Etat de l'art de la liberté d’expression et le rôle des médias sociaux dans le monde arabe après les révolutions du printemps arabe

1. LIBERTÉ D’EXPRESSION ET RÔLE DES MÉDIAS SOCIAUX DANS LE
MONDE ARABE POST-REVOLUTION
Entre liberté, libertinage et traditions
Mokhtar Ben Henda
Chaire UNESCO-ITEN
MICA, Université Bordeaux Montaigne
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN
A POST-REVOLUTION ARAB WORLD
Between freedom, libertinism and traditions

2. Freedom of expression in the Arab World
two large perspectives
2018
Political (journalistic) Social (cultural, ethics)

3. Freedom of expression in the Arab World
A journalistic perspective
2018
Political (journalistic)

4. Freedom of expression in the Arab World
A social perspective
Social (cultural, ethics)
 Freedom of conscience (choice of a
religion or refusal to have a religion),
 Freedom of worship,
 Freedom of opinion, thought,
expression (in political, religious,
philosophical matters),
 Freedom of morals (sexuality),
 Freedom of press,
 Freedom of movement,
 Freedom of association,
 Economic freedom,

5. Social media: FB as a pathway to freedom
2017
 Facebook Remains Dominant Social Media
Platform In Arab World
 Many journalists cite Facebook as a
source of “preliminary” information from
which to gather story ideas and build and
understanding of the events and issues
the population is interested in.
 “Internet in Tunisia is pretty much
Facebook,”

6. Social media: FB as a pathway to freedom
Social networks, first as an
underground means for
revolutionary propaganda and
political activism
Then as an uncontrolled arena of
ideological confrontation of
extremes (political, religious,
ethical, ...)
The strictest conservatism
coexists with the most liberal
(and libertarian) audacities,
under effect of virtuality,
anonymization, digital
propaganda, fake-news, etc.

7. Facebook: an agora of extremes
Spread of FB groups with antagonist ideological trends

8. TWO MAJOR COMING-OUTS
Two very special & exceptional “coming-outs” under impact
of social networks - braving taboo and prohibition of:
 Homosexuality
 Atheism”
Homosexuality Atheism

9. TWO MAJOR COMING-OUTS
Two very sensitive social “coming-outs” eased by:
Cultural paradox:
 Religious texts that are explicitly using sexual taxonomy
 َ‫َل‬ َ‫و‬‫وا‬ُ‫ح‬ِ‫ك‬ْ‫ن‬َ‫ت‬ِ‫ت‬‫ا‬َ‫ك‬ ِ‫ر‬ْ‫ش‬ُ‫م‬ْ‫ال‬‫ى‬َّ‫ت‬َ‫ح‬﴿ َّ‫ن‬ِ‫م‬ْ‫ؤ‬ُ‫ي‬٢٢١‫البقرة‬﴾
 ‫إنكم‬‫شهوة‬ ‫الرجال‬ ‫لتأتون‬‫مسرفون‬ ‫قوم‬ ‫أنتم‬ ‫بل‬ ‫النساء‬ ‫دون‬ ‫من‬﴿‫األعراف‬80﴾
 (ُ‫ح‬َ‫ك‬ْ‫ن‬ُ‫ت‬ٍ‫ع‬َ‫ب‬ ْ‫ر‬َ ِ‫أل‬ ُ‫ة‬َ‫أ‬ ْ‫ر‬َ‫م‬ْ‫ال‬:ِ‫ن‬‫ِي‬‫د‬ِ‫ل‬ َ‫و‬ ، ‫ا‬َ‫ه‬ِ‫ل‬‫ا‬َ‫م‬َ‫ج‬ِ‫ل‬ َ‫و‬ ، ‫ا‬َ‫ه‬ِ‫ب‬َ‫س‬َ‫ح‬ِ‫ل‬ َ‫و‬ ، ‫ا‬َ‫ه‬ِ‫ل‬‫ا‬َ‫م‬ِ‫ل‬َ‫اك‬َ‫د‬َ‫ي‬ ْ‫ت‬َ‫ب‬ ِ‫ر‬َ‫ت‬ ِ‫ِين‬‫الد‬ ِ‫ت‬‫ا‬َ‫ذ‬ِ‫ب‬ ْ‫ر‬َ‫ف‬ْ‫اظ‬َ‫ف‬ ، ‫ا‬َ‫ه‬)‫حديث‬
‫نبوي‬
 Social traditions, intolerant on using even sexual metaphores of religious
texts (‫/العفة‬Pudisme Vs « ‫الدين‬ ‫في‬ ‫حياء‬ ‫َل‬ »/no shyness in religion)
 A coming-out : Arabic homosexuality (LGBT+)
Religious desecration:
 Questioned by Heresy (‫,)زندقة‬ Blasphemy (‫,)كفر‬ Apostasy (‫)ردة‬ and Atheism
(‫,)إلحاد‬ all made public on FB
 A coming-out : Arabic atheism in Islamic land!!!
Made public on social media and progressively tolerated by society
Made public by social media but not tolerated in conventional media

10. Homosexuality: coming-out
Although very common in all human
societies, in the Arab world it is:
 Religiously prohibited
 Historically unrevealed
 Socially practiced as everywhere
 Intellectually avoided
 Unveiled by FB

11. Homosexuality: expression through FB

12. Homosexuality: expression through FB
 Group « Homosexuals »
 Slogan : « Love is not a crime »
 FB : 25 novembre 2010
 14 k members
 18 december 2010
 Support group to Arabic LGBT
community
 9,5 k members

13. Homosexuality: expression through FB
 Novembre 2011
 Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender
and similar communities;
 8,5 k membres
 12 jaune 2013
 Club of respected homosexuals
 1,5 k Membres
 Restricted Club

