This assignment is due by Monday, April 2 at NOON. No exceptions for late assignments, except by permission of Dr. Williams.
Please read and blog THREE specific observations from the Prologue, Chapters 3-5. What do you learn about Egypt, social media, and grassroots activism?
-Ghonim opens the Chapter 3 describing a disturbing image that a former presidential candidate/activist posted on Facebook of a young man named Khaled Mohamed Said with his face severely damaged. The 20 year old was beaten to death by two secret police officers. This is so terrifying and disgusting. This reminds me of some articles I've read about police attacking protesters at Occupy events and the main stream media trying to justify their behavior. I fear that this sort of abuse will only continue if not get worse.
ReplyDelete-Ghonim states that regarding raising awareness about Khaled Mohammad Said "the media's supression of the physical world made the virtual world a critical alternative for promoting the cause." I'm sure as American media becomes more and more censored and controlled that the internet will become imperative in informing oneself about current events.
-Ghonim states that over 81% of "Kullena Khaled Said" were under the age of 30, most being between 18 and 24. This gives me hope for my generation and our ability to instigate change in our government.
Chapter Three - Ghonim keeps mentioning how he posts photos regularly on the Facebook page. Every time he does, he explains how the images impacted the members far more deeply than words ever could - the gruesomeness of the original photo of Khaled and other torture photos, but also the encouragement from positive photos, such as the ones of people doing the Silent Stand in other places.
ReplyDeleteChapter Four - This chapter describes the continuous growth of the Facebook page. Ghonim writes, "the Internet provided a means to join forces on real issues." This relates to Shirky's idea of cognitive surplus. Ghonim described how the cause he started began to impact things on a large scale with the arrests of two suspects in Khaled's murder. Social media makes people actually see the awful things that happen in the world, rather than just hearing about them.
Chapter Five - Social media enables information to spread faster than ever before - in two days, Jan25 reached half a million people. No other means of communication could do that, and I don't think the revolution would have happened as quickly, if at all, without social media.
CH 3
ReplyDelete-Khaled Said was brutally murdered by security forces. Ghonim decided to create a facebook page raising awareness and uniting people in opposition to his death. Speaking in the first person, as if he was Khaled Said, and using common language, Ghonim was able to make the page take off quickly.
-Ghonim was worried about the confrontational rhetoric on the other Khaled Said facebook page but wanted to work together in common cause with them while maintaining his own page. The page was able to organize thousands to go to Khaled Said’s funeral and later protest outside of the Ministry of Interior. Unfortunately, the police forces were prepared and far outnumbered the protesters, surrounding and arresting many.
-Khaled Said regime and media tried to defame him by painting him as a drug dealer. His mother claimed that he was killed because he had in his possession a video of corrupt police selling drugs. This video went viral.
-Ghonim used his facebook page in a non-confrontational tone. He didn’t jump to conclusions but presented evidence refuting the media and government’s claims that Khaled Said dodged military service and providing witness testimonial.
CH 4
-Part of the appeal of the role of facebook admin for Ghonim was the anonymity. He struggled to maintain hidden from the Egyptian government by using a false name and IP address. Unfortunately, facebook forced someone to publicly take the role of admin.
-Ghonim worked on his facebook page with the goal of allowing non-political Egyptians to take action. The frequent sharing of images taken by individual users created a large culture of bottom-up strength. Ghonim often polled his users before making a decision and tried to do things in a democratic and participatory fashion. Ghonim was critical of the more activist focused page which he felt was too confrontational and had limited appeal among those who hadn’t undergone serious police repression themselves.
-Ghonim used the facebook page as more than just a tool to organize “silent stands.” Ghonim provided information on who he was as an admin, and why he became involved in addition to providing fictional but pertinent stories such as “Abbas and the Admin” that celebrated activism and criticized apathy and passivity.
CH 5
-At first, Ghonim was hesitant to report on the Tunisian protests on his Khaled Said facebook page. He feared that the revolt against Tunisian dictator Ben Ali would fail and ultimately demoralize the movement against police brutality in Egypt. However, as soon as Ben Ali began to concede that the Tunisian protestors had legitimate grievances and fled the country, Ghonim and the Egyptian protesters and bloggers recognized the value in reporting on the success of the movement and providing new hope to Egyptians and people across the Arab world.
-A large coalition of different groups such as the April 6th movement and Kullena Khaled Said supported the January 25 call for protest. The invitations began taking off quickly to over 500,000 Facebook users. The activists began organizing on the street the during the Friday prayers in the working class districts of Cairo to prepare for Jan25.
It's eerie the parallels between the Khaled Said killing that ignited Ghonim's Facebook campaign and the recent killing of Trayvon Martin in FL. As I read about the attack on Said, the witnesses and the utter lack of response from the government, I found it easy to understand Ghonim's frustration. Ghonim pinpoints one of the key elements that Internet connectivity brings to social movements: “Each one of the images we posted [of the first Silent Stand] carried much greater impact than many days’ worth of writing” (79). The speed and ease with which images and video can be dispersed played an enormous role in getting momentum for the Facebook page.
ReplyDeleteGhonim's adamant stance on anonymity emphasis’ another key element that the Internet makes possible; without his identity hidden, Ghonim would not have been able to say the things he did, nor would he have been capable of rallying the support he did. By removing the constant fear of Police attacking him, personally or physically, Ghonim is freer to say his mind and encourage the free discourse on the Facebook page that led to real change.
Ghonim’s methods are very “google”; they exemplify the company’s culture of absorbing information and reacting to it. Ghonim sees all the disparate groups of Egypt and uses social media to draw them together. This is especially noticeable as he gathers support for the January 25th protest, the first major ground level action of the movement. Thinking back to reading about this shortly after it happened, it’s easy to see how much our media misses and how complex and difficult this was for Ghonim and his allies to put together.
