” (164)
2.) “This kind of daring attitude compelled many others to take pictures and send them. On January 24 the Internet was flooded with images of Egyptian youth who had decided to protest. Many people declared that they were ready to die as martyrs for the cause. The most important task of January 24 was to stress the next day’s guidelines: that the protest was to be peaceful, chants were to be unified, and people were to refrain from promoting political parties or groups.” (171)
3.) “The scene at Tahrir was one of the most enthralling I had ever seen. Enormous numbers of protesters – thousands, if not tens of thousands – covered most of the ground space in the square. This was when I realized that Jan25 had succeeded. It would be marked as a historic day for Egypt’s opposition movement.” (184)
Question: Would social media have been enough to get a mass of people to protest? What if social media had been blocked or non-existing?
Chapter 4
ReplyDelete1. The Egyptian regime felt helpless over internet activism. It did try its best to counteract the opposition being facilitated on the internet. However, it perhaps lacked the technical expertise to come down on the social media based dissent.
2. The internet played a big role in organizing the youth behind the idea of democracy. It allowed them to exchange ideas in a safe environment. It allowed them to voice even those ideas which simply could not be voiced in the public.
3. The regimes efforts to placate popular dissent did fail. People did understand that Mubarak and his son were trying to manipulate them. The revolution was imminent.
Chapter 5
1. Internet was a really suitable medium for exchanging the news downplayed by the state media. Practically speaking there did not exist anything like free media in Egypt. Most of the newspapers and the news channels were directly or indirectly managed by the regime.
2. Sectarian violence was a big threat to the cause of democracy in Egypt. Sectarian divide was a thing that allowed the regime a chance to play people against each other.
3. Sectarian divide really suited the cause of regime that projected itself as a savior. The regime wanted the people to believe that without it, the things will deteriorate to a state of complete anarchy. It intended the minorities to believe that it was their only hope for safety and peace.
Chapter 6
1. The Egyptian regime closely monitored the people having any economic or intellectual influence. The State Security kept detailed dossiers of such citizens. These dossiers even contained the personal information related to them.
2. The regime presented the Muslim Brotherhood to the West as religious fanatics. It intended to resort to creating a fear psychosis around the opposition parties. To a great extent the regime did succeed in maligning Muslim Brotherhood.
3. The systematic political violence and repression was having an impact on the mental stability of the people. Unemployment and poverty were widespread in Egypt. The youth lacked the opportunities for education and employment.
Question
Did the Egyptian regime made any serious effort to suppress or manipulate the popular dissent on the internet? why?
Ch 4
ReplyDelete1. After launching an English version of Kullena Khaled Said there was a lot of criticizing the page. The criticisms were from Egyptians who were sensitive about having international influence in Egyptian affairs (92).
2. The third Silent Stand on July 9th had more tightened security that was aimed at the participants. Wael Ghonim didn’t participate in any of the protests (98).
3. “Even so, the 2010 parliamentary elections were the worst in Egypt’s history.” Names of deceased citizens were used to cast false votes, and sometimes people who hadn’t voted yet found out that someone had falsified their identity and voted for them (119).
Ch 5
1. “With every passing day I became more convinced that the police force was the chain that the regime tied around our necks; if the police force could be neutralized, the regime would be paralyzed.” Regimes used fear to control their citizens, once that fear was broken, people became more outspoken towards the government (123).
2. Minutes into midnight there was a bombing at a church in Alexandria. The bombing left dozens injured and dead, while striking worry of more violence in the hearts of many Egyptians (125).
3. On January 21, news broke out that Egyptians were following the example lead by Bouazizi of Tunisia. Few went to Tahrir Square, but what sparked encouragement to other protestors was the video captured from that protest (155).
Ch 6
1. Pages 164-169 show all the thought that was put into the Jan25 demonstrations to maintain a peaceful protest. This helps show a unified front for the thousands of people who are going to participate in the demonstration, even if they’re from varying parts of Egypt, or other countries.
2. The security forces were about to attack Amr’s group but then their commander ordered the security forces to move away. There had been orders saying to stop the attacks and let the protestors reach Tahrir (184).
3. Police wanted to clear Tahrir Square, but protestors decided to make the demonstration a permanent sit-in. This influenced the police to cover Tahrir in a cloud of tear gas. The security forces wanted to empty Tahrir Square at all costs (186-187).
Question: Had the security forces reacted differently to the protests, would there have been a different outcome to the Egyptian uprising?
Ch 4
ReplyDelete1. After surveys were taken regarding the silent stands only 6% of the people who answered why they could not attend was because lack of knowledge when it was, this shows how successful social media was for spreading information about protests.
