Facebook Frees Egypt - Term Paper Example

? Facebook Frees Egypt [school] Conflict within a country and between s has been a longstanding worldwide issue. Recently, Middle East countries such as Egypt have been the center of conflict. Partly, this is due to the fact that most countries are governed using a dictatorship that tends to curtail the freedom and rights of its citizens. In Egypt, for example, the thirty-year rule of Hosni Mubarak resulted to restriction of political organizations, arrests without warrant, and monitoring of media (Shapiro, 2009). Unfortunately, crimes against humanity that are committed by its government are often underreported because of the state’s control of media. It changes the course of the history since wars impose economic and social implications in the countries involved. A government at war allocates its resources to its military forces, leaving social welfare and education with minor operating funds. Men are at times forced to join the infantry. Battles result to death, as well as destruction of infrastructures and facilities. Aside from the visible effects of wars, it dampens the spirit of the country’s citizens. Because of the serious effects of war, effort is thus put on promoting peace. The rise of social networking sites has made the promotion of peace an advocacy of anyone. It is a venue for even an ordinary person to talk or to share his thoughts with one or more members of the community from the convenience one’s home or workplace (Preston, 2011). In effect, it speeds up and widens information dissemination, organizes people, as well as provides a sense of community to its users. With the Internet and its networking sites, a local issue becomes a global occurrence. Such community built is special in a sense that it leads to what was called as networked individualism, implying the equal importance of community and individuality, since there is decentralization and more independence in this setting (Zhuo, Wellman & Yu, 2011, p. 6). Arguably, the biggest of them all is Facebook, which already reached one billion users in 2012 (Smith, Segall & Cowley, 2012). These people come from various countries and different socioeconomic strata. It thus has a potential of becoming a vital part of information dissemination and advocacy promotion worldwide. The freedom of expression in this medium, however, may also be used to instigate disagreements that can lead to war. Because of the double-edged potential of Facebook, this paper aims to discuss the role this social networking site has played in the promotion or suppression of peace in Egypt. In order to do this, these following questions should be answered: a. What are the instances that Facebook was used to promote or suppress peace in Egypt? b. What is the potential of Facebook in the peace process in the country? c. Is Facebook beneficial or deterrent in improving the social and political aspects of Egypt? Empowering Egypt through Facebook According to the article of Zhuo, Wellman & Yu (2011, p. 6) that discussed Egypt’s use of Facebook during its political struggle, the rise of social networks in the country resulted from the increase in the availability of internet and mobile phones. This lead to the emergence of socially relevant organizations that mobilize the community. Protests and social critique in venues such as Facebook has been found to be important in this country that is dominantly Islamic and authoritarian, since it is relatively free from state control, as compared to other media like TV, radio and newspapers. In addition, it resulted to increased communication with other countries, allowing the local issues of Egypt to be heard globally. In Egypt from 2008 to 2011, mobile access to Facebook became a vital part of protests that caused the end of ex-President Hosni Mubarak regime, which at that time prevented information dissemination, particularly citizens’ access to personal computers. The dates and locations of nonviolent protests were announced through groups such as the April 6 Youth Movement. Aside from being a cost-effective method of mobilizing its members, the online group was used to learn peaceful protest organizations from the Serbian youth movement that was successful in 2000. Its effect was not limited in the country. Only months after the establishment of April 6 Youth Movement, youth in Tunisia made a Facebook group called Progressive Youth of Tunisia. Later, the two groups communicated their experiences during on- and offline protests. Outside of the online group, some Egyptians overcame their fear of the ruling regime, and used the social networking site to voice out their opinions, report government irregularities, and send messages of hope. In fact, even when police beat to death businessman Khaled Said, a Facebook group called We Are All Khaled Said was put up to protest police brutality (Zhuo, Wellman & Yu, 2011, p. 7-8). In less than two weeks, the group had garnered 130, 000 members, and this number ballooned to 473, 000 by the end of 2010. Despite prior incidents of police brutality, the case of Said ignited so many outbursts even from his fellow countrymen, because he was just a middle-class businessman. He was not an activist, and was