Note: this article is a draft, submitted as part of a university assessment on 25/10/23
The 2011 Egyptian Revolution has been widely termed the ‘Facebook Revolution’; a nod to the wide-scale use of communication technologies — specifically social media — to mobilise and organise protestors.
In fact, it is to a Facebook page that the onset of the revolution can be traced; a page commemorating an Egyptian man: Khaled Said, a victim of police brutality. The page gained 500,000 members, and later, it was used to promote a protest taking place on January 25th, National Police Day. 100,000 online-sign ups were logged on that page for the what would become the first day of the Egyptian Revolution, bringing an end to the three decade long rule of President Hosni Mubarak.
This falls under a long tradition of linking political change to technological innovations. In fact, sociologist William Ogburn wrote in 1957:
That technological change is considered a cause of social change is indicated by various expressions often heard. Gunpowder destroyed feudalism. Railroads created cities. The steam engine increased divorce. The automobile is moving the department store and the supermarket to the suburbs. The airplane reranked the great military powers… (Ogburn 1957, 12):
When the Egyptian regime belatedly realised how dangerous social networks could be to its survival, the first thing it did was block access to Twitter. Two days later -on January 28th- it blocked all Internet access in the country for a period of five days, as well as mobile telephone communications for one day.
The creation of the Internet blackout
An internet blackout is defined as the “intentional disruption of internet or electronic communications, rendering them inaccessible or effectively unusable … often to exert control over the flow of information.”
In Egypt, the severing of more than 20 million people’s connection to the internet was nothing short of unprecedented. While countries such as China and Iran have notoriously placed limitations on internet usage, particularly during periods of unrest, this was the first time that all online communication had been halted: 88% of all Egyptian internet access was successfully shut down.
Jim Cowie, the chief technology officer of Renesys, remarked: “With the scope of their shutdown and the size of their online population, it is an unprecedented event.”
“The legacy of the Egyptian Internet blackout ushered in the modern era of government-directed suppression of Internet communication.”
As Dioug Madory reiterates above, this blackout set a dangerous precedent. As the Arab Spring protests spread, the trend of government-directed Internet blackouts continued in Syria, Libya, and Bahrain.
In fact, targeting communications networks -not just the internet- has become a go-to tool for governments, military juntas, third-party actors and warring parties to stifle dissent and restrict human rights. Reporters Without Borders states that restrictions on access to communication technologies are now “widely used as censorship tools to gag dissent and prevent coverage of unrest.”
In 2023, Access Now has already documented more than 80 incidents of shutdowns in at least 21 countries, including the second year of the internet blackout in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
Circumventing Blackouts
As previously stated, prior to the complete blackout of communication, the Egyptian government attempted to block Twitter. This strategy was wholly ineffective: users were able to access proxy servers within minutes, and to use other social media platforms to share how to circumvent this shutdown.
In Gaza, the communications blackout is being circumvented through the use of electronic SIM cards: while Palestinian SIM cards were disconnected from placing phone calls or accessing the Internet, Gazans with Israeli SIM cards found they were still able to use their phones if they could get close enough to an Israeli cellular tower.
A mass social media initiative resulted in thousands of volunteers purchasing eSIMs, sending their digital receipts -in the form of a QR code- to Gazans on the ground; and their individual connections being restored.
In less than 24 hours, hundreds of eSIMS were distributed across Gaza. The Egyptian pioneer behind this intiative: Mirna El Helbawi is now partnering with Simly, an eSIM provider, to try to connect thousands more Palestinians in Gaza to cellular service and the internet.
Was It Ever About Technology?
When asked about the role of the Egyptian government in trying to block communication technologies, organizer Waleed Rasheed, said:
“I would like to thank Mubarak so much…. he disconnected mobile phones on Jan. 27. More people came down to the streets on the 28th of January because he disconnected.”
And I can testify to this: the hours my parents spent with our neighbours -many of whom have remained dear friends more than a decade later- were nothing short of invaluable.
The Egyptian internet blackout lasted five days, with mobile communications down for one, and meanwhile, protests continued, intensifying both in number and in sheer resistance, until February 11th, when President Hosni Mubarak stepped down. It was from these neighbours that we received news of Mubarak’s resignation, and it was with them that we celebrated.
As demonstrated, the disruption of a population’s access to the internet and other forms of communication technologies in times of conflict or unrest is becoming increasingly popular -and in a digital age — increasingly effective. But as Middle Eastern scholars critiqued the narrative of the Arab Spring as ‘social media revolutions’, heralding instead the public desire for change as the determining factor, with technology placed merely as a facilitator, so must we see communication shutdowns.
Ogburn stated that ‘Gunpowder destroyed feudalism’, but gunpowder existed in China for centuries without becoming an agent of political change. Access to technology -and the lack of which- may only have material impact within specific political and social contexts. [note: make this more convincing]
And while the situation in Gaza today cannot be compared to that of Egypt in 2011, the fact remains: no matter what actor controls access to communication technologies, a population under duress will find a way to resist, be that by taking to the streets, creating their own systems of communications, or finding new and innovative ways to circumvent their oppressors.
The provision of thousands of eSIMs to the people of Gaza has demonstrated this a thousand times over — the collective effort by volunteers across the globe and on the ground to ensure that people in Gaza can stay connected to the outside world: to keep aid and medical organisations connected with their staff, to sustain access to emergency services, and crucially, to convey messages to the outside world. The result of this can be seen in the hundreds of thousands of protestors globally calling for a ceasefire, and is a testament to sheer human resilience in the face of struggle.
Of the eSIMs I personally donated, two have been activated, and that small action of solidarity: of knowing that I have facilitated access to communication to one person in Gaza, is invaluable. The solidarity that that facilitates, the hope it inspires. It was never about the technology itself, but human resistance in the face of odds that seem overpowering.
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