2. After the first silent stand the regime started to use the tactic of instead of crushing the movement to compete with them, the regime scheduled a children’s march in Alexandria for June 25, with such a change like this within government tactics we can see how well the movement is working
3. After more surveys were taken regarding the page of the Khaled Said cause the majority of the members felt that the page was actually their page and not that of someone else monitoring it, they felt that they were voicing their problems over the page and a very strong sense of personalization was tied to the page.
Ch 5
1. Violence between Muslims and Christians in Egypt it is rarely started for religious reasons, Sectarian strife, particularly in the nation’s underdeveloped cities and villages, primarily results from interreligious commercial or emotional relationships that have gone badly.
2. After the president spoke in Tunisia this was a major sparking event within the Egyptian revolution, after hearing the speech and seeing the success of the Tunisians this is something that the Egyptians immediately wanted even more and now after hearing this speech became something they began to push much harder against the regime for.
3. The problem with the police was trying to be listed as a personal problem, throughout the page there were also many mentions of good work that policemen were doing and showing tributes to the honorable policemen within the country and praising them for their good work.
Ch 6.
1. The date of January 25th was chosen because in 1952 the Egyptian forefathers in the police force fought the British armies tanks. This was a very brutal battle which resulted in many deaths and prisoners, and this was chosen as the date because 50 years later they were suffering from a police force that had become a machine for torturing and humiliating Egypt.
2. A significant portion of the protestors in this protest were of the Egyptian middle class, and the majority of them had found out about the event through the Khaled Said Facebook page, this is showing how the spread of viewers on the page ranged throughout the social classes and was not limited to either just the lower class but stretched into the middle class and actually became dominated by that of the middle class.
3. During the protect internet connection became extremely difficult to obtain in the square, it was subjected to believe that the government was attempting to limit the connectivity in order to stop the protesting but ultimately this failed and the word was spread.
Question
What would have happened without internet as a whole within this revolution, would it even have been possible?
Ch. 4
ReplyDelete1. “The poll also confirmed that participants in the stand had in fact been ordinary people, and that many actually did want to take part but had been prevented from doing so by their parents, who feared for them,” (Ghonim 84).
Due to previous research about the United States Occupy movement, this quote stood out to me. During OWSNYC (Occupy Wall Street: New York City) many Americans who participated were students, yet the older generation that had participated were very cautious about their family and friends they brought, because of police brutality during the protest. This caused more people to “run” from it, than “run” with it, so in comparison I see why young Egyptians were unable to attend. (This quote can also be used in my research project)
2. “The page developed its own culture, and its members began to feel that they belonged to a community,” (Ghonim 84).
“…Egyptians sensitive about international interference in our country’s affairs. It was important to ensure that the majority of our users were comfortable with the idea of an English-language page, so I launched a survey: 78 percent of the more than 1,355 respondents were in favor of communicating our message to the outside world,” (Ghonim 93).
I think this community building tactic on Facebook was vital for the Revolution. Yet for him to ask the members of the page for support and whether or not something was okay with them, was very much grateful. Him conducting the surveys probably brought the community more together, I say that because I know I would feel like I was actually apart of something if I was to answer the survey and understand what I was doing, was actually being counted for something. Unlike, what I believe politics are truly about, but that’s a conversation for a different day.
3. “Seventy-two percent of the respondents said that they strongly admired and respected the page, while 75 percent said that they felt like they owned the page and that the causes it promoted were their own causes. Only 14 percent believed that the admin was a dictator who forced his point of view on members, and 7 percent thought the admin contradicted himself often. This was strong confirmation that we were on the right track,” (Ghonim 108).
This directs back to the members feeling confident that they are making a difference, where the Revolution and voices are the main resources to fight against the regime. Throughout this chapter I thought that the community building characteristics truly stuck out to me, that this “admin” is admiring his members and their voice, not trying to lead them into battle, yet encouraging them to stand up for themselves rather than the group. “Independence”
Ch. 5
ReplyDelete1. When protestors gathered at the police station, they were met with violence and tear gas. What we as Americans commonly saw during our major Occupy movement gatherings. Emerging into one of the page’s primary concerns, being police abuse, which was one of the major highlights during OWSNYC.
2. From what I gathered, the regime had blown up a Church in Alexandria, and had put scattered body parts of 21 people all over the ground. The regime had utilized this to create a perception that Egyptians would break out into sectarian warfare, without Mubarak in power. This created quick chaos despite the fact that Muslims and Christians had lived together peacefully in the past, and most violence between the both usually starts for nonreligious reasons.
