Monthly Archive: February 2011

Egypt's Revolution 2.0: The Facebook Factor 4

Egypt's Revolution 2.0: The Facebook Factor

The call for a Day of Rage on January 25, 2011 that ignited the Egyptian revolution originated from a Facebook page. Many have since asked: Is this a “Facebook Revolution?” According to Linda Herrera it is high time to put this question to rest and insist that political and social movements belong to people and not to communication tools and technologies. Facebook, like cell phones, the internet, and twitter, do not have agency, a moral universe, and are not predisposed to any particular ideological or political orientation. They are what people make of them.

Uprising – Music, Images and The Tunisia and Egypt Revolution on Youtube 2

Uprising – Music, Images and The Tunisia and Egypt Revolution on Youtube

Music, images and nowadays video have always been an important part of protest movements. These practices of making and spreading music videos can enhance the solidarity with a movement, its identity and ideas, values and goals. It makes distant sympathizers (feel) part of the movement, in this case global movement’ because they are actually participating in spreading the word (and image) and the express their own political position in public. In combination with the visual representation the musical videos on Youtube have become important platform for what has been called ’semiotic resistance’and creativity; one that has profound cultural and political significance.

Verantwoordelijkheid en Schuldgevoel – Volksprotesten in het Midden-Oosten 1

Verantwoordelijkheid en Schuldgevoel – Volksprotesten in het Midden-Oosten

Volksprotest in Tunis, Egypte, Amman en Jemen. Hoe lang hebben zij gewacht totdat ze in opstand kwamen tegen de gehate regimes die er enkel zitten omdat “het Westen” denkt dat dat het eigen belang dient? Wiens belang? Niet het mijne. Aldus Evert van der Zweerde tijdens het Actualiteitencollege aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen. Hier zijn gehele column.

Closing the week 6 – Featuring the Egypt Revolution 2

Closing the week 6 – Featuring the Egypt Revolution

A weekly round up of writings on the Internet, some relevant for my research, some political, some funny but all of them interesting (Dutch/English). (As usual to a large extent based upon suggestions from Dutch, other European, American and Middle Eastern readers. Thank you all.) This week all more essential readings on the Egypt uprising.

Egypte en het gelijk van de islambashers 0

Egypte en het gelijk van de islambashers

Roel Meijer laat zijn licht schijnen over de discussie in Nederland over de protesten in Egypte. Waar de Egyptische facebook generatie juist een aardige combinatie had weten te vinden tussen individualisme en flashmobs, prudentie en duivelse moed, rationalisme en pathos, houden Nederlandse islambashers hun eigen vijandsbeeld in stand en lopen westerse belangen niet parallel met die van het Egyptische volk.

"Now, it's gonna be a long one" – some first conclusions from the Egyptian revolution 3

"Now, it's gonna be a long one" – some first conclusions from the Egyptian revolution

Anthropologist Samuli Schielke was present at the protest on Tahrir Square and maintained a diary. In this blogpost he offers some pre-liminary conclusions based upon his experiences, observations and talks. Schielke makes clear that the protests have a strikingly festive aspect. It is not just a protest against an oppressive regime and a demand for freedom. In itself, it is freedom. It is a real, actual, lived moment of the freedom and dignity that the pro-democracy movement demand. A revolution however also requires persistence.

Closing the week 5 – Featuring the Tunisia & Egypt Uprising 4

Closing the week 5 – Featuring the Tunisia & Egypt Uprising

A weekly round up of writings on the Internet, some relevant for my research, some political, some funny but all of them interesting (Dutch/English). (As usual to a large extent based upon suggestions from Dutch, other European, American and Middle Eastern readers. Thank you all.) This week all about the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.

Verandering komt eraan? – De ‘Arabische revolte’ in Jordanië 2

Verandering komt eraan? – De ‘Arabische revolte’ in Jordanië

Wat vele jaren lang voor onmogelijk werd gehouden lijkt nu toch bewaarheid te worden: al decennialang heersende regimes in de Arabische wereld, allen gedomineerd paternalistische en autoritaire leidersfiguren die met hun eeuwige zitvlees op de stoel van de macht blijven en die het vaak zelfs presteren om hun zoon klaar te stomen voor hun opvolging, schudden op hun grondvesten. Ook de bevolking van Jordanië is aangestoken door deze protestkoorts, die daar zoals ook elders in de Arabische wereld het geval is, wordt aangejaagd door toenemende armoede, werkloosheid en gebrek aan vrijheid en burgerrechten. In dit blog bespreekt Egbert Harmsen de achtergronden van de protesten en de vraag: Hoever reikt dat Jordaanse protest nu eigenlijk en wat zijn de specifieke implicaties ervan?