CONNECTIVITY

You Can’t Stop the Signal

MAHMOUD SALEM

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AIRO, Egypt—As a child of the device”—that could be used to complete 1980s, I grew up watching science any task, from basic communication to Cfiction television shows and mov- dissemination of news to national security. ies—all set in the “not-so-distant future.” Though I later learned that this device was Holographic communication, teleporta- nothing more than a plot twist used to tion, and flying cars were central tenets of advance these stories, I gained something that universe. And while I marveled at the quite special from this twist—a belief in prospect of these technologies, I was most the promise of the future. fascinated by the “magical technological Not surprisingly, when the 21st centu- ry arrived, I was among those severely dis- appointed. Terrorism and conflict, a weak economy, and a compromised environment littered the landscape. Worse yet, there were no flying cars. We still couldn’t tele- port—the dream of anyone who suffered through Cairo traffic or had to apply for a visa to visit a foreign country. But amid these disappointments was a silver lining. The “magical technological device” had ar- rived, and I owned one. You might know it more colloquially as the smartphone. My smartphone allows me to connect in a number of ways that increase exponential- ly by the day, provides me with real-time information on any question I might ask, and now can be used to pay for my purchas- es, arrange for my pick up, play any media I wish, and in the case of an emergency, can come to my aid. It even includes artificial intelligence that reminds me of my flight, alerts me to best routes, and lets me know when exciting events are planned, without instruction or input from my side. Like many of my generation, I had become so jaded with technology and its ease of use, that I completely missed the magic I now own and mistreat. My phone fulfills every

Mahmoud Salem, a political analyst and former columnist for the Daily News Egypt, writes for Al-Monitor. He can be found on @sandmonkey, whence he helped organize the Tahrir Square revolution.

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function and promise held by the “magical it is certain that the unstoppable force of a technological device,” except perhaps serv- connected and informed youth met the im- ing as a weapon that can vanquish villains. moveable force of an archaic set of institu- Then the January 25 revolution hap- tions fighting to preserve the status quo. pened. We brought down Egypt’s dicta- And despite the many hurdles since, the tor , and I stood corrected battle continues, in large part due to the once again because my phone also did marriage of historical inevitability and new have that power. It simply wasn’t adver- communication technologies. tised on the label. HOW IT ALL BEGAN REVOLUTIONARY CONNECTIVITY As an early adopter of social media (back Growing up under Mubarak’s rule meant when it was called the “blogosphere”), living in the 1980s indefinitely. Our mov- I witnessed its influence spread rapidly. ie stars rarely changed, our singers offered Blogs become a means for mass protest. generic pop music fixated on love, aban- fuelled further organization, donment, or both, and our government and with the advent of Twitter in 2007, revolved around the same faces, policies, protesters could communicate and docu- and modes of operation—with hardly an ment their often-tumultuous journeys in improvement in quality or methodology. 140-characters or less. In short, by January Even Mubarak’s achievements had been 2011 there was a well-established network those achieved by other countries in the of tools for revolutionaries to employ in 1980s: the creation of new cities and sub- their struggle to modernize Egypt. urbs, growth in the private and industrial The January 25 uprising began with sectors of the economy, and the introduc- “We are all Khaled Said,” a Facebook group tion of a globalization-fueled consumer- named for the victim of deadly police bru- ist culture from McDonald’s to Victoria’s tality in Alexandria. The group’s adminis- Secret. And all this grafted onto Egyptian trators, including Wael Ghonim, met at the society. But until the advent of the Inter- Mohamed El-Baradei-for-President cam- net, we weren’t fully aware that we were paign in 2010 to create a public Facebook lagging behind. group for political activist recruitment. The With that awareness, the revolution activists they selected were then added to was born. The Internet generation recog- secret Facebook groups so they could meet nized that Egypt was stuck in a particular and organize localized protests. brand of 1980s cultural, political, and eco- The group experimented with various nomic stagnation. While other countries forms of localized protests, all the while had advanced exponentially in the 21st cen- adhering to the principles of civil disobe- tury, Egypt remained a relic of the past. In dience and constant communication. After an effort to advance a stalled state, these in- a series of test-run protests and the success dividuals organized one revolutionary leap. of the Tunisian revolution, the activists The problem, however, is that they tried to sprang to action. leap without the full support of the country The older techno-activists, to which behind them. Many consider this prema- I belonged, had an advantage that the turity a source of the bloody struggle that Facebook group did not have—name rec- soon followed. Regardless of the outcome, ognition and a Twitter following (I have