3. After he received a message that he should publish rumors for motivation, and he refuse, but decided to lead a campaign against spreading false news, could be greatly applauded. The rumors could have caused more support and more voices to be heard, but to shout them out entirely, is congratulating. From my own opinion rumors spread like rapid fire, and to base the page strictly on truth is honorable, because in the United States we see rumors in our headline news everyday, unfortunately.
Ch. 6
1. How he complied all of the information, reasons, time, demands, and so forth in a document for all the members and people of Egypt is astonishing to maintain a peaceful protest. This would have been greatly appreciated in the U.S. to understand more of what was truly happening during the OWS rather than just hearing about it on the news, where I found what I heard was negative, yet later reading about it I thought that it was great and truly showed our mishaps of a country.
2. The government had blocked Facebook and Twitter, which to me sounds like the most desperate cry the government could do, besides military strikes to shut this organization down.
3. The way he had setup the organization, lead the practices, and showed that he truly meant peaceful, is remarkable. In such a short time frame, conducting a community for these Egyptians, and showing them exactly what they should do to remain out of harms way, and for the protest to go as close to the plan as possible, should not be taken lightly, it truly is remarkable, comparing to the protests and procedures I have learned about during our Occupy movements.
Chapter 4:
ReplyDelete1. Of the people who took the questionnaire after the first Silent Stand 25% of the people who did not join the stand said that their parents would not let them (83). This leads me to believe that the older generation is more reserved than the younger generation. This seems that the younger you are the more willing you are to fight for change and progress for democracy in Egypt.
2. Khaled Said transcended national borders. Groups from Tunisia and Yemen began creating Facebook pages in support the Khaled Said cause. The Internet provided a means to join forces on real issues instead of disputes among the Arab youth on matters such as soccer (85).
3. “If you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror (102).” I found it very powerful how Kael used V for Vendetta to promote the Revolution of Silence. It is a very symbolic image for the admin’s anonymity.
Chapter 5:
1. Torture was not a matter of isolated incidents, it was universal. The police force lacked the technology to help it solve crimes, so torture became one of its primary means of attaining information (123). No wonder the Egyptian population was sick and tired of the police force and the regime they were trying to protect.
2. The President of Tunisia helped the fight in Egypt once he basically admitted defeat by saying that he understands the public and appreciates that they would no longer tolerate humiliation. The victory of the people of Tunisia sent a strong message to the Egyptian regime and to Kael’s Facebook page members that change is a possibility in Egypt (131). When progress is made morale goes up.
3. Kael deliberately used the words poverty, corruption, and unemployment in the title of the January 25 revolution to grab the attention of multiple sources such as workers, human rights activists, government employees, and others who had grown tired of the regime’s policies (137). This was an excellent strategy because it played a positive note to a multitude of audiences instead of just a handful.
Chapter 6:
1. Kael uploaded a file to Google Docs that compiled all the information relevant to the January 25 protest. This information was accessed by more than 50,000 people (164). I thought this was very important to the protest because it brought unity to everyone that was partaking in the revolution.
2. Regime loyalists were spreading news that thugs and extremists were being arrested and that high counts of injuries and deaths among protesters were expected. This was the regime’s final attempt to prevent the demonstrations (177). I found it pretty ironic that the regime was trying to use the same tool to stop the revolution that began the revolution in the first place.
3. Life off Tahrir Square was as mundane as any other day (185). I was surprised to read that Kael had the feel that nothing was happening at the square. The concentration of everyone sitting in the square preparing for the sit-in must have just been enough for the security forces to clear the square. Kael’s encouraging words, “Jan 25 is not the end…It is the beginning of the end” must have been encouraging enough to the Egyptian public to keep fighting the war.
Question:
Were the cases of self-immolation necessary in achieving success for Arab Spring movements?
