Mubarak instated sweeping reforms that liberalized Egyptian economic policy within a neoliberal framework, but those reforms came at the price of repression, oppression, and corruption leading to widespread income disparity and disenfranchisement especially among the male youth population. Inspired in part by a similar revolution in Tunisia, the protesters in Cairo successfully toppled the Mubarak regime and became part of what has been dubbed the Arab Spring. Critical to the 2011 revolution in Egypt were the participation of women in the political sphere and also the use of social media to facilitate, hasten, communicate, and organize the movement. One protestor famously said, "We use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world," (Chebib & Sohail, 2011, p. 139).
Without a doubt, "social media played an instrumental role in the success of the anti-government protests that led to the resignation of the country's dictatorial leader," (Eltantawy & Wiest, 2011, p. 18). However, the role of social media may be overall less important than the demographic features of the revolution and the stagnancy of post-revolutionary Egypt. Social media did not trigger the movement but it was a critical "facilitator and an accelerating agent" of revolution (Chebib & Sohail, 2011, p. 155). The Internet certainly provided an alternative space for political momentum gathering and collective activity. "For any mass movement to take place, a space for communication...
A few decades ago, this used to happen in bookshops and underground newspapers' offices," (Chebib & Sohail, 2011, p. 143). Now in the 21st century, social media form and frame political space. The 2011 revolution would have happened with or without the Internet, but doubtlessly social media helped the protests be as organized and responsive as possible, and also helped the protestors communicate their messages to the world instantaneously, simultaneously gathering feedback and allowing the movement to spread throughout the Middle East as it had already done from Tunisia into Egypt.
The role of women in the revolution was even more critical than social media. "Women have played a central role in bringing about the success of the revolt that toppled Egypt's 30-year-old Mubarak regime and dismantled its ruling apparatus," (Hafez, 2012, p. 38). In fact, "women made up 20 to 50% of the protesters in Tahrir Square," (Hafez, 2012, p. 37). However, the role of women in the Egyptian revolution was and remains dichotomous and paradoxical. On the one hand, women emerged into the public sphere -- typically a patriarchal space reserved for the men who possess political power. The virtual public sphere of the Internet and social media also paralleled the public sphere symbolized by Tahrir. Social media did therefore help to democratize the revolution and enabled the emergence of women in Tahrir Square. There is an interface between the participation of women in the Egyptian…
As recent events in the Middle East have clearly demonstrated, Facebook is more on the side of the politically disadvantaged and the poor as they have increasingly embraced Facebook and other social media while the governments in the region tried to ban them. Many governments such as that of China do not allow Facebook primarily because they want to avert scenarios they have seen in the Middle East. Facebook revolutions It
Women in the Arab Spring Role of Women in the Arab Spring History of Women in the Arab World Tunisian Example and Women's Role in the Revolt Egyptian Example and Women's Role in the Revolt Yemeni Example and Women's Role in the Revolt Libyan Example and Women's Role in the Revolt Common-ground of the Eminent Female Workers The Arab Spring was a rude awakening for the world. It brought to light how simmering discontent among the masses
Media Control in Egypt The media in Egypt is much more controlled than in many other countries, including the United States. That control began with President Gamal Abdel Nasser, moved through Anwar Sadat, and then on to Hosni Mubarak. During that time, the television and newspapers were strictly controlled, and only what the president wanted people to see was placed in them. There is significant evidence that the control of the
Egyptians of all classes and ages took part in the protests, united in demands and ambitions such as improved wages, improved conditions of working, and political freedom. However, it was the surprising figures of young individuals who took part in the demonstrations that provided drive to the revolt. The young individuals were also key to maintaining the uprising given that numerous meet in Tahrir (Liberation) Square in Cairo as well
Yacoubian Building Often a writer goes about the process of adapting a story from one type of media to another certain components of the original story have to be altered. This is particularly true when adapting a book into a screenplay and then into a film, all the more so when that novel has gained a great deal of financial and critical success. The difficulty of this process is that
However, certain elements of traditional Christian theology are centered on Mary, and the degree of emphasis that those elements receive can be very telling about Mary's actual role in the religion. For example, the connection between female chastity and religious observance seems to have been established by God's choice of a Virgin to carry his son. God did not have to choose a virgin to bear his child, but