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142,000 today, though I am still not rec- Mubarak, safety became a major issue, as ognized as “verified”). As January 25 ap- rumors of crime spread fast and furiously. proached, we divided into multiple camps, In order to verify crime stories, we asked each covering a different protest point and residents to tweet photo confirmations. providing information to protect protes- Meanwhile, Bey2ollak, a Twitter-based tors from threatening situations. Those app that crowd-sources information on who followed us on Twitter either joined the state of Cairo’s traffic, became a tool to the revolution or stayed at home and re- check for the safest route home. layed the information through Blackberry Twitter also helped with logistics and Messenger and WhatsApp. Suddenly, ev- supplies for our activities. When we had eryone became hyper-aware of the protests clashes or sit-ins, a Twitter account called playing out in real-time. Many Egyptians Tahrir Supplies—created by two girls for- soon joined Twitter, thousands within the bidden by their parents from attending first 24 hours of the protest. Though some the protests—would were fearful of the repercussions of partici- tweet lists of medi- pating in social media, all were fascinated cal and food supplies a revolution by its power to effect political change. that protesters and organized by When the Mubarak regime shut down field hospitals need- the Internet and all forms of communication ed. During the clash- social media is on January 28, 2011, it did not silence the es that followed the by definition revolution. Instead, it inspired thousands of sniper killing of Al- a revolution supporters to take to the streets. That day Taawun reporter Mo- soon became known as the “,” hamed Mahmoud in made up of when overwhelming numbers of protestors February 2011, it is disparate poured into Tahrir Square to demand a dif- estimated that Tahrir ferent—if not better—tomorrow. Supplies moved some individuals Despite the government’s attempts to $700,000 worth of who share silence the Internet, Twitter and Facebook medical supplies in similar but remained the main conduit of information one day. The possibil- effectively combatting state propaganda. ities of a connectivity general goals. When Internet was restored, Twitter became tool combined with a an even more critical tool for mobilization. passionate following seemed limitless. Whatever needs the protestors had—food, Still, while it had its benefits, social me- supplies, or otherwise—we would Tweet out dia began to exhibit its shortcomings quite to the myriad of followers tracking our ev- early. Its overwhelming flaw was that it ery move. After 18 days of somewhat violent was powered by people. While an excellent protest, Egyptian techno-activists, such as medium for crowd-sourcing information myself, had become the symbols of a revo- and urging followers into collective action, lution we did not lead or control. We were, it’s not a broadcasting network. Rather, it’s quite simply, its switchboard. a two-way conversation between a single person on one side, and thousands on the GOOD, BAD, AND VERY UGLY other. That itself has proved most chal- In the days that followed, we further ex- lenging—especially when only a few of us plored the limits of social media. Post- were on the receiving end.

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ACTION STEPS • Internet monitoring by the state makes its citizens view it as their enemy. Governments must stop spying on their own citizens or risk the consequences. • Access to the Internet must be viewed as the universal human right that it is—the best tool to advance less developed countries—and should be treated as such. • Net neutrality must be protected and maintained by those in power; the people’s access to knowledge should not be at the mercy of their ISPs. • Discussions over how democracies should use the Internet must be replaced by discussions over how the Internet can be used to transform the democratic process itself—long overdue for an update. -Mahmoud Salem

At any given point I could have any- lies for years. And given their standing, where from 300 to 600 contacts in an hour, their divisions set the tone for all those each seeking a response or wanting to em- who followed. With time, retaining revo- bark on a conversation. Each felt slighted lutionary legitimacy meant maintaining if I failed to answer promptly or missed extreme and emotional positions that of- a single mention. Those we couldn’t an- fered little in the way of compromise. swer took it personally and began railing Those who in principle fought for against “those egotistical twiteratti” who freedom of expression and diversity in didn’t have time to answer the common opinion then silenced opposing points of people anymore. Resentment slowly bred views. Many activists realized that if they contempt, which eventually turned into wanted to climb the social hierarchy, they antagonism. Our private timeline took needed to claim to be the only individu- on the outlines of an ominous landscape als not to have sold out, and build their where hundreds, if not thousands, silently legitimacy by targeting everyone else’s waited for a mistake to burn those they integrity. In return, they would gain the once idolized. And then it got worse. adoration of thousands of new Twitter fol- lowers. This means of mediated ascension REVOLUTION OF INDIVIDUALS was nothing short of disastrous. A revolution organized by social media is A unified political decision became by definition a revolution made up of dis- impossible. Joining political parties meant parate individuals who share similar but you betrayed the revolution for the sake of general goals. When it came to details, playing politics. Running for office meant however, the devil lay there smiling. Ideo- you were a power-hungry sell-out. Voting logical disagreements reared their ugly meant you were participating in a charade heads. Political divisions cracked the col- and betraying the blood of those who had lective. Shrillness and extremism quickly died protesting. Meanwhile, the dead were replaced rational discourse among even the immortalized and turned into social media most renowned activists, who had been al- avatars before they were even buried. In

