No longer are the people who have control over power representing Egypt. The people of Egypt are representing their country.
The world has been watching protests by Egyptian youths through a Facebook group that generated a revolution and made history. Students and professors at SMU commented as they observed social network and media become strong weapons in shaping the future of Egypt and the Middle East.
“Everyone at SMU seems to know so much about what’s going on in Egypt, even people who aren’t Middle Eastern; they are just genuinely interested and hope for the best for Egypt. I think that’s a really good thing,” Sarah Mamlouk, a Middle Eastern student at SMU, said.
Mamlouk, a junior at SMU studying religion and Arabic, is originally from Syria. She believes that social networks helped shed the light and let people around the world know what’s going on in Egypt. She articulated that people within the Middle East are restricted from freedom of speech and social networks gives them the opportunity to converse freely about issues that are extremely difficult to discuss in public. When asked if she had seen this coming from her previous visits to Egypt, she said, that governments within the Middle East are unstable and this was bound to happen.
Adrianna Martinez, a junior at SMU has been following through the Internet, Al Jazeera and CNN. She participated in the protest held at Dallas City Hall on Jan. 30 in support of the Egyptian protests against Mubarak.
“The desperation of the people against the unjust regime was such that they were willing to follow other examples that have used social media. You could see that everywhere in Bahrain, Cuba, Columbia, Iran, Tunisia- all these are makings of social network,” Martinez said.
According to Martinez, social networks democratize the ability to have a voice, giving everyone an equal say. On the Facebook group, profile and descriptive qualities didn’t matter, she said, the cause is what mattered. It became a fast way to tear down barriers and create a unified movement.
In journalism Professor Vanessa Higgins Joyce’s class, students have discussed the events in Egypt and were engaged in what was taking place.
One of her students participated in the protest in Dallas in solidarity with the Egyptians.
“In the journalism division they were very connected to what’s going on and very well informed that social media was influencing the Uprising there, and very interested in what’s going on,” Joyce said.
Joyce said, media has always been important but what is new is, the transnational media and the social network playing a big role in the transformations occurring in countries such as Egypt. Mobilization through the social network affected what transpired in Egypt, but it was the people in Egypt making a stand there, requesting change, said Joyce.
Professor of Middle Eastern studies at SMU, Sabri Ates has been discussing the events in Egypt with his students; aware of the affect the events have on the future of Egypt and the Middle East.
“The seeds of a democratic Middle East I think are strong now, and there is no point of going back from there,” Ates said.
He said that the people’s grievances in Egypt and the Middle East have a long history. The role of the Internet, in his view, allowed people to voice their objections in a freer less controlled environment.
Former President Hosni Mubarak, ruled Egypt for 30 years. Over the years he has abolished the middle class and created a system in which the people are either rich or poor. He used corruption and fear to prevent an opposition against him, state many of Egyptian activists on the Media and Social Networks. In the 1995 elections, Egyptian networks announced Mubarak won around 97 percent of the votes. However, many question fraud when it comes to these results. According to a Reuters.com article from 2009, around 2.34 million people are unemployed out of a workforce of 25 million. Also, according to United Nations, 20 percent to 30 percent of Egypt live under the poverty line.
During this revolution, around 300 anti-Mubarak Egyptians have died from government attacks and over 100 activists and journalists have been detained. On Feb.11 the now deposed Egyptian president stepped down handing the power to the Egyptian military until elections. This shift in power was a long time coming for the Egyptian people.
