January 2011: Tunisian President Zine-el-Abidine Ben Ali steps down as President following weeks of protests; February 2011: Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak steps down due to protests, ending his 30-year reign.⁽²⁾ These events in North Africa are not a new phenomenon, as history depicts many accounts of anti-Government protests culminating in despots fleeing their country or being forced into early retirement. Considering that the recent developments in Tunisia and Egypt are nothing new, the question that this paper poses is, why then has there been so much hype surrounding these protests?

While on the surface one may easily attribute such hype due to the ending of decades of entrenched autocratic rule in Tunisia and Egypt, this paper advocates the view that the hype and wide-spread attention is due to the impact of the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT’s) on domestic politics in these two North African countries. On this note, this paper analyses the use of ICT’s in the recent North African uprisings, firstly by defining ICT and its characteristics. Secondly, having had the largest impact on Tunisia and Egypt, this paper looks at the role of ICT’s in the uprisings. The overall aim of this paper is to assess the potential of ICT’s as a tool for democratisation in the 21st century.

ICT uncovered

ICT is defined as “any communication device or application encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware, software, satellite systems as well as various services and applications associated with them.”⁽³⁾ While text messaging, e-mails, weblogs, online petitions, and photo and video sharing constitute as the key features of ICT’s, Social Networking Sites (SNS) on internet sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have also become a great phenomenon. What is important to recognise is that the potential of ICT lies not in the technology, but in its ability and its effect on nation states and the people of the world. ICT’s have “made it possible for people to coordinate and organise political collective action with people they were not able to organise before, in places they weren’t able to organise before and in a speed they weren’t able to muster before.”⁽⁴⁾ Howard Rheingold describes this form of social co-ordination, which utilises modern technology such as the internet and mobile phones as “smart mobs”, “who contrary to the usual connotations of a mob, behave intelligently or efficiently because of its exponentially increasing network links.”⁽⁵⁾

Hence, the power of such medium lies in its ability to communicate to a large number of individuals at a low cost, to mobilise individuals who are geographically dispersed, to coordinate individuals into groups and disseminate information that is suppressed by authoritarian regimes and controlled mass media. In other words, ICT’s provides citizens with the ability to exercise “e-democracy.”⁽⁶⁾ However, beyond the virtual domain that e-democracy can provide, can this translate into socio-political change on the ground? What contribution has ICT’s made to popular movements? This paper attempts to answer these questions by looking at Tunisia and Egypt as case studies.

Poke 1: Tunisia

An intensive campaign of civil resistance, consisting of street demonstrations and protests, has been described as the most dramatic wave of political and social unrest in Tunisia in three decades, culminating in the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. What is distinguishing is that whilst Tunisia known to be a relatively stable and wealthy country in the region, the uprising was an authentic, home-grown and largely spontaneous movement with little active support from western powers.⁽⁷⁾ The protests, sparked by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi were precipitated by high unemployment, rising food prices, corruption and lack of political freedoms.⁽⁸⁾ With 18% of Tunisians estimated to be part of Facebook, failed attempts by the Tunisian Government to control SNS such as Twitter and Facebook and the inability of the Tunisian Government to censor information from reaching the Tunisian people is believed to have fuelled these uprisings.⁽⁹⁾

The role of ICT’s in these events cannot be ignored, as the internet played a significant role in spreading the news of the suicide that sparked the protest, ultimately resulting in large-scale civilian resistance throughout Tunisia. The young, educated and technological-savvy youth, who utilised social media to disseminate information and co-ordinate protests, were the initial key propagators of the protests.⁽¹⁰⁾ Thus, it can be said that ICT played a significant role in enabling these uprisings to succeed as it empowered citizens to gather support, take collective action and through social networking sites, coordinate anti-Government protests.⁽¹¹⁾ The success of the Tunisian revolution proved to be a source of inspiration and provided confidence for other nations in the region to follow suit, as it was the first time a civilian uprising had torn down a regime in the Arab world. As the civilian protest for reforms spread all over the region, Egypt became the next North African country to experience the revolution.

