The Egyptian Uprising: Causes, Implications and Communication

NEW MEDIA AND POLITICAL CHANGE IN EGYPT: CAUSES, IMPLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES Sahar Khamis (Ph.D.) Department of Communication, University of Maryland, College Park

THE CAUSES OF THE EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION: Thirty years of dictatorship and autocratic rule  Corruption  The emergency law  The faulty constitution  Economic distress: 40% of Egyptians living under the international poverty line  Growing calls for constitutional, economic, political and social reform  Forging the latest parliamentary elections  The successful popular revolution in Tunisia 

THE IMPLICATIONS FOR EGYPT: Charged the Egyptian people with a new sense of positivity, empowerment, determination, national pride, and solidarity.  A peaceful, youthful grassroots revolution that was “across the board” involving different political, religious, and social groups  A unique “leaderless revolution”  Unity between Muslims and Coptic Christians  The significant role of women  A new era of social and democratic reform: “Egypt will not go back to where it was before Jan. 25th” 

THE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ARAB WORLD: The domino effect or the ripple effect: Echoes of both the Tunisian and the Egyptian revolutions in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan and Syria  Arab rulers started to take some steps in the direction of political reform  Arab governments can not ignore the power of the Arab street or the power of public opinion in their own countries  A new era of political change, empowerment and awakening already started in the Arab world 

THE INTERNATIONAL IMPLICATIONS: Revisiting the U.S. foreign policy: Forging alliances with corrupt dictators, who suppress their people under the claim of preserving stability, is not an effective strategy  Under suppression and repression there is no true stability: There is only a “boiling pot with a lid ready to pop off any minute”  Not buying into the “Islamic scare” strategy, which legitimizes oppression as a means to curb Islamic influence: Playing on “Islamophobia”  Peace and security can be achieved through fair and equitable relations between neighbors, not through strong armies and superior weapons 

THE CHANGING ARAB MEDIA LANDSCAPE: Arab media before 1990: Monolithic, uniform, strong government control and ownership: No diversity, plurality or freedom  Arab media after 1990: The introduction of new media, such as satellite television channels and the Internet: New avenues for spreading information and fueling opposition  Paradox: These alternative new media channels and avenues didn’t lead to a transition to political mobilization or democratization until 2011  The “safety valve” explanation for the media role 

THE GOVERNMENT’S COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES: Combining the suppression of protestors on the streets with the suppression of the truth through national, state-controlled media  Cracking down on foreign journalists  Closing down the office of Al Jazeera in Cairo and detaining some of its staff members  Cutting off the cell phone lines for a few days  Blocking off the Internet for a whole week: Pushing down the “kill switch”  Using the mentality of the 50s and the 60s  Failed and incompetent political and communication strategies 

THE PEOPLE’S COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES: Deploying new social media: posting and chatting on Facebook, tweeting, blogging and texting  Facebook became the “people’s book”: The “Facebook Revolution”  Creating the missing link between mediated selfexpression and street mobilization, i.e., between the “virtual world” and the “real world”  Finding alternative, creative ways to access and spread information: The “Speak to tweet” service and using “hot bird” instead of “Nile Sat” to watch Al Jazeera 

THE MULTIPLE ROLES OF NEW MEDIA: Catalysts that paved the way for a democratic transition  Platforms for self-expression  Channels for communication and organization  Bridge-builders between the young activists and their followers, between the “virtual world” and the “real world”  Avenues for civic engagement and popular participation: From “safety valves” to “mobilization tools”  Arenas for a new form of citizen journalism 

A LAST WORD…EGYPT “AFTER MUBARAK”: There is no turning back: The road to democratization and reform has already started and will continue  The transition to democratization needs to be done “swiftly but safely”  New era of civic engagement and popular participation  Greater role for youth leadership  Greater role for women’s participation  Greater role for new media as “mobilization tools”  Enhancing Egypt’s leadership in the Arab world  Enhancing Egypt’s international image & reputation 