Facebooking the Struggle

Facebooking the Struggle

Egypt: Facebooking the Struggle

Banners from Egyptian Facebook groups calling for the May 4 Strike.

After little less than a month following the April 6 strike in support
of the textile workers in Mahalla City, during which a number of
prominent Egyptian bloggers and internet activists were arrested,
preparations for the next round of a planned general strike to mark
the 80th birthday of President Hosni Mubarak, on May 4, 2008, are
currently spreading all over the blogosphere and the Internet. And
like the preparation for the April 6 strike, the internet has a vital
role to play in mobilizing for the upcoming protest. SMS, email,
blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter: almost all of these outlets are
used by Egyptian Internet activists in their campaign the May 4 event.
We’ve even seen a Facebookist Movement to Overthrow Mubarakbeing
created. Another group entitled “We don’t want Muslim Brothers” is
calling for the strike but without participation of the Muslim
Brotherhood, who recentlydecided to join May 4 protest.

Logo of the Egyptian Facebook group “Facebookist Movement to Overthrow
Mubarak“

This approach of politicising the internet is not taking place without
concerns being raised not only by pro-government and state-run
newspapers (who recently waged a campaign against web 2.0 services
like Youtube, Blogger and Facebook used by online activists) but even
by opponents of Mubarak’s regime and outspoken bloggers. And while the
Al-Gomhuriya daily called for a “boycott [of] Youtube and Facebook
websites” and the weekly Rose El-Youssef portrayed the former website
as “a secret room aimed at running Egypt”, blogger Hossam el-Hamalawy,
an outspoken Egyptian blogger, wrote, in \ a blog post titled “I do
NOT endorse the May 4th General Strike Call” criticizing what he
described as a call “coming from the cyberspace by bloggers, “Facebook
activists” and the Islamist-leaning Labor Party whose leaders have
declared themselves more or less as some “provisional govt” in cyber-
exile”, that:

> We, the Egyptian bloggers, have always prided ourselves on the fact
> that we have one foot on the ground and the other in the cyberspace…
> But this time, it seems some have thrown both their feet as well as
> brains in the cyberspace and are living some virtual reality,
> mistakenly believing (helped by the media sensationalist coverage of
> the “facebook activism“) that they are the ones behind the events in
> Mahalla…

Blogger and activist Nora Younis was kind enough to agree to this
interview over email. Nora shares some of her ideas with us about the
role of Internet in Egypt as a platform for political activism.

Sami Ben Gharbia: What was the role of internet in mobilizing Egyptian
citizens to participate in the April 6 strike and do you believe that
the kind of Facebook Group, with its 71,200 members, has an effect on
the street?

Nora Younis: Internet was the main tool in mobilizing for the 6 April
strike. It’s true a tiny fringe of Egyptians have access to Facebook
but the 70,000+ members of the group acted as strike advocates in the
society and took the debate from PC screens to taxis, workplaces,
dinner tables and breadlines. This forced the topic on the independent
main stream media. The second tool in mobilizing for the strike was
SMS. People I have known for years with no relation to politics or
public participation were circulating messages advocating the strike.
The word “strike” has never been uttered and repeated that much in
Egypt during my lifetime. However, we should not forget that what gave
April 6 its weight was the labor movement uprising and their struggle
for a dignified minimum wage. Internet alone, without the popular
base, wouldn’t have led to the successful strike we witnessed April 6.

Sami: we’ve seen an anti-strike Facebook group formed to counter the
pro-strike group and it seems that the political battle is taking
place on blogs and on social networking websites. How do you describe
this new development and do you believe that the Egyptian government
or the ruling party is behind the aforementioned group?

Nora: Young members of the ruling party have initiated blogs and
Facebook groups to polish the regime’s image and counter the call for
dissent. Such pages are probably encouraged by party officials,
because when it comes to content they lack the passion. Furthermore,
they remain unable to attract members and visitors.

Sami: It seems that the Egyptian regime is trying to calm down the
situation. During the last week many of the previously arrested
activist and bloggers have been released such as Khaled Hamza Salam
the editor-in chief of Ikhwanweb, and blogger Mohamed Sharkawy and
Esraa Abdul Fattah. How do you assess the situation in Egypt at this
stage?

Nora: The Egyptian regime took preemptive measures to abort the April
6 strike by arresting activists early morning from their homes, and
taping their calls days before. After the day was over and with the
rising riots in Mahalla measures were taken to contain and calm the
situation, as a way to weaken the planned May 4 strike. A government
delegation headed to Mahalla, met some 2000 textile workers, and
promised bonuses and privileges. Government statements have alienated
Mahalla workers from the riots. Popular bloggers-activists have been
released. All seems to be in attempt to calm the situation before May
4 - the president’s 80th birthday.

Sami: The use of web tools has caused the arrest of some of those
activists, but it also helped release the American student James Karl
Buck who was arrested while photographing the 6 April demonstration.
His Twittered message ‘ARRESTED‘ through his cell phone alerted the
world about his arrest. Who do you believe is going to win this new
kind of battle information?

Nora: On April 5 the number of my Twitter update followers was 90. On
April 6 it was 130, and today it is 180. Only because I was Twittering
strike and detainees updates. James Buck gained wide support through
his Twitter SMS. More people are joining the blogsphere, Facebook, and
Twitter by the hour. I don’t think this could ever be reversed. There
is a techie, passionate, frustrated generation now on the
playground….and one could only expect more to come. In few years time
there will be no need for registration of political parties. Like-
minded people will organise and will be heard.