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.