38 WORLD POLICY JOURNAL Downloaded from wpj.sagepub.com at COLUMBIA UNIV on December 19, 2014 EGYPT turn, many were used to score policy points suffering from a leadership crisis at the or advance political arguments. Protesting moment. There are no leaders. I asked became an end to itself, without leading her if she considered the president of her to the creation of anything resembling a country to be her leader, and she recoiled concrete or organized structure. in disgust and vehemently denied it. I The inevitable conclusion was simple, asked her who she thought was her leader, yet tragic. The revolutionary movement and she could not articulate an answer. I contracted into a strange cultish religion, asked her if she knew any Americans who with its own prophets, saints, martyrs, re- viewed Obama as their leader, or any Brits ligious practices, enemies of the faith, and who viewed Cameron as theirs? Not one. apostates worthy of death. This not only And the reason for this crisis in leader- alienated thousands of people who be- ship is simple: social media has effectively lieved in the revolution, it also made it re- killed the politician. actionary, open to manipulation, and easy Imagine the perfect political lead- to vilify and destroy. It was group-think er—with the ideal professional and per- on steroids—an abomination of a monster sonal history, look, with thousands of arms and no brain. gravitas, and skills. Now imagine that who could blame A WORLD WITHOUT LEADERS same leader in to- young people, The Egyptian revolution and its aftermath day’s world of social demonstrated what happens to societies media—every move especially when they gain broad access to technol- under the watchful those of the ogy and connectivity. These capabilities eye of millions, every can create a space for new political voices statement instantly developing to be heard, while simultaneously killing scrutinized. Imagine world, for their the democratic political process. Though that leader sneez- disenchantment? Egyptian youth participation peaked in ing during a video the weeks following the revolution, it interview, and then for post- has been in steady decline despite the sit back and watch millennials, the rising number of elections over the past how the Internet four years. While this may be attributed responds. A video world offers to special conditions in Egypt, it is more viewed millions of little in the way likely part of a broader, global trend. times of the sneeze of hope. A foreign journalist once asked me if will be on YouTube I thought that the weakness inherent in and Vine within January 25 was that the movement had minutes, a hashtag titled #thesneeze will no leader. I countered that it was impos- immediately trend, memes of the sneezing sible to have a leader because such a leader face will flood Facebook, and the custom- would have had to be supported by the ary hip-hop remix/mashup featuring the Islamists, the liberals, the centrists, the sneeze will appear the next day. Sounds leftists, and the anarchists. If that per- far-fetched? Remember Howard Dean’s son existed, he would have been the next scream? That happened before Twitter and president of Egypt. That said, I ventured Facebook. Imagine the response in 2014. that the real problem is that the world is Social media has grown most adept at de-

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stroying figures because the Internet’s vari- of hope. And our priorities do not miti- ous online groups seem to have one trait in gate this grave reality. These days we em- common—a spirit for destruction. phasize long hours for less pay, and great- This appetite and capacity for destruc- er efficiency and growth despite rapidly tion is a curious beast because it’s very hard dwindling resources. In addition, thanks to define, though immediately recogniz- to many of our technological develop- able. Let’s visualize cyber-libertarianism ments, there are fewer jobs on the market, mixed with a dash of social responsibility, and our privacy has been entirely compro- then add a touch of anti-corporatist sen- mised thanks to Apple, Google, and the timent, social liberal secular values, anti- NSA. All in all, the world seems to be do- war beliefs, hatred of authority, and you ing little more than re-arranging the deck have a tasty stew. Now imagine millions chairs on the Titanic, while configuring a of young people who embrace this spirit growing economic class with no access to with a collective consciousness that drives lifeboats. All this should help explain the and fuels it. growing anger, especially among young While, in theory, participation in the people, in Egypt and far beyond. political process is one of the civic du- Connectivity is frightening—offering ties of citizens of democracies, practice anyone the power to create discord and has shown that it has a very low return on conflict amid the population of an Arc- investment for most citizens. Many have tic village or from an apartment in Cairo. found governmental and legal structures And while that may make headlines, it so entrenched over time as to have made really shouldn’t be what defines connec- real change all but impossible and im- tivity, for its benefits greatly outweigh its provements little more than incremental. drawbacks. Connectivity enables growth Indeed, even in long-established western and vitality. Its utility gives power to democracies, participation in public life, causes by allowing people to forge tempo- in local democracy, and in civic affairs rary ties that create density in action and has been in a serious decline over the past move toward tangible change online and decade. But this trend is particularly dis- offline. Like a laser, at the beginning, it turbing among the youth population, who was seen primarily as a vehicle for destruc- believe that political participation does tion, and now its beneficial applications nothing more than sustain old and bloated are innumerable, ranging from communi- institutions. To make matters worse, there cation to construction to medicine. Con- are few politicians left to lead—all thanks nectivity gives societies that have very lit- to the Internet that young people have tle—whose rulers keep its members in the grown to embrace and engage. dark—inclusive access to knowledge and But who could blame young people, the tools to help determine and improve especially those of the developing world, their future even if they misuse it. If we for their disenchantment? For post-mil- can only embrace its opportunities, rather lennials, the world offers little in the way than fear the challenges it poses, imagine what it will give them tomorrow. l

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