Chapter 4
ReplyDelete1. When beginning the Silent Stands, it was learned that many people did not participate not because they did not want to, but because their parents would not let them. This was because 70% of the Facebook group’s users were under 24 years old. (84)
2. Supporters of Egypt’s uprisings reached around the world. There were even stand held in London to support Khaled Said. (99)
3. Wael Ghonim organized a plan to spam Egyptian officers with messages and friend requests on Facebook. The plan was a success when thousands of messages were sent to different officers. (101)
Chapter 5
1. There was a divide amongst Christians and Muslims in Egypt and the regime did not want them to unite. However, Muslim protestors supported the Christians after a bombing at a church and helped to shield them during prayers on Christmas. (129)
2. The beginning of the Tunisian uprisings had a large impact on Egypt. Several inspired Egyptians set themselves on fire. Selling gasoline in containers was even stopped to prevent more ignitions. (138)
3. Many Egyptians officers were actually supportive of the revolution. One officer sent Ghonim a photo of himself in his uniform with a sign that said “Dear Egypt, victory is soon. Jan25 is the day.” (141)
Chapter 6
1. Many famous and well known people in Egypt supported the Jan25 protest. Singers and actors helped to gain attention of the event. (173)
2. The large turnout of Jan25 involved much of the middle class. I felt that this was surprising and successful. (184)
3. After Jan25, Facebook and Twitter was blocked in Egypt for a period of time. This was certainly a mistake of the regime for it just fueled the fire even further. (186)
Chapter 4
ReplyDelete1. Wael Ghonim used tactics similar to those who commit computer crimes in order to keep his identity a secret. He was constantly worried that someone would hack his computer and catch him.
2. Creating an emotional bond with the public through music and the arts was more effective than politicians throwing numbers and statistics into the picture.
3. It seems that the more the Ministry does to try and stop the uprisings, the more popularity the movement received.
Chapter 5
1. Ghonim did not want to post anything about the start of protests in Tunisia on the Facebook page out of fear of backlash from the members. Even though there were disagreements about it, I feel that spreading news of protests happening elsewhere was a good idea.
2. When a church was bombed, the regime tried to pin Christians against Muslims and vice versa. Instead, they united and even protected each other during prayer services.
3. Egyptians took the victory in Tunisia as a blow to their self- esteem, feeling that it hurt their status as the leading innovators of the Arab world.
Chapter 6
1. A nice touch that I personally liked was the set list of unified chants that were agreed upon to use during the Egyptian protests. I feel I helped fuel the already strong unity amongst them.
2. As a last resort to prevent protesters from showing up, the regime tried to use psychological warfare, saying police forces are strong and there are expected to be high casualty rates.
3. I wonder if other Egyptians felt like Amr Salama did after his run in with the police, feeling hatred towards Egypt because of the police brutality.
Ghonim being able to keep his identity a secret was very impressive. When people would ask him questions, he would give them these answers that were almost coded, but also so easy and obvious to figure out what he was saying. Being wanted like he was but still being able to spread his message was admirable. Again, this shows how important social media is in the uprisings. At the same time it was interesting to see when people were writing on the facebook wall telling protesters to “think logically.” They thought their tactics were too extreme and some said the protesters even needed to “calm down.” It’s interesting that Facebook was used as supportive to the uprisings and some used it to counteract the uprisings.
ReplyDeleteI feel lucky in our country we are able express our discontent with the government without having to be at persecution. Ghonim put himself at an extreme risk every day by expressing his discontent, especially when he had to deal with security.
Chapter 4.
ReplyDelete1. Some members of the “Kullena Khaled Said” page expressed dissatisfaction with creating an English version of the page for fear of attracting unwanted attention/ interference by the international community. Ghonim seemed to think otherwise and in response to some international attention states ; “ Our movement was expanding without becoming centralized, helping us to promote the cause further and faster.” (98)
2. After the Muslim Brotherhood’s endorsement of the seven demands petition the number of signaturees skyrocketed. Though having the allegiance of a political party seemed positive, Ghonim made sure his facebook page administrators stayed neutral when covering the elections.
3. A noise protest was suggested by an activist and received both positive and negative responses. “ The point was for a large group of people to take to the streets, attract attention to a certain issue and break the fear barrier.” (114) Though many expressed disagreement with the idea others saw it as a “step up” from the Silent Stands.
Chapter 5
1. “Nonetheless, the events provided the first time that many Muslins had ever entered a church in Egypt. “ (129) The January 7th stand seems extremely telling when looking for tangible evidence measuring the sense of “community” Ghonim’s facebook created amongst Egyptians.
2. Prior to Ben Ali’s resignation Ghonim was hesitant to post anything that directly mentioned Mubarak’s name or opposition to his regime. After witnessing the events in Tunisia Ghonim’s position altered , “Now everything was different.” It seems the page was given a more narrow focus.
3. Ghonim notes that the regime was more fearful of the media/ press than of the protestors. The call to action for “The Camera is My Weapon” became another force of empowerment.
Chapter 6
1. The blocking of facebook was “an impeccable testimony to the strength of the protests.” (186) Despite no longer having a direct guide for communication and coordination protestors still continued on in solidarity and many stood their ground at Tahrir sq that night.
