Notes | How Facebook Changed the World (BBC)

TUNISIA

·         The internet allowed events to be recorded hour by hour

·         The Arab Spring – Tunisia, Egypt, Libya

·         December 2010; The suicide of a fruit seller in Sidi Bouzid sparked uprising

o   He, plus other, continued supporting taunting from higher people

·         The internet revolution tipped balance of power

·         The day after he committed suicide, 100’s of people gathered where he set himself alight

·         This ultimately became a street war between the police and people who were sticking up for him.

·         Tunisian State TV reported nothing that was going on#

o   The press is highly censored.

·         However, citizens captured it on their phones

o   They had to avoid being arrested/shot

·         People shared the footage though Facebook

o   1 in 5 (2 million) Tunisians have Facebook

§  Many people thought it was trivial hence why they don’t have it.

·         (Assad, the PM of Syria) (Banali – PM of Tunisia)

·         2 normal every day citizen bloggers blogged about it.

o   ¼ had broadband

o   90% had mobile phones

·         Benali had censored all political websites

·         From them 2 people sharing their footage through Facebook, they spread virally, rapidly

o   They were picked up by Al Jazera

·         They had also set up software on their mobile phones to set up a live stream.

·         Benali fled to Saudi Arabia

·         It only took 28 days from the 1^st protest to the collapse of the regime

o   Copycat demonstration

§  Theory – audiences influenced by what they see

·         New and digital media allowed the protest to speed up pace.

EGYPT

·         Cairo, political activists watched with awe

o   Tunisia made them aware of what they could accomplish

·         However, Mubarak, the PM of Egypt would be harder to crack

·         Activists found the internet the safest way to communicate with one another

·         Khaled Syeed – Martyr – was beaten by police as he exposed the corrupt nature of the government

o   This rallied support for a revolution

·         5 million facebook users

·         Protests were planned by activists

o   These were inspired by events in Tunisia

·         20% of Egyptians had access to interent

o   Therefore, they used taxi drivers to spread their message

·         25^th January 2011 – Beginnings of uprising

·         Obama supported Mubarak

o   This made many Egyptians angry

o   They felt content for Obama

o   These were reasons for  a more active protest

·         The government switched off communication – internet and mobile networks

o   People cut off from each other. 25^th Feb

·         However, they didn’t really need it for their plan

o   Only used it to deceive police of where the demonstrations were going to be.

·         As people didn’t know what was happening, the actually went outside to see.

·         The internet later went back on

o   People received many patriotic messages from the government but they did not care

·         The army, strongest institution in Egypt

o   Paid 1.3 billion to empower it.

·         As they finally sided with the protestors – Mubarak had no other choice but to step down