EXPLAINING THE ROLE AND THE IMPACT OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE ARAB SPRING
This Facebook page was created in effort for a general strike with the workers in Nile Delta city Mahalla and attracted 70,000 participants in the first two weeks.
‘April 6 Facebook Strike’
This is term used to describe the organization of efforts to contend with a regime using social media
Virtual dissidence
The mantle claimed by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamist allies after President Morsi was overthrown?
Champions of democracy and constitutional legitimacy
The event that put an end to the Murbarak regime
January 25 revolution
These are types of human insecurities which the people in the Arab World are subject to.
Unemployment, water and agriculture shortages, human rights, desertification, diminishing economies, etc.
A type of contentious performance that can be diffused into various types of confrontation with authorities and can consolidate people with different targets.
Modular repertoire
The degree passed by Morsi in November of 2012
Degree that placed him above any judicial review
The Engineering student union at University of Zagazig engaged in a strike in November of 2013 for what reason?
To release the students that had been detained and for the dean to step down
This a term used to describe the outcome of the social media mobilization efforts that allowed people from Egypt to connect to the rest of the Arab world.
The compounding effect
These are three tactics used by governments to impede upon social activism.
Censorship, surveillance, and propaganda
The caveats written into the constitution that the Islamists insist upon
Islam is the source of all laws and that those laws can’t violate the shariah
The reason why the Copts (Christian minority) were targeted in a Cairo working class neighborhood.
Islamist groups used it as a way to fight against the ideas of leftist activism
Based in Cairo, this “social non-movement” worked to bridge ideological divides through social media activism to call for political reforms.
The 2004-2005 Egyptian Kefaya (‘Enough’) movement
These characteristics of virtual dissidence tests the regime's tolerance to contention and encourages anonymous activists to participate in demonstrations due to the lack of repercussions.
The dual public/private nature of virtual dissidence
The reason for the protest on June 30th
Tired with the disastrous economy and the failure from the muslim brotherhood to focus on democracy
The paradox of women’s place in the revolutionary periods
Presented as foot soldiers and leading figures but they had no political say in the matters
Discussion: How did the multiplicity of social media play a role in the uprising in Egypt?
It helped establish a mobilization network, spread word to safe areas to avoid the opposition, counteract censorship, collaborated to provide training, infrastructure, and tactics to activists, expanded communication with doctors, lawyers, judges, Christians, Muslims, and women, and contributed to the “compounding effect”.
Discussion: How did other regimes react to Egypt's failed attempts to censor social media and what are the limitations to virtual dissidence.
The Syrian regime chose to use a surveillance method to watch the activists. In contrast to Egypt, Syria unblocked Facebook, Youtube, and Blogspot. Syria has a pro-Assad “Syrian Electronic Army” that tracks propaganda and defaces any opposition to the regime through hacking. One of the limitations of virtual dissidence is the virtual character - illiteracy to the language the tweets are presented in and emphasis on oral communication and its ability to spread revolutions.
The two major conceptual shifts Islamists must take
1) Must recognize that a majority of the Muslim opinion is focused on making democracy work/embracing the idea of democracy 2) Shift from the idea of Islamic identity to Islamic values. The term Islamic identity has been correlated with the fight for power.
What happened after the Muslim Brotherhood became categorized as a terrorist organization
A small portion of the youth moved and joined jihadists and participated in violence against military and police, larger portion is starting to question the ideals ad rules put into place in the regime.