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An Analysis of Tunisian, Egyptian, and Moroccan Female Cyberactivism During the Arab Spring Brittany Landorf Macalester College, [email protected]

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An Analysis of Tunisian, Egyptian, and Moroccan Female Cyberactivism During the Arab Spring Brittany Landorf Macalester College, Bmlandorf@Gmail.Com Macalester College DigitalCommons@Macalester College International Studies Honors Projects International Studies Department Spring 5-2014 Female Reverberations Online: An Analysis of Tunisian, Egyptian, and Moroccan Female Cyberactivism During the Arab Spring Brittany Landorf Macalester College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/intlstudies_honors Part of the International and Area Studies Commons, and the Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons Recommended Citation Landorf, Brittany, "Female Reverberations Online: An Analysis of Tunisian, Egyptian, and Moroccan Female Cyberactivism During the Arab Spring" (2014). International Studies Honors Projects. Paper 20. http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/intlstudies_honors/20 This Honors Project is brought to you for free and open access by the International Studies Department at DigitalCommons@Macalester College. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Studies Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Macalester College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Female Reverberations Online: An Analysis of Tunisian, Egyptian, and Moroccan Female Cyberactivism During the Arab Spring Revolutions Brittany Landorf Honors Thesis Presented to the International Studies Department Macalester College Faculty Advisor: Professor David C. Moore April 2014 Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………………4 Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………………………5 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 The so-called Arab Spring…………………………………………………………………..11 1.2 The Revolution Will Be Twittered……………………………………………………….14 1.3 Why Gender? “Nomadic” Subjectivity and Female Reverberations………..19 Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1 Deconstructing the ‘Arab Spring’……………………………………………………….26 2.2 Theorizing Digital Media and Cyberactivism……………………………………….30 2.3 Feminist Critical Theory and Performative Actions ……………………………… ..37 2.4 Gendering Digital Activism………………………………………………………..........43 Chapter 3 Methodology 3.1 Categories of Analysis……………………………………………………………………….51 3.2 A note on translation………………………………………………………………………..52 Chapter 4 The Tunisian Dignity Revolution 4.1 “Hacktivism”: Digital Activism in Tunisia…………………………………………..58 4.2 Gender Relations Online and Offline………………………………………………….67 4.3 Tunisian Female Cyberactivists……………………………………………….…………71 4.4. Conclusion: Disseminating the Revolution…………………………………….…..85 Chapter 5 Embodied Resistance: Continuing the Revolution in Egypt 5.1 Gender Relations: Unpacking the Egyptian Gender Binary………….……….91 5.2 Gendering Online Activism in Egypt: We Are All Laila………………….……..96 5.3 Embodying Gendered Resistance Online……………………………………….….102 5.4 Conclusion: Revolutionary Echoes……………………….…………………………..120 Chapter 6 Morocco 20th of February Movement and Online Feminist Movements 6.1 Protest Culture and a History of Reform……………………………………………129 2 6.2 Social Media and Digital Technologies in Morocco…………………….………133 6.3 Gender Relations: Unpacking the Gender Binary and Sexual Harassment in Morocco……………………………………………………………………………………..138 6.4 The February 20 th Movement and Woman Choufouch……………………….144 6.5 Conclusion: Virtual Body Politic…………………………………….…………….…..154 Chapter Seven Conclusion Revolutions and Reverberations ………………………………………..………………………. 157 Appendices: a) Female Cyberactivist Demographics……………….………………………………..163 b) Table and theme categorizations…………………….………………………………..166 Works Cited: a) Primary Sources…………………………………………………………………………….…167 b) Secondary Sources………………………………………………………….………………..169 3 Acknowledgements First, I am grateful for my experience working with and interviewing Moroccan feminist activists while studying abroad in Spring 2013. Without their bravery and openness, I would not have conducted research on SlutWalk Morocco, Woman Choufouch, and the role of Moroccan female activists during the 2011 protests. In addition, I would like to thank the Tunisian and Egyptian female activists who communicated with me over email and Skype about their experiences. Their guidance and resources enriched this thesis. Though each of my professors has enhanced my ability to write this thesis, I would like to specifically thank Zeynep Gursel, Wessam El Meligi, and Erik Davis for providing resources, guiding my theoretical understanding of these concepts, and facilitating classes that generated rich cultural engagement. I also cannot begin to express my gratitude for the help and guidance my advisor Professor David C. Moore has provided. From my semester in his Postcolonial Theory class to his work as my advisor for this thesis, he has continued to challenge me to push my understanding of this topic and to achieve my greatest potential. During the long winter months of below zero weather and seemingly endless snow, my housemates Anna Schmitz, Katy Howell, Sophia Nikitas, and Carolyn Prescott showered me with coffee, chocolate, support, and the occasional beer. For reading countless drafts and dealing with many library meltdowns, I would like to thank my boyfriend Travis Sheridan, Drake, and Kanye. I am particularly grateful to Beyonce, the entire Macalester College Women’s Cross Country team, my supportive but confused parents, and the wonderful and inspiring Lucy Andrews. 