2. Ghonim notes that critical to mobilizations efforts were the writings of public personalities not typically famous for political activisim. This along with the attention brought by international news sources helped to provide even more attention to the Jan 25th event.
3. By promoting Jan 25th not just as a human rights issue Ghonim was able to get the support of others empathetic to the cause but not yet motivated by its plight. By calling out to people of all classes, economic backgrounds and status Ghonim was able to create a force /cause “leaderless revolution” all could identify and connect to.
Q: What was the relevance of Ghonims sections tilted why we protest and what are our demands in the google doc he sent out to page memebers?
Chapter 4:
ReplyDelete• The “Who Are You, administrator?” Facebook post was able to effectively dodge the question of identity while reassuring followers that the administrator had the same interests as them that they could relate to him.
• The “Abbas and the Administrator” post served to give the members of Kullena Khaled Said hope that the power of the people would win against the corrupt government. This allowed the sense of hopelessness that some members voiced to be mitigated and also gave the people who supported the movement a way to help keep people on the group positive.
• While the government decided to recognize the murder of Khaled, the court proceedings reduced the charge on the police responsible for beating Khaled from murder to unjustified violence and continued to maintain the stance that Khaled choked on a package of marijuana. After the first trial, the following trials were postponed repeatedly. This move by the government turned out only to be an effort to strengthen their argument that Khaled died from asphyxiation instead of the confession that the people wanted.
Chapter 5:
• The Facebook group took caution to only call out police officers that have committed brutality instead of targeting the entire police force. The group also commended police officers that acted for the people. They also recognize that the actions of the police officers in order to suppress the stands are only because of orders from the government.
• The January 25th event was made to not be portrayed as an event specifically for the Kullena Khaled Said event so that members of other pages such as the April 6 Youth Movement and Nizar Qabany pages would not be discouraged in joining.
• The government did not take much care to avoid actions that would provoke people and failed to control the social networking. The BDP had tried to make fake accounts for a second time, but the issue was that they created a large number of fake accounts and started posting on all of those accounts negative things about the Kullena Khaled Said page. The sudden influx of negative comments made them easy to spot and ban from the page.
Chapter 6:
• Prior to the January 25th protests a list of allowed chants was chosen where each chant was worded to avoid hostility toward the regime. Avoiding hostile wording helped avoid allowing the government to easily label the protesters as violent and dangerous. In addition the wording helped keep the energy of the protests positive.
• The security forces made a great effort to clear Tahrir Square of protesters so that other Egyptians would not see the protesters in the square the next morning. The security forces used tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannons to clear out protesters.
• For some unknown reason someone gave the order for the security forces to stop preventing the protesters from reaching the square. This proved to be a massive aid to the protesters and allowed them to finally gather in the square with their full, undivided numbers.
Chapter 4
ReplyDelete• P.84 The poll confirmed that that participants in the stand had in fact been ordinary people and many did want to participate but were prevented by their parents because they fear for them.
• P.92 After the English version of Kullena Khaled said he got heavily criticize for the page. Most of the critics came from Egyptians who were delicate for having international impact in Egyptian ground.
• P.102 “If you looking for the guilty, you only need to look into a mirror”. Some powerful stuff that is being said here. I think that this can be interpreted in various ways it all depends who is interpreting.
Chapter 5
• P.123 The police lacked the ability of cracking cases and with torture it became easier for them. Torture than became a primary option for the police of getting information.
• P.129 Muslim supported Christians after a bombing happened in a church leaving many wounded but the Muslims helped Christians shield and pray during Christmas.
• P.133 Egypt believes that they have a unique in the Middle East. This makes the very proud to believe that they are scientific and cultural leaders of the Arab World.
Chapter 6
• P.173 Many famous and popular in Egypt supported the Jan25 protest. This attracted a lot of attention of the media and gave lots of support.
• P. 184 Security forces were about to attack Amr’s group but than the commander told them to back off and let them reach Tahrir.
• P.186 After the Jan25 protest Egypt blocked Facebook and Twitter and this added more fuel to the fire.
There has bee a lot of pictures online, as a “joke” that our government is tracking almost everything everyone is doing, is it true?
Yalla, Arab Spring'ers!
ReplyDeleteGood mojo reflections here - let's explore in class.
Dr. Rob
Ch 4
ReplyDeleteI respect Ghonim for doing his best to stay neutral through these protests especially when it came to his Facebook page and reporting on what was actually happening. He seemed like he was simply trying to cover the truth and do his best to keep his personal opinions out.
