This document discusses how digital tools and the internet helped enable activism during the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011. It provides examples of early digital activism in Tunisia and Egypt from 2006 onward around issues like anti-corruption, anti-censorship, and anti-torture. Social media allowed activists to raise awareness, organize, and spread their message among networks of supporters despite facing censorship and suppression from authorities. While internet access was still a privilege, digital platforms provided an important alternate space for dissent.
TOOLS OF CHANGE: HOW THE INTERNET SHAPED THE ‘ARAB SPRING
1. TOOLS OF CHANGE:
HOW THE INTERNET SHAPED THE
‘ARAB SPRING’
JILLIAN C. YORK
ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION
2. “The uprising that started on 25 January 2011
was the result of a long process in which the
wall of fear fell, bit by bit…
…Nothing aids the erosion of one's fear
more than knowing there are others,
somewhere else, who share the same
desire for liberation – and have started
taking action.”
-Hossam Hamalawy, 2011
13. “Social media has created a sort
of alternate space for reviving a
dormant public
consciousness into a sentient,
dynamic social discourse.”
-Hani Morsi
(Egypt)
16. “Whether we like it or not, the Internet is
a classist privilege. Mainstream Arab
media isn’t. Hence many rely on these to
publish news on the one hand, and to
formulate a political vision gradually, at
least on the consciousness level, on the
other.”
-Razan Ghazzawi, 2011
(Syria)
22. “Our strength will always stem from the
fact that we’ll have one foot in the
cyberspace, and, more importantly, the
other foot will be on the ground.”
• Hossam El-Hamalawy, 2008
(Egypt)
23. JILLIAN C. YORK
Director, International
Freedom of Expression
@EFF
jillian@eff.org
http://jilliancyork.com
@jilliancyork
Editor's Notes
Ammar was the censor, sala7 was the ordinary citizen – sayyeb means “leave alone”
Dutch-Palestinian who got his twitter name as a street in nablus.
The following video(s) from your account have been disabled for violating the YouTube Community Guidelines:Tunise : enfants des zones défavorisées (Nawaat)While it might not seem fair to say you can’t show something because of what viewers theoretically might do in response, we draw the line at content that’s intended to incite violence or encourage dangerous, illegal activities that have an inherent risk of serious physical harm or death. It’s not okay to post videos showing bad stuff like animal abuse, drug abuse, under-age drinking and smoking, or bomb making. Any depictions like these should be educational or documentary and shouldn’t be designed to help or encourage others to imitate them.This is the second Community Guidelines warning sanction your account has received within six months. Accordingly, the ability to post new content to YouTube from this account has been disabled and will not return until two weeks after you acknowledge this message. Please review the YouTube Community Guidelines and refrain from further violations, which may result in the termination of your account(s).
Jidf – organization that regularly targets facebook pages, has them taken down using community policing functionality.
Maikelnabil, slim amamou, aliabdulemam, alaaabd el fattah