[P2P-F] Fwd: <nettime> Nancy Messieh: Why Egypt wasn’t waiting for WikiLeaks to ignite a revolution (Next Web)

[Dante-Gabryell Monson]

Excerpt seen on Assange's screen,

around "30s" on the Mastercard WikiLeaks Parody :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zx6DXdLikg&feature=player_detailpage#t=30s

?


On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 10:42 AM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>wrote:

>
>
> has anyone seen that video?
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson at gmail.com>
> Date: Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 3:32 PM
> Subject: Fwd: <nettime> Nancy Messieh: Why Egypt wasn’t waiting for
> WikiLeaks to ignite a revolution (Next Web)
> To: econowmix at googlegroups.com
>
>
> excerpt :
>
> << The reality of the uprising in Tunisia is that it was sparked by a
> young man, Mohamed Bouazizi, who lit himself on fire, because that
> was the only form of protest he had left to use. The reality of the
> uprising in Egypt is that it was sparked by a young man, Khaled Said,
> who was brutally beaten to death in an alleyway, while people watched,
> helpless as he begged for his life.
>
> So with that in mind, it’s no surprise that *the Wikileaks parody ad
> that seemed to be taking a bit of credit for the Egyptian revolution
> has sparked outrage among Egyptian activists.*
>
> Mosa’ab El Shamy, an Egyptian activist and photographer who spent the
> 18 days of the uprising in Tahrir, told The Next Web, “I thought we
> would only have to counter all the local corporates here, which were
> trying to claim credit for the revolution and share a ride on the
> bandwagon, but Wikileaks, is to me, the worst of them all.” >>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Patrice Riemens <patrice at xs4all.nl>
> Date: Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 10:42 PM
> Subject: <nettime> Nancy Messieh: Why Egypt wasn’t waiting for WikiLeaks to
> ignite a revolution (Next Web)
> To: nettime-l at kein.org
>
>
>
> bwo BytesforAll & iac2009 lists/ Fred Noronha & Pranesh Prakash
>
>
> ====
> >From The Next Web: http://goo.gl/pMYJ9
>
> July 10, 2011, Nancy Messieh
> Why Egypt wasn’t waiting for WikiLeaks to ignite a revolution
>
> Ask any Egyptian how much of an influence the Internet was in the
> nation’s uprising, the first thing they’ll probably do is roll
> their eyes at you. I’ve certainly mentioned it countless times –
> International media found the perfectly convenient package of the
> Facebook revolution fueled by a Google executive. A better lede
> couldn’t have been written if they had made it up themselves.
>
> But the thing is, there is as much fiction in that phrase as there
> is fact. Yes the Facebook page We Are All Khaled Said, created by
> the Google executive Wael Ghonim, was instrumental in mobilizing
> a certain demographic in Egypt. But long after Hosny Mubarak was
> toppled, figures have emerged to prove that calling the uprising in
> Egypt in any way, shape or form, a Facebook Revolution, is almost as
> ridiculous as the short-lived name, the Lotus Revolution, a name which
> had absolutely nothing to do with the movement.
>
> In case you’re curious, the Lotus Revolution was a name that followed
> the just as ill-thought out name for the Tunisian uprising, the
> Jasmine Revolution. Both names were no doubt dreamed up by journalists
> who had visited the countries once upon a time, and were enamoured
> with the exotic, oriental, incense-filled alleyways of Cairo and
> Tunis. The reality of these uprisings couldn’t be further from the
> Orientalist postcard snapshot that is continually forced down our
> throats.
>
> The reality of the uprising in Tunisia is that it was sparked by a
> young man, Mohamed Bouazizi, who lit himself on fire, because that
> was the only form of protest he had left to use. The reality of the
> uprising in Egypt is that it was sparked by a young man, Khaled Said,
> who was brutally beaten to death in an alleyway, while people watched,
> helpless as he begged for his life.
>
> So with that in mind, it’s no surprise that the Wikileaks parody ad
> that seemed to be taking a bit of credit for the Egyptian revolution
> has sparked outrage among Egyptian activists.
>
> Mosa’ab El Shamy, an Egyptian activist and photographer who spent the
> 18 days of the uprising in Tahrir, told The Next Web, “I thought we
> would only have to counter all the local corporates here, which were
> trying to claim credit for the revolution and share a ride on the
> bandwagon, but Wikileaks, is to me, the worst of them all.”
>
> Many local companies have been accused of playing both sides in
> Egypt, bowing to the regime before the uprising, and in a lightening
> quick chameleon change, their colours were suddenly an entirely red,
> white and black display of supposed patriotism and pride in Egypt’s
> revolution.
>
> El Shamy goes on to explain his views on Wikileaks conceding, “I
> believe it’s changing the world in its own way and their effort is a
> prime and noble one, but it’s ludicrous to hear Mr. Assange in the ad
> declare with a cheeky grin as he watches the imagery of protesters
> pushing police forces back from Kasr el Nil Bridge that ‘the world
> changing as a result of his work is priceless.’”
>
> In fact, as Egyptian blogger Zeinobia pointed out in her response to
> the parody ad, most of the Wikileaks cables relating to Egypt were
> never translated or published in local media for a variety of reasons,
> ranging from a fear of retribution to simply a matter of bad timing,
> with more important issues taking the attention of the Egyptian media
> and its audience.
>
> Ironically, much of the information that the Wikileaks cables revealed
> about the Egyptian authorities was already common knowledge. Egypt is
> a country that saw bloggers and journalists imprisoned for voicing
> their opinion. Egypt is a country where questioning the president’s
> health was punishable with imprisonment. It is not a country which was
> waiting for Wikileaks cables to spark a movement that was years in the
> making.
>
> El Shamy points to another ad that saw an even bigger backlash from
