Is the presence and use of social media a prerequisite for a revolution? When evaluating the current revolutions occurring in the Middle East, particularly Egypt, it would seem that this statement holds true. Egypt has been in unrest for years; however a tangible change or movement never took root until the emergence of facebook and twitter groups across the country, particularly the anonymous users, such as Wael Ghonim in Egypt. Roundtable 9 argues differently. Would these vast changes and developments in Egypt and Tunisia, and many other Middle Eastern countries, have happened without the role of social media and its use among protestors to organize, plan and raise support for their movements? Although the movements were slow to take root, they still would have happened without social media’s large role, just on a longer timeline. Social media has acted as an accelerant in the social movements of the Middle East in the past few months, not necessarily an enabler.
When discussing the role of social media in revolution, it is important to note the role that government censorship plays in this process. Clearly, as the current situations in Egypt and China will prove, government censorship of social media poses a large roadblock to the success of social movements. Bloggers, facebook and twitter users and internet activists in many countries have been arrested and banned from using these social media websites. In Egypt, all cell phone and internet activity was shut down by the government as a whole. In China, facebook and twitter are blocked altogether. These instances beg the question regarding internet freedom across the world. There is a clear divide between individuals wishing to defeat censorship and those who wish to maintain the current sanctions on secure internet use.
No comments:
Post a Comment