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Geographers Mobilize: a Network-Diffusion Analysis of the Campaign to Free Ghazi-Walid Falah1

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Geographers Mobilize: a Network-Diffusion Analysis of the Campaign to Free Ghazi-Walid Falah1 Geographers Mobilize: A Network-Diffusion Analysis of the Campaign to Free Ghazi-Walid Falah1 Mark de Socio Department of Geography and Geosciences, Salisbury University, 1101 Camden Avenue, Salisbury, MD 21804 U.S.A. Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/11/4/195/1447268/arwg_11_4_b81j3k78641t2223.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 In summer 2006, Professor Ghazi-Walid Falah, a Mots-clés : réseaux sociaux, échelles, géogra- political geographer and editor-in-chief of the phie politique, Internet journal Arab World Geographer, was arrested by Israeli police after taking photographs of rural landscapes in Northern Galilee. Falah was Introduction subsequently held for 23 days, incommunicado, Kirby (1992, 236) defines geography as and without charge. An international campaign what “geographers choose to do.” Ghazi- to “Free Ghazi” was launched by his family, Walid Falah (2007, 588) demonstrates that friends, and colleagues, largely over academic what geographers choose to do can, at times, listservs and other media. Utilizing social be dangerous. Falah, for example, chose to network analysis and contextualizing the campaign within structures of telecommunica- research and write on the political geogra- tions technologies, the purpose of this paper is to phy of Palestine and Israel, beginning with assess the various factors that contributed to the his dissertation 25 years ago (Falah 1983). campaign’s coalescence, its rapid development, According to Falah, this career program of and its global reach. research runs counter to the hegemonic discourse—historical, political, or other- Key words: social networks, scale, political wise—concerning the geographies of geography, Internet Palestine and Israel (see, e.g., Falah 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2003, 2004). Durant l’été 2006, le professeur Ghazi-Walid Consequently, Falah found himself under Falah, géographe travaillant dans le domaine de suspicion by the Israeli government as both a la géographie politique et rédacteur en chef du Géographe du Monde arabe, fut arrêté par la Palestinian and as a “rogue” scholar of polit- police israélienne après avoir pris des photos de ical geography writing of the contested terri- paysages ruraux en Galilée septentrionale. tories of Palestine/Israel within the broad Falah fut ensuite gardé au secret pendant 23 framework of critical geopolitics (Morrissey jours sans inculpation. Une campagne interna- 2006). In July 2006, several days prior to the tionale pour « Libérer Ghazi » fut lancée par sa outbreak of war between Israel and famille, ses amis et ses collègues, se servant de Hezbollah in Lebanon, Professor Falah was listes de diffusion universitaires et d’autres arrested in Northern Galilee, accused of médias. Grâce à l’analyse des réseaux sociaux spying for various entities,2 and held incom- et en contextualisant cette campagne dans le municado for 23 days without charge cadre des structures des technologies de télé- (Gravois 2007a). In a recent interview with communication, l’article examine les divers facteurs qui ont contribué à la mise en forme de Falah in the Chronicle of Higher Education, l’action, à son développement rapide et à sa reporter John Gravois writes, projection mondiale. Editorial Note: This article was originally published in Antipode Vol. 42 No. 2 (2010), pp. 310-335. It is reproduced here, with minor modifications, by permission from the copyright holder. The Arab World Geographer/Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 11, No 4 (2008) 195–217 © 2008 by AWG Publishing, Toronto, Canada 196 Mark de Socio Looking back, Mr. Falah believes that his schol- within days. The purpose of this paper is to arly record—far from protecting him—only assess the various factors that contributed to fueled the suspicions that surrounded him [when the campaign’s coalescence, its rapid devel- he was arrested]. Once the interrogation began, opment, and its global reach. he says, his entire career was turned against him, The paper proceeds by situating the Free his scholarship on the contested landscape of Ghazi campaign within three separate Israel; his network of colleagues in the Arab world; and his longstanding rivalries with power- bodies of literature (Sections 2, 3, and 4) that ful figures in Israeli academe. (Gravois 2007a, are not generally related. The nature of 1–2) Falah’s detention and that of the campaign for his release bring together these variant Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/11/4/195/1447268/arwg_11_4_b81j3k78641t2223.