> Egyptian activists, bloggers and tweeters. A Vodafone ad which had
> originally been released a few weeks before the January 25 protests,
> was re-released online, with a newly added introduction, in which the
> telecom company seemed to be attempting to take a bit of the credit
> for mobilizing the masses.
>
> Comparing the two, El Shamy says of the Wikieaks ad, “I find it more
> dangerous, and ‘under-attacked.’ Assange is an international, popular
> figure and millions are ready to follow his steps and take his word;
> and here lies the danger of ‘brainwashing’ more masses than the ones
> who believe that it was all his work.”
>
> Wikileaks parody ads aside, no matter how many times the theory
> is debunked with statistics and personal stories, the Internet
> revolution keeps rearing its ugly head. El Shamy comments, “It’s
> always entertaining to see the media to rinse and repeat stories
> about how tech savvy our revolution was, how Facebooked, YouTubed and
> Twittereized it is, but I believe it is taken out of context this
> way, and is an insistence on showing a small, rather unrepresentative
> aspect of the Egyptian revolution. The huge majority of Egyptians who
> took to the streets weren’t on Facebook or didn’t mind on missing on
> the Twitter fad, the impoverished and underfed and ragged clothed
> certainly weren’t motivated by a Facebook event or some videos they
> saw on YouTube. That should be acknowledged sooner or later or else I
> think it’s a huge injustice to them, and an elitist perspective.”
>
> The Egyptian revolution was an incredible coming together of men and
> women, from different backgrounds, different religions, different
> cities, and throughout the country, they stood side by side and called
> for one thing. To even attempt to credit that to the Internet, to
> Wikileaks, or to anything else other than the perseverance of the
> Egyptian people is to ignore the facts.
>
> The role that the Internet did play was to get the story out. El
> Shamy was one of many who tweeted his way through the revolution.
> Asking him how he personally used the Internet during the 18 day
> uprising, he says, “I used it to tweet, tweet, tweet and tweet. I
> reported everything as I saw and answered people’s questions and
> tried chronicling what it felt to be in Tahrir for over two weeks.
> I interacted with fellow activists who were away from the square or
> other parts of Cairo and tried convincing as much people who supported
> and followed our news through the internet but feared for their
> safety. It was an amazing experience.”
>
> El Shamy does give credit to the Internet where credit is due. “I
> think the Internet played a fine role during those 18 days, but did
> the revolution come to a halt or lose mobilization when the service
> was cut off the whole country? Definitely not. It was useful that we
> let the world know, and gradually increase pressure on the regime from
> outside, and it acted as an anti-propaganda tool when the media was
> spreading all kind of lies, and I think we made the best of it. But it
> simply shouldn’t be overstated.”
>
> As Egyptian state TV televised calming images of the Nile, YouTube
> and Twitter were witness to brutal violence and tear gas-filled shots
> of a struggle for freedom. As Egyptian state TV broadcast stories of
> a Tahrir infiltrated by foreign spies from the four corners of the
> world, hell bent on bringing Egypt to its knees, YouTube and Twitter
> told of men and women who stood against snipers, thugs, and even a
> raid of camels and horses, to come out victorious.
>
> When it comes to the actual figures, Facebook penetration in Egypt in
> April 2011 stands at 7%, with Tunisia’s penetration rate far higher at
> 22%. And let’s not forget that not all Facebook users in the region
> were automatically supporters of the uprising. Facebook arguments in
> the post-January-25 world were common. The number of photos of Hosny
> Mubarak that appeared as profile pictures on Facebook after the former
> President stepped down is proof of that. Country-wide protests were
> not waiting for Facebook members to take to the street.
>
> Yes, activists used Facebook and Twitter to coordinate among
> themselves, even far before January 25. Yes, Flickr and YouTube were
> essential in disseminating information to the wider public. But the
> number of people who took the streets because of a call on Twitter
> cannot be compared to the number of people who took to the streets
> because of the on-the-ground efforts of activists who ventured into
> areas of Cairo, and Egypt as a whole where Twitter was virtually
> unheard of, and spread awareness. Not in a country where the number
> of Twitter accounts didn’t exceed 130,000 in April 2011. In fact,
> the number of people who joined the protests as they watched from
> their balconies as hundreds and thousands of protesters passed in the
> streets, chanting “Come down” probably exceeded the Twitter effect as
> well.
>
> On January 28, I watched minutes before a similar crowd passed beneath
> my balcony, as a young man quickly passed out fliers to people in the
> street. He handed the sheets of paper to men standing in the street,
> threw them at the feet of a crowd of women who were gathered at a
> street corner, ducked quickly into shops and ran right back out again.
> I never saw what the flyer said, because by the time I ran down into
> the street, his fliers were nowhere to be seen, as he disappeared into
> a crowd of protesters who had fast approached, accompanied by a large
> crowd of helmeted riot police and police cars, pacing alongside them,
> peaceful for the moment.
>
> It is men like him who are truly to be credited with mobilizing the
> Egyptian people. It is men like him who made the Egyptian people take
> to the streets, knowing there was a possibility they would not be
> coming home. To say that Facebook can be equated with each and every
> person’s effort on the ground is to take a little bit of credit away
> from men like him.
>
> ## About the Author Lesotho-born and raised, Nancy Messieh is an
> Egyptian writer and photographer based in Cairo, Egypt.
>
> --
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