The spark was the most important part of this revolution. Not only to have benefited Egypt but also the entire Arab nation and maybe in time even other parts of the world.
One thing that enraged me was the ignorance of the murder of Khaled, in the courts this should have been handled much better and it could have ended or at least postponed the Arab spring. I must admit the government in Egypt thought itself far too powerful, which was a grave mistake.
Ch 5
In this chapter the cruel and often brutal tactics seemed to be horrendous and just completely unnecessary and cruel. However, after considering the condition of the police force they probably couldn’t find better means of solving and finding information. Not that I believe this excuses their behavior I can just understand a little more.
I feel that at a point however, this all changed. There was a distinct turning point when the police and even the government were powerless to change what was going on. The sheer spread of knowledge through social networks put fear into their hearts.
It is also interesting to note after this transformation how willing the United States was to switch their support from the government to the supporters of the Arab spring. This I think was a classless move by the United States.
Ch 6
A reason I believe these protests were so successful were due to how well everything was coria graphed. One great example of how this was done was the organized chants. This definitely unified everyone and made it easier for them to unite.
An inspiring piece of this story is the protesting at Tahrir Square, the perseverance is commendable. It speaks to what people can do when they insist on making a change. It is unfortunate the losses that were taken during this important act and dedication to the cause.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteChapter 4
ReplyDelete1.) On the Facebook poll Wael Ghonim posted “For those who didn’t join the Silent Stand, why didn’t you participate?” 25% of respondents said, “ My parents wouldn’t let me”. This goes to show just how powerful his message was to people and how many people, of all ages were involved. (Page 83) Also that 70% of the Facebook users were under 24, meaning they were mostly students and dependent on their families. (Page 84)
2.) I found the responses of Wael Ghonim in response to “Who are you, Administrator?” to be quite clever ones, being sure to keep the anonymity present at all times, while continuing to spread the message at the same time. (Pages 89-90)
3.) When Facebook shut down the pages, due to the fact that they were run by “fake’ users was interesting because all Wael was trying to do was keep his anonymity and it hurt him in the end. This was big news however, which helped the spread of Wael’s mission even more.
Chapter 5
1.) The abuse that the authorities showed seemed to be what was keeping everyone in line. “With every passing day I became more convinced that the police force was the chain that the regime tied around our necks.” With the already well known Khaled Said case, people had prior knowledge of the corruption which led to people hating them more and more. (Page 123)
2.) The bombing of the church, and the resulting picture of Sayyid Bilal’s body was interesting because then Facebook became a way to share images like that to show the masses “that we did not discriminate between Muslim and Christian”. It opened up the torture laws and made it into the paper, resulting in many Christians posting their condolences.
3.) It was interesting that the thing that the regime was the most afraid of was the media and the press, and this is exactly what was happening – the regime was being aired out by people with camera and a way to post online.
Chapter 6
1.) One of the things that stuck out to me was how much thought and dedication went into choosing and planning for the January 25th protests. “The most important task of January 24th was to stress the next day’s guidelines: that the protest was to be peaceful, chants were to be unified, and people were to refrain from promoting political parties or groups. (Page 171)
2.) At this time the regime started to worry, posting and warning members who were planning to attend has a high risk of injury or death. It is interesting to look at the amount of power the internet actually had at this exact moment to frighten something as powerful as the regime. (Page 177)
3.) When the government blocked facebook, it was apparent that they were desperate, and the “peaceful” sit ins turned into violent protesters due to police force. (Page 186)
1
ReplyDelete-Instead of having a loud protest, it was smart of Wael Gohn to have a silent one. This both confused and put Mubarak’s regime in a tricky position. This type of protest showed the world that the you do not have to make a lot of noise to show your message.
-It was a nice touch to use the V Vendetta protagonist as a symbol. Using that showed the Egyptian people can indeed rise up in a non violent way and scare the government.
-Must have been quite the scare for Gohn when someone found out he was residing in Dubai and not living in the middle of Egypt. I could only imagine how fast his credibility would evaporate when the citizens of Egypt found out that the man running the Khalia Said Facebook page was not living with them at all.
2
-Using how much Muslims and Christians disliked one another was a clever move for the regime. They showed the international community that Mubarak was the only thing keeping the two parties from ripping one another apart.
-Not choosing a siding with either religions was a wise decision on Gohn’s part. It was better and safer to keep both sides from thinking he favored either one.
-It was interesting to see just how influential Tunisia was to Egypt’s movement. By waiting for right moment to connect two, Gohn was able to gain further strength and prove to the world just how corrupt Mubarak regime really was.
