One of my closest friends at law school is a young woman from Egypt. It is rather fitting given that my mother has always been fascinated by ancient Egypt; her life's dream is to visit Cairo and tour the pyramids. My Egyptian friend and I spend many hours in the car traveling between Grand Forks and Minneapolis to see our loved ones and our conversations vary from school to relationships to religion and culture. I cherish and deeply value our conversations and our friendship so when I saw online that Egypt had erupted in protests about the government I ran to find her as soon as I could. For one, she still has family in Egypt and secondly, to find out what going on that the media won't tell us.
According to her, for the last 30 years her country has been run by a dictator disguised as an "elected president." Even if you think our system is broken and your vote doesn't really count, at least we have term limits. Now Mubarak is grooming his son to run for "election", which is part of what Egyptians are protesting about. Mubarak has apparently tortured thousands of Egyptians who do not agree with his government and is most likely guilty of many other human rights violations on the international legal front. Now he's committed what most Americans would feel is one of the ultimate human rights violations: his government has cut off the Internet and cell phone service in order to squelch the protestors' ability to speak out about the Egyptian government and organize more protests.
The idea of our government being able to pull the plug on our digital and online communications scares me and angers me. Yet my more rational, legal side is left to contemplate this question: Dictator or not, is President Mubarak and the Egyptian government justified in cutting off online and cellular communication in an attempt to stop the protests from becoming violent and stabilize the country?
Thank you, Sara. I am deeply touched by your kind words. I would like to start by saying that I am very proud of what my people have accomplished thus far this week. Despite desperate attempts by the government to pass these protests as "ordinary business" (which they are not) they have been able to grab the world's attention and shed light on an on-going political/social crisis. Although it may surprise the rest of the world that a government would take such measures (shutting down the internet or cell phone services) to prevent people from demanding basic human rights, it sadly does not surprise me or many Egyptian citizens. The Egyptian government, for the past 30 years, has declared a state of emergency, suspending the constitution, and granting itself the right to infringe on the rights of citizens for "security" purposes. The Mubarak regime has censored the media, including news networks, news papers, and academia, for the past 30 years. They have quelled every protest against the regime using whatever means necessary (including the use of torture, false imprisonment, and banishment). The regime is constantly monitoring blogs, facebook, and twitter and black listing individuals who speak against it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it was not enough to target its own citizens. The Egyptian government, during the past week has also been targeting news reporters from foreign nations reporting the protests to countries abroad. Several French reporters were jailed, and one English reporter was beaten to the point of hospitalization. The government also sent police agents to various news stations in Egypt to shut them down (like Al Jazeera). Furthermore it has set thugs onto the streets to loot people's houses in order to force people to return to their homes and stop protesting. Since these dirty tricks have been used for the past 30 years (mostly enforced by the man recently appointed vice president) people have learned to navigate around them. The Egyptian youth have organized neighborhood patrols to protect their homes and their neighbors while others are protesting. The message is loud and clear, they will not go home until Mubarak leaves. They are no longer satisfied with empty promises of change. The fact that he dissolved the previous corrupt government and is now setting up an even more corrupt one is not change. The Egyptian masses have spoken and declared they want the source of the corruption, i.e. Mubarak, gone. No amount of government censorship will prevent them from making their demands heard. So to answer your question Sara, No Mubarak should not be allowed to shut down internet and cell phone services, however in a country with extreme censorship it becomes irrelevant which media outlet is controlled. And with a country with as dire of a situation as Egypt, the masses will find ways to organize. We forget that the internet was not available during the French and American revolutions. Oppressed masses will find a way to express themselves and organize. It may take a little longer with paper leaflets than on twitter and Facebook, but the end result is eventually the same.
Great posts girls. I just wanted to point out a friend of mine is still in Cairo she is a freelance reporter. Her website is http://www.ishtaproductions.com and there is an article about her in the Grand Forks Herald at http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/192234/group/News. She gave up her scholarship to stay there and report on whats happening. Thought you might find it interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe fallacy of Mubarak's thought process, as well as other dictators’, is the thought that if they suppress knowledge and information that somehow calm will be restored to their country.
ReplyDeleteIn all reality, I feel that this is more than likely a ploy because dictators know once information is freely able to be disseminated that people will learn about the atrocities their government has performed and demand change.
If a leader wants to be serious about restoring peace to his/her country, that individual needs to be a proponent of free and open communication. When we are free to openly communicate and announce our grievances of our government it not only allows for a proper civil discourse, it also eliminates the feeling that violence or revolution is the only solution. It is the very ability to openly complain about our government that keeps our government in place and progresses our society to a better tomorrow.
So, should Mubarak shut down the internet and other communications? He feels he should because it is a last ditch effort to stay in power. The writing is on the wall for Mubarak, however, and the time has come to start making decisions for the betterment of his country instead of the betterment of his own power. What should he do? Open up all lines of communication, allow for open public discourse, and set the time table for a peaceful transition to a true democratic form of government. Not only is the best thing for all Egyptians, but perhaps by doing this he can salvage some small piece of a legacy as well.