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26 May 2009 A group of Egyptian youth on facebook
have launched an expanded campaign on internet
included the facebook and a number of blogs under the
title “Enough of Torture”, pointing out that in the
light of the increasing rates of violations and
torture of citizens, journalists and opponents there
must be a stopped.
The youth announced on their website “ANGRY” that the
campaign will start to deploy and collect signatures
from the 1st of June and will continue until the
International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on
26th June 2009.
The campaign includes many activities with regards to
exposing the practices of torture and countering
violations of the rights of citizens using violence
and assaults as happened with some journalists who
were being attacked during protests and
demonstrations.
It also aims at disclosing the practices of torture in
detention centres, especially what happens to the
youth bloggers recently such as Mohamed Adel and Ahmed
Doma.
The campaign presents a number of autobiographies of
personalities which contributed in the civil
disobedience and strikes throughout history.
Facebooking the Struggle
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 Mubarak being created. Another group
entitled "We don’t want Muslim Brothers" is calling
for the strike but without participation of the Muslim
Brotherhood, who recently decided to join May 4
protest.
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 of
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.
EsinIslam.Com
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