4 Abstract Digital technologies and social media networks have the potential to open new platforms for women in the public domain. During the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions, female cyberactivists used digital technologies to participate in and at times led protests. This thesis examines how Tunisian, Egyptian, and Moroccan female cyberactivists deployed social media networks to write a new body politic online. It argues throughout that female activists turned to online activism to disrupt gender relations in their countries and demand social, religious, economic, and political gender parity. 5 Chapter 1: Introduction Ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam 1 Ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam The People Want to Bring Down the Regime The People Want to Bring Down the Regime On January 18, 2011, Egyptian female activist Asmaa Mahfouz posted a video blog (vlog) on Facebook urging Egyptian citizens to protest in Tahrir Square for Egyptian dignity. A founding member of the Egyptian April 6 th protest movement, Mahfouz was well-versed in social networking and media sites. She blogged, tweeted, and posted on Facebook daily. In the video, a veiled Mahfouz directed her message at Egyptian citizens—specifically male citizens. She attacked Egyptian masculinity and challenged the men, stating, “If you think yourself a man, come with me on January 25 th . Whoever said women shouldn’t go to protests because they’ll be beaten, let him have some honor and manhood and come with me on January 25 th .” Posted one month after protests erupted in Tunisia, Mahfouz’s video has been credited with inspiring Egyptian citizens to mobilize and protest in Tahrir Square on Friday, January 25 th , for what has come to be known as the ‘Day of Rage.’ She connected her activism with the Tunisian protests and the self-immolation of Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi on December 17, 2011: Four Egyptians have set themselves on fire, to protest the humiliation and hunger and poverty and degradation they had to live with for 30 years. Four Egyptians have set themselves on fire, 1 Due to technological constraints, I was unable to post Arabic text in this thesis. Microsoft Word for Mac does not support right to left languages and distorts the words. Thus, I tried to include transliterated Arabic words when possible. 6 thinking maybe we can have a revolution like Tunisia, maybe we can have freedom, justice, honor, and human dignity. In the days following her post, Egyptians, many of whom supported or participated in the April 6 movement, responded to her Facebook post with comments, reshares and likes 2. Mahfouz issued another vlog on Thursday, January 24, the night before the scheduled protest, reiterating her message to protest. Since January 25 th , numerous news sites have uploaded and translated Asmaa Mahfouz’s vlog, extending its reach through thousands of like, reposts, and shares. Her message articulated multiple identities, resisting both President Hosni Mubarak’s authoritarian regime and Egyptian and Islamic gender roles. She claimed the right to stand in the streets next to her fellow Egyptian citizens— male and female—transgressing the boundary between cyberspace and physical space. By using YouTube and Facebook to upload a vlog, she signified that her body was a symbol to rally around. This revolutionary embodiment mirrored the symbolic images of Khaled Said’s battered and bloodied body on the “We are all Khaled Said 3” Facebook page and the self-immolation of Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi memorialized in a viral YouTube clip. However, unlike the symbols of male martyrs expressed in the previous examples, Asmaa Mahfouz 2 On Facebook and other blogging platforms, a “like” button is a feature that allows users to show their support for specific comments, pictures, wall posts, statuses, or fan pages. Added to Facebook in 2009, it has since expanded to other websites and allows users to show their appreciation for content without writing a comment. 3 The We are all Khaled Said movement began when images of Khaled Mohamed Said’s death at the hands of Egyptian police disseminated online, inspiring Egyptian Google executive Wael Ghonim to anonymously create the page. He posted as an anonymous Egyptian using the universal ‘we’
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