Egypt: A traditional revolution

The uprising began online, but then took a low-tech turn, "Globes" correspondent Noa Parag reports from Cairo.

While the uprising in Egypt may have been ignited by the Internet, Facebook and Twitter, and gained initial momentum there, it very quickly turned to the tradition media of pamphlets and word-of-mouth to survive, spread, and fight back against the efforts by the regime to suppress it.

Even as the uprising won extensive coverage on the Internet, in Facebook, and via Twitter, their presence was barely felt on the streets of Cairo. The Egyptian people have had to endure an existence without the Internet, and even mobile phone connections and text messaging have been disrupted.

Although many of the demonstrators on the streets carry mobile devices, they are mainly used to call friends nearby to arrange meetings in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Few can get an online connection to provide direct updates from the field.

Egypt's Internet penetration rate is only 21%, but the younger generation is comfortable with the Internet, and acutely feels its absence. Facebook reportedly has more than five million Egyptian members, and while the numbers are relatively few, the participation virus has clearly spread to the banks of Nile.

Talking with young people on the streets finds that Facebook and Twitter have both become parts of their daily lives. They say that they miss the reporting and sharing, especially now, as they participate in historic events that will reverberate through the region and the world.

Egypt's younger generation, like the Western media teams rushing to cover the events in Cairo, are used to regular Internet access and frequent Facebook and Twitter updates. Most are about trivial pursuits, which is why the regime's current censorship that prevents them from sharing the most important event in their lives as citizens, is so frustrating.

I too, as a "Globes" technology correspondent who is used to round-the-clock Internet access, struggle to cope with the imposed cutoff. Like other Western correspondents, I often glance at my cellphone in the faint hope for a sign of Internet connectivity. For us, the correspondents, the artificial cutoff is temporary, but for Egypt's citizens protesting their lack of freedom, it is a real absence.

It is possible to imagine the frustration of an Egyptian citizen who only wants his voice to be heard and to express his bitterness at the regime, and is forced to be satisfied with shouting and pamphlets. While these too have a critical role in public protest, the lack of an online medium that would allow this personal protest to be widely heard easily in real time is acutely felt.

This protest, which began after years of tweets is culminating on the streets. Online, however, the tweets are heard on low volume. The regime, which silenced the virtual bird did not calm the streets, but only impelled the protestors to further release the shackles to fight harder for their democracy. Maybe we are witnessing the first Twitter revolution.

Who needs Internet for a revolution?

The pro-Mubarak rioters who appeared in Tahrir Square on Wednesday understand why the regime crashed the Internet and disrupted cellular services in Egypt. The youthful anti-Mubarak protestors understand the importance of a free media and freedom of expression.

As with many international political events, much of the information on the Internet is provided by partisan interests, who, in this case, do not live in Egypt and have no understanding of the uprising there. Like the criticism of "Al Jazeera", which is accused by some parties of abetting the protestors, some intellectuals perceive social media like Facebook and Twitter as a tool for heating the passions.

While Western critics accuse foreign mobile operators of collaboration with the regime, people on Cairo's streets understand the meaning of cutting off the Internet and mobile networks, which prevents them from calling freely and silences their voices. Egypt's young people do not want the online international dialogue to dictate their political actions. For them, the uprising is first and foremost about Egypt, and its repercussions on the nation and its economy. They don’t care, perhaps justifiably, about the uprising's international geopolitical ramifications.

The demonstrators say that the uprising began spontaneously on Facebook and Twitter, when someone arbitrarily set January 25 as Day One of a civil revolt. The message went viral offline. We have mobile phone, and we call and encourage people to go onto the streets and make their voices heard, they say.

So while the Egyptian revolution may have begun on the Internet, it no longer needs online help. Now, more than ever, the Egyptian street manages quite well with the traditional media, and without the world weighing on online.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 3, 2011

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011

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