[Marxism] Revolution, Facebook-Style

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

NY Times Magazine, January 25, 2009
Revolution, Facebook-Style
By SAMANTHA M. SHAPIRO

Only a few hours after Israel’s first air strike against Hamas positions 
in the Gaza Strip late last month, more than 2,000 protesters marched 
through the streets of downtown Cairo, carrying Palestinian flags. This 
began what would become weeks of protests, in which thousands of 
Egyptians of all different political leanings gathered in Egypt’s main 
cities, in public squares and at mosques and universities. Hundreds were 
arrested. In every city, the biggest presence at the protests was the 
Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist political organization, active in many 
countries throughout the Middle East, that seeks to govern according to 
Islamic law. Other, smaller demonstrations were put together, sometimes 
spontaneously, by leftist groups and student organizations.

Anti-Israel demonstrations in Arab capitals are nothing new. From Amman 
to Riyadh, governments have long viewed protests against Israel as a 
useful safety valve to allow citizens to let off steam without 
addressing grievances closer to home. But in Egypt, this time, the 
protests were different: some of the anger was aimed directly at the 
government of President Hosni Mubarak. In defiance of threats from the 
police, and in contravention of a national taboo, some demonstrators 
chanted slogans against Mubarak, condemning his government for 
maintaining diplomatic relations with Israel, for exporting natural gas 
to the country and for restricting movement through Egypt’s border with 
Gaza.

As the street protests went on, young Egyptians also were mobilizing and 
venting their anger over Gaza on what would, until recently, have seemed 
an unlikely venue: Facebook, the social-networking site. In most 
countries in the Arab world, Facebook is now one of the 10 most-visited 
Web sites, and in Egypt it ranks third, after Google and Yahoo. About 
one in nine Egyptians has Internet access, and around 9 percent of that 
group are on Facebook — a total of almost 800,000 members. This month, 
hundreds of Egyptian Facebook members, in private homes and at Internet 
cafes, have set up Gaza-related “groups.” Most expressed hatred for 
Israel and the United States, but each one had its own focus. Some 
sought to coordinate humanitarian aid to Gaza, some criticized the 
Egyptian government, some criticized other Arab countries for blaming 
Egypt for the conflict and still others railed against Hamas. When I sat 
down in the middle of January with an Arabic-language translator to look 
through Facebook, we found one new group with almost 2,000 members 
called “I’m sure I can find 1,000,000 members who hate Israel!!!” and 
another called “With all due respect, Gaza, I don’t support you,” which 
blamed Palestinian suffering on Hamas and lamented the recent shooting 
of two Egyptian border guards, which had been attributed to Hamas fire. 
Another group implored God to “destroy and burn the hearts of the 
Zionists.” Some Egyptian Facebook users had joined all three groups.

Freedom of speech and the right to assemble are limited in Egypt, which 
since 1981 has been ruled by Mubarak’s National Democratic Party under a 
permanent state-of-emergency law. An estimated 18,000 Egyptians are 
imprisoned under the law, which allows the police to arrest people 
without charges, allows the government to ban political organizations 
and makes it illegal for more than five people to gather without a 
license from the government. Newspapers are monitored by the Ministry of 
Information and generally refrain from directly criticizing Mubarak. And 
so for young people in Egypt, Facebook, which allows users to speak 
freely to one another and encourages them to form groups, is 
irresistible as a platform not only for social interaction but also for 
dissent.

Although there are countless political Facebook groups in Egypt, many of 
which flare up and fall into disuse in a matter of days, the one with 
the most dynamic debates is that of the April 6 Youth Movement, a group 
of 70,000 mostly young and educated Egyptians, most of whom had never 
been involved with politics before joining the group. The movement is 
less than a year old; it formed more or less spontaneously on Facebook 
last spring around an effort to stage a general nationwide strike. 
Members coalesce around a few issues — free speech, economic stagnation 
and government nepotism — and they share their ideas for improving 
Egypt. But they do more than just chat: they have tried to organize 
street protests to free jailed journalists, and this month, hundreds of 
young people from the April 6 group participated in demonstrations about 
Gaza, some of which were coordinated on Facebook, and at least eight 
members of the group were detained by police.

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/magazine/25bloggers-t.html

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