#Egypt’s Social Media Rebellion

This week as young Americans engaged in important discussions about the future of our country following the State of the Union address, their counterparts around the world were calling for rights that we sometimes take for granted.

When young Egyptians logged on to their Facebook and Twitter accounts earlier this week, they weren’t browsing status updates and photos, but attempting to use these digital tools to organize countrywide protests calling for the end of oppressive leadership.

Demonstrations began on Tuesday, when Egyptians took to the streets to protest President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.  Egypt’s neighbors Tunisia, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon have also been shaken by protests this week.  The revolution was organized and is being led by young people in the country.  Protests continued on Wednesday and Thursday despite a ban on demonstrations and reports that the country has now eliminated access to Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry internet services.

Young Egyptians may not be able to speak right now, but some young Americans are taking action for them on the banned networks. Check out this video from Michael Marantz and Brittany Darwell, who wanted to tell the story of how this happened:

Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei is openly criticizing the United States for a weak response to the turmoil.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claims that Egypt is “stable” and trying to respond to the needs of the Egyptian people, but ElBaradei claims the country is anything but stable.  ElBaradei asserts that the reason the United States loses favor in the Middle East is because there is no adequate response or action against the political repression the country is facing.

Attempts to suppress the voices of young people in any country should be of concern to young people here in the United States.  The opportunities we have to participate in a fair and engaging democracy are not universal, and we should all shine a spotlight on what is happening in Egypt.

• 

Tags: Brittany Darwell, Egypt, Facebook, Hosni Mubarak, Michael Marantz, twitter, young Egyptians

Heather Smith Bio: Heather is President of Rock the Vote. @rtvHS Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com

This entry was posted on Friday, January 28th, 2011 at 12:54 pm and is filed under International, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.