Poke 2: Egypt

Similar to the Tunisians, the grievances of Egyptian protesters focused on political issues such as state of emergency laws, corruption, lack of free elections and freedom of speech, as well as economic issues such as high unemployment and food price inflation.⁽¹²⁾ The success of the uprising was marked by the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak following a 30-year rule. Internet-savvy elites were the catalyst for the demonstrations, where Twitter became an instant information tool, spreading the news and informing people of the location of the demonstrations.⁽¹³⁾ A loose coalition of more than a dozen small parties and activist groups had issued a Facebook call for a “day of rage“ to coincide with Police Day on 25 January 2011, with an estimated 80,000 Egyptian web surfers signing up and pledging to march on the streets to voice demands for reform.⁽¹⁴⁾ It is worthy to note that there are reportedly 5 million Facebook users in Egypt, with more than 65 million Egyptians of the entire population of 80.5 million using mobile phones.⁽¹⁵⁾ Recognising the use of ICT in coordination of demonstrations led to the Government clamping down on SNS and restricting the use of Twitter, which had been widely used to gather protestors and disseminate news and photographs locally and internationally.⁽¹⁶⁾

Tool for democracy?

The fall of autocratic regimes in Tunisia and Egypt illustrate how activists can harness social media to organise and share information amid police crackdowns and state media censorship. It is fundamental to note that the uprisings in the two North African countries were not simply the result of Tweets and Facebook updates over the past month, but have been brewing online for years.⁽¹⁷⁾ In addition, the online focus of much of this work meant that organising efforts were not confined to the countries’ borders and allowed expatriates to contribute to these efforts. ICT’s in this context have been used in the pursuit of good governance and democratic development by transforming the landscape of collective action, enabling groups previously incapable of political action to find their voices.⁽¹⁸⁾

This argument is however, made with caution, so as not to overstate the role of ICT’s in the protests, which stem from two factors. Firstly, history provides records of many civilian uprisings that have occurred in the absence of ICT and secondly, due to the fact that the protests in Egypt gained momentum even once the Government cut off access to the internet.⁽¹⁹⁾ Hence, this rules out a direct causal relationship between ICT’s and the uprisings in North Africa. However, we can say that while ICT’s did not cause these protests, it played a significant role in enabling these protests to succeed.

The role played by the youth cannot be ignored, as these protests were primarily orchestrated by this age group who were the most active in organising the initial protests. One must not take this for granted, but analyse the link between the medium and the key players in the uprisings. Considering that both the unemployed and educated youth were dissatisfied with the archaic, dictatorial governance of their old leader and they also constitute the largest age group utilising ICT’s to freely express their concerns, and share opinions, ideas and thoughts normally prohibited by traditional media,⁽²⁰⁾ provides a deeper insight into the modus operandi of the North African uprisings. By utilising social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter along with SMS in the initial stages, they communicated their intentions and galvanised support for their plans.⁽²¹⁾ This can be said to be a true display of smart mob behaviour.

Thus, it is the view of this paper that the protests were fuelled by the widespread resentment of authoritarian regimes, ignited by the success of protests in Tunisia and spread like wildfire due to the reports from citizens through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, with SNS altering communication via the internet “into something much more real time with greater possibility for visual connection.”⁽²²⁾ In a wider sense, the events in Tunisia and Egypt illustrate how ICT’s is proving to be a challenge for the oppressors and is a source of weapon for the oppressed.⁽²³⁾ ICT’s can be regarded as a tool for democracy, not because of the use to topple authoritarian Governments in North Africa, but due to its potential to transcend boundaries and spread information, thereby empowering people. Thus, ICT’s can be a platform for facilitating political change due to the empowering effects on society.

It is this link between information and power that necessitates many authoritarian regimes to restrict the right to access information by censoring and monitoring information and shutting down popular ICT platforms in times of threat, thereby imposing an information blockade. However, while this paper has largely focused on the positive aspects of ICT as a catalyst for socio-political change, it recognises that ICT is not a panacea for democratic development, as countermeasures to smart mob tactics employed by political and law enforcement authorities can be stifling, misdirecting and demoralising.⁽²⁴⁾

Conclusion

To conclude, in this day and age, the role of ICT in improving the lives of people cannot be ignored. This paper has demonstrated, by using Tunisia and Egypt as case studies that ICT is a powerful tool that can empower citizens by changing the means and access to information, and which significantly threatens authoritarian regimes. To this end, US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton rightfully identifies “global information freedom and internet freedom in particular as one of the defining opportunities of our time.”⁽²⁵⁾ There is no doubt that ICT’s possess a power that is mightier than physical weaponry as it has the potential to “amplify, leverage, transform and shift political power by enabling people to persuade and inform the thoughts of others.”⁽²⁶⁾ The events in North Africa are a clear illustration of this and as the yearning for democracy stirs in the region, the world watches and wonders who will be “poked” next.