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 In a guest editorial in the journal Society topics that comprise widely different sets of and Space, Falah adds, “I was arrested … issues. Section 2 reviews literature concern- because I [am] Ghazi-Walid Falah … a ing telecommunications technologies with scholar who has consistently refused to the aim of exploring two broad themes. adhere to writing the geography of Specifically, this includes literature Israel/Palestine as defined by the Israeli concerning the software ListServ and the geography guild. I was arrested for my nature of the physical construction of the scholarship—seized in the very topography Internet. Both shape the nature of how infor- of what I study” (Falah 2007, 589). mation disseminates among interconnected The response among geographers and networks of geographers, scholars of other scholars to Falah’s arrest was quick and vast. academic disciplines, and community Within hours of Falah’s arrest, an activists. Additionally, the uneven develop- international campaign to “Free Ghazi” ment of cyberspace (the “digital divide”) was launched by his family, friends, and places constraints on the flow of informa- colleagues. This campaign consisted of an e- tion, which in turn limits the “spaces of mail and letter-writing effort to pressure the engagement” (Cox 1998) to particular geog- government of Israel to either officially raphies. The second theme of the technology charge Falah or release him. In addition to e- literature concerns the Internet as a site for mail and letter-writing, a media campaign political activism and counter-hegemonic ensued. Geographers and other scholars and discourse. activists wrote letters to the editors of Section 3 considers literature regarding numerous newspapers around the world, networks and how individuals mobilize conducted interviews on radio, and others on behalf of a social cause or concern. contributed articles to newspapers and The paper draws on social network analysis activist Web sites. The campaign culminated to demonstrate how the networks employed with the establishment of an online petition. in the Free Ghazi campaign were mobilized Scholars, activists, and concerned citizens by key actors that enjoy a high degree of were encouraged through a range of profes- centrality in the particular networks with sional e-mail listservs and Web sites to write which they are embedded, such as academic to officials of numerous governments and to disciplines and sub-disciplines. Centrality in sign the online petition. this case does not equate with degree of What is remarkable about the Free connectivity, at least in the traditional sense, Ghazi campaign was the speed of its devel- as the literature on the nature of ListServ and opment and the reach of its efforts. Despite a the Internet will demonstrate. Rather, gag order and media blackout imposed by centrality in this case is a consequence of the state, news of Falah’s arrest whipped scholarship activity over a period of several around the globe in a matter of hours, and the years, including presenting research at campaign for his release was launched academic conferences and publishing The Arab World Geographer/Le Géographe du monde arabe 11, no 4 (2008) A Network-Diffusion Analysis of the Campaign to Free Ghazi-Walid Falah 197 articles in highly regarded peer-reviewed activity—for doing geography—makes the journals. Hanson (2000, 757), for example, experience even more immediate. writes, Section 5 presents the various forms of data collected to document the breadth and Networking … takes place every time one depth of the Free Ghazi campaign, the speed speaks at a professional meeting, submits a of its diffusion, and the methodology paper to a journal, reviews … a manuscript for a employed in the analysis of the Free Ghazi journal, publishes a book or an article, teaches a campaign, namely a qualitative network- course, serves on a committee, or posts a diffusion analysis. Section 6 chronicles the message on a listserv. Free Ghazi campaign from a social network Perhaps the most overlooked—and often the Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/11/4/195/1447268/arwg_11_4_b81j3k78641t2223.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 most powerful—venue for networking is perspective, Section 7 summarizes the publishing, a way to connect not only with analysis, and Section 8 provides concluding distant colleagues from around the globe but remarks. also with people working on different but related problems. Network Topology, the Internet, and ListServ From this standpoint, clearly the more one publishes articles in peer-reviewed jour- In the late 1950s and early 1960s, computer nals, publishes a book, presents at academic scientists and engineers at the Advanced conferences, and otherwise engages with the Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the discipline in a myriad of ways that is consis- U.S. Department of Defense were tasked tent with research and scholarship, the larger with improving the U.S. military’s commu- one’s
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