3
-The regime biggest mistake was blocking Facebook and Twitter. It was the only thing keeping the riots in check. Without that medium, massing the streets was Egyptians only way to express themselves.
-It was interesting to see the divide between the officers and the average police officer. Just by reading you could tell they did not agree with their orders, but followed them regardless. While officers followed with exact precision and cared little about the life of the protesters.
-I can only imagine the organizing Gohn had to do to make this protest work they way it did. It must have also been nerve racking to have to cover his tracks.
Question: Has the tipping point between the protesters and police reached the point where the military has to get involved.
Chapter 4:
ReplyDelete1. In the beginning of the chapter Wael makes a point about how he had to keep his anonymity. He said he used proxies and only opened attachments in gmail, first. In USA, these measures would likely not be enough to protect your identity from the likes of the NSA. Using Tor would be effective but they would likely be able to trace it back to the device once Tor was no longer activated. (82)
2. “Two days before the second Silent Stand, which was scheduled for June 25, the NDP announced a children’s march in Alexandria…” I see this as a ‘If you cant beat them, join them tactic. I think the regime realized their tactics were not affective and they knew they much change if they wish to succeed. (93)
3. “Two days later AbdelRahman committed the same error. He wanted to edit the event details again, and even though I had told him how my slip-up had happened, he forgot and did the same thing!” I find it surprising that the admins of the page could make a mistake such as this twice without being discovered, had this happened in the America, they would have been discovered within minutes.
Chapter 5:
1. I reiterated to AbdelRahman my view that it was safer not to cover the Tunisian protests for the time being. Finally we agreed to delete that post and wait and see how the events unfolded.” I feel that they had made the wrong choice here, either way the protests turned out; I feel it would have been comforting to Egyptians to know that they are not alone in oppression. (123)
2. “’Please … please … I am sorry’ … O youth of Egypt, listen so you know that no government is stronger than its people … A strong salutation of respect to the free people of Tunisia” It’s rare to find a leader apologizing to their people. I’m sure Wael’s words after the quote solidified Egyptians feelings toward their government. (132)
3. By coming up with guidelines, Wael was able to keep in mind the important parts of the revolution. “1. Reval the regime’s weakness and fear. 2.Draw parallels to Tunisia. 3. Report on the series of Tunisian victories that followed Ben Ali’s escape. 4. Expose all of the regime’s economic, political, social, and security failures. 5. Invite others to promote Jan25 through their writing, poetry, songs and designs. 6. Assure everyone that the army’s position will be honorable and that it will take the side of the people.” (140)
Chapter 6:
1. “I decided to compile all the information relevant to Jan25 in a document that was easy to print and to distribute online. It summarized the reasons for protesting and choosing this day…” This was very smart for Wael, this allowed people to share a simplified version of the Facebook page, and it can be made available and shared offline. (164)
2. “As Jan25 approached, member’s contributions increased. Scores of photographs expressing their senders’ intention to protest on the big day reached the page.” This is a great sign for the revolution. Public support is growing. (171)
3. “I began tweeting like a madman on my personal account, urging everyone to come out and join the protest.” This is the tipping point for the revolution; he and others are no longer afraid of their government. (184)
Question?
Without the Tunisian Revolution would the Egyptian Revolution have taken place?
Chapter Four:
ReplyDeleteThe acknowledgment that the use of fear had worked on the previous generations but would no longer work on the younger generation of Egyptians. The internet being used as a tool of mobilization allowed for the Egyptian youth to better communicate and snuff out the fear that the regime had been using for decades. The language used through social media to combat the fear, was of familiarity and understanding. The language took a personal note to speak to many different organizations and groups of egyptian citizens.
The idea and use of an English language page was a decent idea to spread the word of the “revolutionary” cause, but I understand why many objected creating an English page. The new page would have involved many foreign advocates and create other controversy that may not have directly related to their initial cause. I do like how there was a survey that was put out for the facebook page users to see if the English Language page would be widely accepted or rejected. It was a democratic solution to allow everyone the opportunity to have a say in the pages direction.
“Engagement was the page’s core concept and was certainly more important to the page than activism.” Engagement is more of a desire and involves more personal passion than I believe activism does. Activism is related to politics and narrow minded movements. The idea of engagement is what I believe really solidified the Egyptian people; not only the youth, the middle class and the elderly, but unified each citizen despite their differences.
Question: The differentiation between the language of activist and the common people was a significant development and indicator of the pages success. Was the use of common language and not activist language originally planned, or had it eventually worked out to be that way? Would the movements planned have had to same effect even with a rebellious activist tone?