not a politician, and yet he was beaten by police because he had evidence of corruption. With the rising power of the April 6 Youth Movement, however, Mubarak supporters began joining the online group as well to criticize them about causing unnecessary disturbance in the country. They also spread wrong information, such as protests being canceled (Preston, 2011). Instigating Anti-Israel Sentiments Despite Facebook increasing participation among Egyptians, it also partly resulted to the bad blood between Egypt and Israel. Although anti-Israel protests can also be found in other Middle East countries, it seems to be much more intense in Egypt, because of the Israel’s air strike in the terror group Hamas’ position at Egypt’s Gaza Strip in December 2008. In fact, much of the anti-Mubarak movement have been motivated by the fact that the Egyptian president still maintained diplomatic relations with Israel, and allowed exportation of natural gas to the country. Still, onlookers believe that Mubarak’s government, much like others in Middle East, benefit from the issue against Israel, since it deflects the public’s attention from its own irregularities. Despite the occurrence in Gaza resulting to the formation of Facebook groups that express hatred against Israel, a number still came in peace, promoting humanitarian aid to Gaza (Shapiro, 2009). The problem in promoting anti-Israel sentiments through Facebook, is that it may consciously or unconsciously encourage violence. According to Professor Gabriel Weimann of Haifa University in Israel (2010), terrorists can use youth-dominated Facebook groups such as the April 6 Youth Movement to recruit young men who have feelings of hatred intense enough to commit crimes against their enemies. Training can also easily commence through Facebook. Terrorists can also use Facebook to spy on enemies’ soldiers and defense units who innocently post information through the networking site. Even private messages are not safe, since it can be accessed by hackers. Worse, such terrorist activities online can be difficult to contain since it has lax regulations and membership (Weimann, 2010, p. 46). The Issue of Misrepresentation Despite significant movements in the country due to the networking site, it must be noted that just 11 to 24% of Egypt’s population had some form of access to internet, and only 1 to 15% use Facebook. This amount to about 800, 000 Egyptians, and a majority of them are from richer communities (Shapiro, 2009; Zhuo, Wellman & Yu, 2011, p. 7). Conclusion Looking at the effects of the two biggest Facebook groups in Egypt, April 6 Youth Movement and We Are All Khaled Said increased social participation among Egyptians, eased mobilization of protests, and facilitated information dissemination. It was vital in toppling Mubarak, although the government that tolerated and implemented the irregularities of Mubarak is still in place. These groups should be taken advantage of in initiating other social changes in the society. However, recognizing that Facebook resulted to the empowerment of ordinary Egyptians is still premature, since less than 20% of the population have access to Facebook. This leaves a significant number of Egyptians voiceless. Without economic improvement that trickles down up to the poorest members of the population to make the internet more accessible for everyone, the freedom provided by Facebook will remain to be limited to those who can pay. The issue of safety from terrorists should be taken into consideration. Anyone should avoid contact with terrorists by not giving away too much personal information. In the same token, Facebook users should be more critical of the information posted online. Since the networking site is open to anyone and the material that can be transferred through this medium is poorly regulated, false or harmful information can be disseminated. It is thus up to the user himself to second guess what is written in Facebook, probably by accessing other more credible websites for further information. Indeed, online networking sites can be beneficial for countries such as Egypt that have limited avenues of speaking up. However, the positive effects can only be realized if its members can use it judicially. References Preston, J. (2011, February 5). Movement Began With Outrage and a Facebook Page That Gave It an Outlet. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://blogs.cas.suffolk.edu/govt467667/files/2009/08/Movement-Began-With-Outrage.pdf Shapiro, S. (2009, January 25). Revolution, Facebook-Style - Can Social Networking Turn Young Egyptians Into a Force for Democratic Change? The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://tony-silva.com/eslefl/miscstudent/downloadpagearticles/facebookrevolutionegypt-nyt.pdf Smith, A. Segall, L., & Cowley, S. (2012, October 4). Facebook reaches one billion users. CNN. Retrieved from: http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/04/technology/facebook-billion-users/index.html Weimann, G. (2010). Terror on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. Brown Journal of World Affairs, 16(2), 45-54. Zhuo, X., Wellman, B., & Yu, J. (2011). Egypt: The First Internet Revolt? Peace Magazine, Jul/Sep 2011, 6-10. Read More