Carrol
-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of Michael Pollak Sent: Monday, February 14, 2011 5:54 AM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: [lbo-talk] A point against article on Egyptian social media starting things
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 ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk