Facebook is growing fast in Egypt — the NY Times Mag piece estimates 800,000 users — and it’s easy to see why: while the government might be able to crack down on web pages, social networking sites are too wide-ranging to block completely. As author Samantha Shapiro finds, young people — traditionally politically apathetic — have taken advantage of this mode of assembling and the relative freedom of speech provided by the internet’s anonymity. As a result, Facebook is something of a hotbed of dissent – as well as the wide-ranging opinions and crackpottery inherent to online communities. While it makes for some strange bedfellows, it’s also served as a means of organization previously lacking amongst Egyptian activists. Most recently, Facebook has served as the nexus for organizing support for Palestinians in Gaza; groups range from philanthropic to angry to activist.
Perhaps the best-known product of the Egyptian Facebook phenomenon is the April 6 Youth Movement, which Shapiro describes as
a group of 70,000 mostly young and educated Egyptians, most of whom had never been involved with politics before joining the group. The movement is less than a year old; it formed more or less spontaneously on Face-book last spring around an effort to stage a general nationwide strike. Members coalesce around a few issues — free speech, economic stagnation and government nepotism — and they share their ideas for improving Egypt. But they do more than just chat: they have tried to organize street protests to free jailed journalists.
In fact, when site founder Esraa Abdel Fattah Ahmed Rashid was jailed after organizing a strike on April 6, she became something of a cause celebre: known as “the Facebook Girl,” she brought attention — probably not all welcome — to the power of the new medium. But despite the risks, the rewards have already been substantial: one blogger was able to post video footage of police brutality from his phone, while another has documented the harassment women face in street demonstrations: in both cases, they’ve helped bring the perps to justice.
It will shock no one to hear that our own government has taken note of Facebook’s potential in this regard: the State Department is seeking to harness its organizational powers. But can it ever have the same power here? Ours is a culture in which “donating your status” qualifies as Facebook activism, and probably keeps company with gifts, pokes, in-jokes and all manner of first-world fol-de-rol. (Not that I’m guessing people don’t waste hours in Egypt, too.) That’s a luxury, sure, but also a very stark contrast. We talk and read so much about the philosophical implications of the internet in terms of privacy and interaction: it’s interesting to be reminded of its fundamental purpose: to connect with others and to serve, not as a sinister or independent entity, but as something that works for people.
Revolution, Facebook-Style [New York Times Magazine – not online yet]