NOTES:

(1) Contact Pratiksha Chhiba through Consultancy Africa Intelligence's Africa Watch Unit (africa.watch@consultancyafrica.com).
(2) Na’eem Jeenah, ‘Egyptian aftershock felt most by Israel,’ Mail and Guardian, 11 February 2011, http://www.mg.co.za.
(3) SearchCIO-Midmarket.com Definitions, http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com.
(4) Howard Rheingold, ‘Mobile media and political collective action,’ Politics and Social Change, pp.226-227, http://www.rheingold.com.
(5) Word IQ website, http://www.wordiq.com
(6) ‘The electronic journal of information systems in Developing Countries,’ 2008, 35(6), pp.1-24, http://www.ejisdc.org.
(7) Timothy Garton Ash, ‘Tunisian’s revolution isn’t a product of Twitter or Wikileaks. But they do help,’ The Guardian, 19 January 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk.
(8) Richard Spenser, ‘Tunisia riots: Reform or be overthrown, US tells Arab states amid fresh riots,’ The Telegraph, 14 January 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk.
(9) Timothy Garton Ash, ‘Tunisian’s revolution isn’t a product of Twitter or Wikileaks. But they do help,’ The Guardian, 19 January 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk.
(10) John Boudreau, ‘Internet technology a tool for political change in Arab world,’ Mercury News, 27 January 2011, http://www.mercurynews.com.
(11) Ibid.
(12) ‘Egypt braces for nationwide protests,’ France24, 29 January 2011, http://www.france24.com.
(13) Michael Calderone, ’How social media sparked Tunisian, Egyptian revolts,’ The Cutline, 14 February 2011, http://news.yahoo.com.
(14) Ibid.
(15) Kang Hyun-Kyung, ’Power of social media in Egypt overstated,’ Korea Times, 7 February 2011, http://www.koreatimes.co.kr.
(16) ‘The scent of jasmine spreads,’ The Economist, 27 January 2011, http://www.economist.com.
(17) Jon Stewart, ‘Egypt and social network revolt: a youth perspective,’ The Sarcastic One Blog, 1 February 2011, http://thesarcasticone.blog.com.
(18) Howard Rheingold, ‘Mobile media and political collective action.’ Politics and Social Change, pp.226-227, http://www.rheingold.com.
(19) Kang Hyun-Kyung, ’Power of social media in Egypt overstated,’ Korea Times, 7 February 2011, http://www.koreatimes.co.kr.
(20) ‘The electronic journal of information systems in Developing Countries,’ 2008, 35(6), pp.1-24, http://www.ejisdc.org.
(21) Jon Stewart, ‘Egypt and social network revolt: a youth perspective,’ The Sarcastic One Blog, 1 February 2011, http://thesarcasticone.blog.com.
(22) Jamie Friedland & Kenneth Rogerson, ‘How political and social movements form on the internet and how they change over time,’ Institute for Homeland Security Solutions, November 2009, https://www.ihssnc.org.
(23) Timothy Garton Ash, ‘Tunisian’s revolution isn’t a product of Twitter or Wikileaks. But they do help,’ The Guardian, 19 January 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk.
(24) Howard Rheingold, ‘Mobile media and political collective action.’ Politics and Social Change,pp.226-227, http://www.rheingold.com.
(25) Timothy Garton Ash, ‘Tunisian’s revolution isn’t a product of Twitter or Wikileaks. But they do help,’ The Guardian, 19 January 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk.
(26) Howard Rheingold, ‘Mobile media and political collective action.’ Politics and Social Change,pp.226-227, http://www.rheingold.com.

Written by Pratiksha Chhiba ⁽¹⁾