Chapter FIve:
The idea that if the police force could be neutralized than the regime would be paralyzed. I’m not a hundred percent sure I agree with that thought process. The police force is just another tool used by the regime to instill fear within the Egyptian citizens. The regime would have access to many other outlets and the police force is just a portion of that. As we know even after some of the police force was neutralized the regime wasn’t paralyzed completely. It was a major set back for the regime when the police forces were no longer keeping the uprising citizens at bay and caused the regime to act hastily which eventually lead to the downfall of the person in power but not the regime as a whole.
The Police Force changed their official slogan from “ the police serve the people” to the people and the police serve the nation” was probably one of the worst PR campaigns ever instituted. The attempt to calm the citizens only fueled the fire. The new slogan backed the common belief that the police never served the people to begin with.
“Whenever violence between Muslims and Christians occurs in Egypt, it usually starts for nonreligious reasons.” The regime used the tension between the opposing groups to divide the people and help to ensure insecurity and instability amongst one another to give the regime more power and the illusion of control over something that wasn’t actually there, eventually creating the issue. The regime was low enough to pin religious differences against normal citizens.
Question: The Tahrir Square event was the perfect example of a well orchestrated event. There were many different leaders working together to decide the best plan of execution. Who would really take a majority of the credit for constructing the Jan25 movement? So many different individuals were part of the planning, do the people of egypt see the organization as a community effort or an effort of the select few?
Chapter Six:
ReplyDeleteMany popular figures in the media world, such as singers, directors and actors decided to openly participate in Jan25. There presence influenced more to join the event and to participate openly without fear of the regime. These public personalities openly allowed themselves to be seen fighting for their country and this diminished any feeling of repression and fear, to be able to then stand out and stand up for a cause. I think that because these individuals were public personalities it also made it more difficult for the regime to punish them for fear of international media recognition.
Using the Egyptian citizen’s work of art, poetry, graphics, anything personal amplified the personal solidarity of the Jan25th movement. Pairing a song through the facebook page was a brilliant idea. USing “Dream with me” as way to inspire and involve the people was an amazing tactic to appeal to the general population. Music and pictures will always speak louder than arguments and meaningless words because they show emotion and togetherness.
The poor network connection within the Square with the combination of Social media then being blocked by the government was eventually what lead to the massive turnout for the following events. The shutdown of the networks showed the mass population of Egyptian citizens that their efforts were frightening the regime. That their efforts were being noticed and that they were infiltrating the system. The fact that these groups went on to find other forms of communication was astonishing. The movement went purely from facebook to face to face interaction and leveled at a hybrid combination that amplified their persistence and strength as a community.
Question: What on earth made the Egyptian regime think it was a good idea to block social media?
Chapter 4:
ReplyDelete- Wael was so careful about keeping his anonymity when using the Facebook Page and when receiving emails. He made a point never to expose his IP address or any information that could possibly lead someone to him in fear of threats. It makes me wonder how easy it would be to keep yourself anonymous like this in America because I think for us it would be much harder.
- This page created a community for the people as the page continued to gain popularity. He claims no matter how divided Arabs may seems they were all able to unite as one behind the shared feelings of anger. This is where the Arab Spring had begun.
- When Facebook shut down the pages, due to the fact that they were run by “fake’ users was interesting because all Wael was trying to do was keep his anonymity and it hurt him in the end. This was big news however, which helped the spread of Wael’s mission even more.
Chapter 5
-I reiterated to Abdel Rahman my view that it was safer not to cover the Tunisian protests for the time being. Finally we agreed to delete that post and wait and see how the events unfolded.” I feel that they had made the wrong choice here, either way the protests turned out; I feel it would have been comforting to Egyptians to know that they are not alone in oppression.
-It was interesting that the thing that the regime was the most afraid of was the media and the press, and this is exactly what was happening – the regime was being aired out by people with camera and a way to post online.
- Egyptians took the victory in Tunisia as a blow to their self- esteem, feeling that it hurt their status as the leading innovators of the Arab world.
Chapter 6
- “I decided to compile all the information relevant to Jan25 in a document that was easy to print and to distribute online. It summarized the reasons for protesting and choosing this day…” This was very smart for Wael, this allowed people to share a simplified version of the Facebook page, and it can be made available and shared offline.
- When the government blocked facebook, it was apparent that they were desperate, and the “peaceful” sit ins turned into violent protesters due to police force.
- On January 23rd he flew to Cairo to be able to join in the protest in which he had started somehow making it through customs with little stoppage. He stayed in a hotel just incase the police showed up at his house looking for him.