New Media and Political Change in Egypt: Causes, Implications and Communication Strategies

1. New Media and Political Change in Egypt: Causes, Implications and Communication Strategies SaharKhamis (Ph.D.) Department of Communication, University of Maryland, College Park

2. The Causes of the Egyptian Revolution: • Thirty years of dictatorship and autocratic rule • Corruption • The emergency law • The faulty constitution • Economic distress: 40% of Egyptians living under the international poverty line • Growing calls for constitutional, economic, political and social reform • Forging the latest parliamentary elections • The successful popular revolution in Tunisia

3. The implications for Egypt: • Charged the Egyptian people with a new sense of positivity, empowerment, determination, national pride, and solidarity. • A peaceful, youthful grassroots revolution that was “across the board” involving different political, religious, and social groups • A unique “leaderless revolution” • Unity between Muslims and Coptic Christians • The significant role of women • A new era of social and democratic reform: “Egypt will not go back to where it was before Jan. 25th”

4. The implications for the Arab world: • The domino effect or the ripple effect: Echoes of both the Tunisian and the Egyptian revolutions in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan and Syria • Arab rulers started to take some steps in the direction of political reform • Arab governments can not ignore the power of the Arab street or the power of public opinion in their own countries • A new era of political change, empowerment and awakening already started in the Arab world

5. The International Implications: • Revisiting the U.S. foreign policy: Forging alliances with corrupt dictators, who suppress their people under the claim of preserving stability, is not an effective strategy • Under suppression and repression there is no true stability: There is only a “boiling pot with a lid ready to pop off any minute” • Not buying into the “Islamic scare” strategy, which legitimizes oppression as a means to curb Islamic influence: Playing on “Islamophobia” • Peace and security can be achieved through fair and equitable relations between neighbors, not through strong armies and superior weapons

6. The Changing Arab Media Landscape: • Arab media before 1990: Monolithic, uniform, strong government control and ownership: No diversity, plurality or freedom • Arab media after 1990: The introduction of new media, such as satellite television channels and the Internet: New avenues for spreading information and fueling opposition • Paradox: These alternative new media channels and avenues didn’t lead to a transition to political mobilization or democratization until 2011 • The “safety valve” explanation for the media role

7. The government’s communication strategies: • Combining the suppression of protestors on the streets with the suppression of the truth through national, state-controlled media • Cracking down on foreign journalists • Closing down the office of Al Jazeera in Cairo and detaining some of its staff members • Cutting off the cell phone lines for a few days • Blocking off the Internet for a whole week: Pushing down the “kill switch” • Using the mentality of the 50s and the 60s • Failed and incompetent political and communication strategies

8. The people’s communication strategies: • Deploying new social media: posting and chatting on Facebook, tweeting, blogging and texting • Facebook became the “people’s book”: The “Facebook Revolution” • Creating the missing link between mediated self-expression and street mobilization, i.e., between the “virtual world” and the “real world” • Finding alternative, creative ways to access and spread information: The “Speak to tweet” service and using “hot bird” instead of “Nile Sat” to watch Al Jazeera

9. The Multiple Roles of New Media: • Catalysts that paved the way for a democratic transition • Platforms for self-expression • Channels for communication and organization • Bridge-builders between the young activists and their followers, between the “virtual world” and the “real world” • Avenues for civic engagement and popular participation: From “safety valves” to “mobilization tools” • Arenas for a new form of citizen journalism

10. A Last word…Egypt “After Mubarak”: • There is no turning back: The road to democratization and reform has already started and will continue • The transition to democratization needs to be done “swiftly but safely” • New era of civic engagement and popular participation • Greater role for youth leadership • Greater role for women’s participation • Greater role for new media as “mobilization tools” • Enhancing Egypt’s leadership in the Arab world • Enhancing Egypt’s international image & reputation