14. Homosexuality: rights and decriminalization of LGBT
 Since 2011, the demand for LGBT
rights is gaining ground in many Arab
countries, but the decriminalization
of homosexuality still seems out of
reach
 In Lebanon, the LGBT community is
particularly active:
 2017 : first Gay Pride in the Arab world
 12 July 2018 : the Lebanese Penal Code
decriminalize homosexuality
 In Tunisia, the associations law (2011)
created a public debate on the
decriminalization of homosexuality:
 May 17, 2015: Creation of the Association
Shams (sun) homosexuals in Tunisia
 Article 230 of the Penal Code of year 1913
provides up to three years of jail for
"sodomy! Between consenting adults
(male / female)
To challenge social resistance, protesting activism finds refuge on social media
Countries where homosexuality is a crime

15.  Page FB : 31 octobre
2014 :
 135 k membres
 17 may 2015 : creation
of SHAMS Association
 15 decembre 2015 :
Radio SHAMS :
 2017 : Medalist by the
city of Paris
Homosexuality: resistance on FB

16. Free thinkers, religion and social media
These atheists (almost) invisible in the Arab-Muslim
world
Man should
also believe
in man !..
… Good idea !.
Then I can have
some hollidays !

17. Atheism in Islam: back to the Middle ages
There is a long and intellectual
tradition of dissidence and
freethinking going back to the
Middle Ages (Al Mu’tazila)
“History of Atheism in Islam” by
Abdel-Rahman Badawi.
Published in Arabic in 1945, the
book was reprinted only once in
1993
Most prominent
scholar figure was
Abu Bakr al-Razi
(865-925 CE) who
believed in the
supreme
importance of
reason

18. Arabic atheism revival
The specter of atheism has always
existed but started to haunt the
Arabic world again since:
 The attacks of 9/11, 2001
 The Arab “Spring revolutions” in 2011
 The killing against "Charlie Hebdo"
January 7, 2015
 The waves of apostasies …
However, in the Arab world atheism
remains less frontal, less detectable
and less tolerated than
homosexuality
Finding refuge on social networks

19. Atheism in Arab world: widespread but hidden
Searched Facebook in both
Arabic and English,
combining the word
“atheist” with names of
different Arab countries,
 Over 250 pages or groups,
with memberships ranging
from a few individuals to
more than 11,000
 These numbers only pertain
to Arab atheists (or Arabs
concerned with the topic of
atheism) who are
committed enough to leave
a trace online

20. Atheism: resistance on FB
 "Religion is the creation of man"
 Page created on 3rd septembre 2010
 15 k membres
 Atheists and non-religious Egyptians
 Page created on 29th novembre 2012
 Last post: april 2013
 162 membres

21. Atheism: resistance on FB

22. Atheism: debate on FB

23. Atheism: debate on FB
 “Fasting is a pagan tradition. The
word ~ Ramadan ~ came from the
word ~ Alramdha ~ and means the
extreme heat. In that region where
Saudi Arabia is now, the Sabians and
the Pagans are calling for a month
that comes in the middle of the very
hot summer - Ramadan. They were
sleeping during the day, working,
eating and drinking at night. This was
before the advent of Islam in many
decades ...”
 “It was first born pagan influences,
Christianity and Judaism without
forgetting the influence of India who
had a disproportionate love for the
Moon. There are infiltrations of
these two religions in Islam. The
latter, to present itself as a religion
of purification, which is different
from others, has chosen to resume
their tradition to adapt to Koranic
precepts”.

24. Atheism: parodia on FB
One atheist comforted in his
companion in the death of his mother:
“God bless her and keep her in
paradise ...”
“Amazing!
How believers like to eat apples which
were the reason for their expulsion from
Paradise! ...”
“The Lord, his house is burning in Paris
but he does not stir a finger ...”

25. Core findings
Atheism in the Arab world opens up less
quickly than homosexuality:
 No atheists coming-out in the conventional media
or family circles
 Intellectuals struggle to follow in the footsteps of
homosexuals
 Media and politics make auto-censoring on the
subject of atheism
Using anonymization for free expression
on social networks
Yet social practices towards homosexuals
and atheists violate both:
 most of the human rights recognized by the various
international human rights institutions ratified by
their governments,
 and several laws recognized and integrated into
their internal legal systems (constitutions, laws).

26. Egypt: criminalizing atheism
 For Al-Azhar mosque and the Coptic
Church, :
 "atheism is a threat that spreads especially
among Egyptian youth”
 Impose fines and prison sentences on "these
criminals" and monitor the Internet and social
networks
 Between 2011 and 2013 ″Egyptian courts
convicted 27 of 42 defendants on
charges of contempt for religion,″ (The
Guardian)
 In 2014, Karim Ashraf Mohamed Al-Banna,
21, was jailed for three years by simply
declaring he was an atheist on Facebook.
 In March 2019, secret police have placed
Sharif Gaber under a travel ban and
threatened him with prison for 'blasphemy”.
 The Egyptian Constitution, however,
guarantees freedom of belief (but only
for monotheist religions)

27. Tunisia: ALP, an association of atheists, 2017
 October 25, 2017:
Permission to found
the Association of
free thinkers (ALP)
 Install secularism
 Free claim to be non
religious or atheist
 2018: APL won the
International
atheism reward by
Atheist Alliance
International (AAI)
 Practically, still not
admitted by society
 Still stigmatized by
religious
associations

28. Conclusion
A post-Arab revolution “free expression era” is in
danger
Freedom of expression, the unique achievement of
the Arab spring revolution, risks to be reversible and
recursive: “freedom leading to oppression”
“National unity” and “war on terrorism”: arguments for
authorities to control the media sphere
Fragmentation of the media sphere under political and
ideological alignments
Still much time to build a new culture of civil rights,
free expression and respect of diversity