[lbo-talk] A point against article on Egyptian social media starting things

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com
Mon Feb 14 03:54:02 PST 2011


That article on how crucial politics arose from internet groups independently of old fashioned parties, unions, etc., cited this as one of its central pieces of evidence:

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/599/from-the-blogosphere-to-the-street_the-role-of-social-media-in-the-egyptian-uprising

<begin excerpt>

The blogosphere was joined by another powerful media instrument in

2008. On April 6^th of that year a general strike took place in Egypt,

an event which saw vast numbers of workers and students stay home from

their sites of work or school. The strike, the largest anti-government

mobilization to occur in Egypt in many years, had been initiated by

labor activists in support of striking workers at the Mahalla textile

factory who had for months been holding out for better salaries and

improved work conditions. In the month leading up to the strike,

however, the aim of the action enlarged beyond the scope of the

specific concerns of the factory workers. Propelled by the efforts of a

group of activists on Facebook, the strike shifted to become a national

day of protest against the corruption of the Mubarak regime, and

particularly against the regime's complete inaction in the face of

steadily declining wages and rising prices. Most stunning about the

event, and most worrisome to the Egyptian state, was the way the idea

of a general strike had been generated: Esra' `Abd al-Fattah, a young

woman with little experience as an activist who lived just outside of

Cairo, had initiated a group on Facebook calling for a sympathy strike

with the textile workers. Within two weeks, close to 70,000 Facebook

members had signed on. Political bloggers also began to promote the

strike, and by the time the 1^st of April came around most of the

political opposition parties had been brought on board and were

vigorously trying to mobilize their constituencies. When the 6^th

arrived, Egypt witnessed its most dramatic political mobilization in

decades, an event that brought together people across the political

spectrum, from Muslim Brotherhood members to Revolutionary Socialists.

<end excerpt>

Today's NYT gives an exactly opposite account: the origin of the Facebook call came from long time union activists who turned to Facebook as a means, and who had already been extremely battle hardened:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/middleeast/14egypt-tunisia-protests.html

<begin excerpt>

The Egyptian revolt was years in the making. Ahmed Maher, a 30-year-old

civil engineer and a leading organizer of the April 6 Youth Movement,

first became engaged in a political movement known as Kefaya, or

Enough, in about 2005. Mr. Maher and others organized their own

brigade, Youth for Change. But they could not muster enough followers;

arrests decimated their leadership ranks, and many of those left became

mired in the timid, legally recognized opposition parties. "What

destroyed the movement was the old parties," said Mr. Maher, who has

since been arrested four times.

By 2008, many of the young organizers had retreated to their computer

keyboards and turned into bloggers, attempting to raise support for a

wave of isolated labor strikes set off by government privatizations and

runaway inflation.

After a strike that March in the city of Malhalla, Egypt, Mr. Maher and

his friends called for a nationwide general strike for April 6. To

promote it, they set up a Facebook group that became the nexus of their

movement, which they were determined to keep independent from any of

the established political groups.

<end excerpt>

The article then goes on to detail opposition group after opposition group, each of which met in the face to face world just like political groups always have. The main use of the internet in this accounts seems to be google and wiki. And yet the subhead is "Bloggers Take Charge."

Assuming the NYT account is true (and they do follow the two source rule), this for me casts a lot of doubt on the dependibility of that piece on the role of social media in the Egyptian uprising. It may be an outlier simply because it's not true.

In short, one point for Gladwell.

Michael



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