Like Melissa Jenkins, Joseph Kony, and others whose murders (or, in Kony's case, future murder) have a facebook page to raise awareness, Ghonim created a facebook page for Khaled Said, a man who was murdered by 2 secret policemen. His facebook page gave a place for protest organization, a fact that endangered Ghonim.
ReplyDeleteHis facebook page got so popular that someone was eventually forced to take responsibility for it. Which surprised me, because I assumed that, with the iron fist that the Zuck has on the site, that kind of thing wouldn't happen. The era of anonymity is passed, however. For example, key members of Anonymous have been discovered and detained.
Taking a stance on the Tunisian protests was not something that Ghonim's facebook page was meant for, but Ghonim decided to talk about it anyway, helping to fuel the jan25 fire.
In Chapter 3 Ghonim narratively explains the organization of the “Kullena Khaled Said” facebook page and Silent Stand. Um I cried? As an American, politically uninvolved and uninformed about the revolution in Egypt, I cried when I read this chapter. This movement united Egyptian youth and gave them a voice. Ghonim was so careful in his orchestration and was able to successfully transfer online support to real world activism- a feat in itself. The sheer numbers of online supporters was outstanding and in such short time! The moment that I will remember from this chapter is the posted photograph of the four supporters in Qatar- “it showed that the idea succeeded beyond our borders” (79). In this case, the internet was successful in breaking down all sorts of barriers and borders- those of fear, political differences, geographical borders, and so many more- in order to support unity and freedom. Another interesting aspect of the facebook page is the language- first Ghonim used colloquial Egyptian in order to truly speak to Egyptian youth and eventually used images and photographs which speak a universal language. It is unfortunate that Khaled Said was brutally killed but the opportunities that arose out of this tragedy were incredible. This testament to the internet’s ability to unite people and create change is tough to ignore and if I cried just reading about it, I cannot imagine what all of this must have felt like to oppressed Egyptians.
ReplyDeleteAhhh! These are really long chapters. In chapter 4, we see Ghonim face all kinds of obstacles in his administration of the “Kullena Khaled Said” page. Most importantly in this chapter, Ghonim provides his insight on how to reach people and make change through social media- he has some concrete opinions. The first asset he discusses is video- the power of images and words and music combined into one message. We have talked in class about the triune brain and how video can engage all parts- the instinctual, the emotional, and the thinking brains. Ghonim also discusses the importance of creating relationships. Although he must remain anonymous to protect himself, his family and the cause, he interacts with supporters as much as he can and even publishes a post about who he is and what his motives are without being too revealing. His number of likes on this post were incredibly high. On that note, he also emphasizes the importance of using first person singular as opposed to “My Name is Khaled Said” administrators who used “we.” Ghonim says “The plural we makes readers think an organization is behind the page, devising plans and putting them into practice. I simplifies matters and opens the way for direct dialogue between the members and the page’s anonymous admin” (112). Ghonim stresses the significance of making all supporters feel important. The facebook forum is already participatory, allowing people to comment on every post, however Ghonim goes to greater lengths to give people responsibility and to feel empowered through their own action. He specifically asks people to exercise their talents (filmmaking, photography, graphic design, etc.) and resources (connections with media, friends, etc) to contribute. In seeking a freer more democratized nation, he exhibits just that in his facebook page administration- he conducts surveys and polls and asks people to make suggestions (AND HE LISTENS!). Most importantly, he says “messages from the heart reach the heart.” Although the road is bumpy, Ghonim seems to have a really solid approach.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 5, Ghonim describes to us how the many pieces of the revolution began to take place. With the Tunisian success, the church bombing, etc. the people started to really gain some momentum for change. It seems that the timing for January 25th was pretty perfect although Ghonim again acted wisely in his efforts- collaborating with other groups of activists, encouraging outreach, and taking a more proactive stance. Personally I feel that one decision he made was crucial- leaving the event ownerless. He did not try to take credit for its origination or make the protest a “Kullena Khaled Said” movement but instead planted a seed and allowed the people of all groups to organize, to take creative action. I don’t even know really what to say about this chapter except that the story is truly beautiful. Although I am not personally an internet enthusiast, it is amazing to see just how many people can be reached and can therefore act in support of their freedom through online organization. Its inspirational for sure.
ReplyDeleteChapter three is opened with a very detailed description of a photo that was released on facebook of a local citizen who was rumored to have been beaten to death by two policemen. Because this was happening more than should be and innocent people were being threatened, something had to be done fast. So Ghonim creates a facebook page intended to raise awareness of the torturous acts the regime is doing, and to get the people involved. His page was able to gain 100,000 people in a week and even coordinated a Silent Stand that thousands of members attended despite the fears and worries they all had. This is an incredible act. That he was able to get that many people together is such a small amount of time, it's amazing what the public access to facebook did for the justice of Khaled Said, or at least the beginnings of it.
ReplyDeleteChapter 4 continues to describe the events that took place on facebook regarding the Khaled Said case and the silent protests. The security where they were happened greatly increased each time. Even with all of the risks that each Egyptian seemed to take by joining, more people each time congregated. And it is vital to Wael's safety that he remain anonymous, especially with all of the events being organized. It's hard telling what someone who doesn't have the same views about the changes that should take place would do. With the history in Egypt, it's a possibility that it could end in murder.
"Yet after what happened in Tunisia, I thought the Egyptian masses might finally get the message and break the psychological barrier of fear." Facebook seemingly brought thousands of together to raise their voice against the police and the regime, and they are all still to scared to continue with what they have done off of the net. With out these social forums, Egyptians might have never gained the confidence to do anything, and the revolution would not have occurred.