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Youth, The Web and Cyber Activism in the Middle East : An Opinion from within
Esra’a Al-Shafei (Bahrain) is the Founder and Executive Director of mideastyouth.com, an independent interfaith network, where a vast and diverse cyber-community tackles and discusses controversial issues like human, minority and religious rights in the Middle East. She is a recent recipient of a TED Fellowship, an Echoing Green Fellowship and the Berkman Award from Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Here she talks about her experience and expresses her views on the challenges of cyber-activism in the Arab world.
How would you describe mideastyouth.com, its staff and its supporters?
MideastYouth.com's mission is to inspire and provide young people with the freedom and opportunity of expression, and promote a fierce but respectful dialogue among the highly diverse youth of all sects, socio-economic backgrounds, and political and religious beliefs in the Middle East. We use this freedom to create social change and to prove that the collaboration necessary for stability is possible. We risk our safety to do what we do because we believe that liberty and our right of free expression are worth fighting for. Just as we believe that we must fight for our right to freedom of speech, we also believe that we must fight for the right to human dignity. We fight in the only way that we believe in, through a fierce but respectful dialogue among ourselves, a form of regional diplomacy that uses the tools available to us to break down historical and linguistic barriers. We provide a rare voice for women and minorities, both religious and ethnic, whose rights are grievously lacking in our region, and who have virtually no voice in the world, let alone in our own countries.
Our staff are all volunteers, who commit to MideastYouth.com in their free time, editing, campaigning, writing, creating media, videos, podcasts, etc. We work nonstop because we know that our work is making a difference. Our supporters are based around the world, and the reason why they find our network to be unique is because we do a lot of work with minorities, something that many people find to be refreshing, especially members of these minorities (Kurds, Baha'is, migrant workers, etc.)
What were your expectations when you first launched it, and to what extent have they been met?
When I first launched the site I didn't really have any large expectations, because many people didn't believe that this idea will work. They thought that it's impossible for Kurds, Arabs, Iranians, Israelis, Baha'is, Arab and Iranian Christians, atheists, conservative Muslims, etc to share one platform successfully, but we proved that it is possible. I never expected that we'd be a large network with many campaigns, some of which have been quite viral. Now that I am sure of our capabilities and ambition, I have very high expectations for our future. I know that we will always be a great example of how we can use new media in the struggle for human rights.
How important is the web to Middle Eastern youth, and why?
It's very important, and it's getting more and more important each day. We can't communicate effectively with each other without the web. Traditional media doesn't allow this. Everything in our countries is controlled either directly or indirectly by governments, so traditional media outlets tend to be either very corrupt or extremely biased. Ethnic, secular and tribal identities remain very strong in the region and continue to dominate political divisions. The oppression of speech and strictly government-controlled media are used to perpetuate this divisive imagery. When access to knowledge is lacking, people are vulnerable to manipulation. Our political and religious leaders are sustained in this manner, and the vast majority of Middle Eastern voices given a platform are stereotypical and fundamentalist. They serve to promote misrepresentations and encourage further hate-filled speech. We rarely hear the voice of the moderate majority, who are desperate to be heard and understood. It is in light of this damning lack of freedom of expression and information that the internet provides the only creative space for youth to freely express themselves, and exchange information, experiences, views, and opinions, visibly involving various minorities who have been persecuted, censored and violently discriminated against for decades. We CREATE, through our work, an alternative view of each other and our world, that, through our advocacy campaigns, we make possible.
How widespread a phenomenon is cyber-activism among youth in the Middle East?
Most young people who use the web in the region aren't activists. Many of them log on to message boards, games, Facebook, and their intention is to have fun and make friends, not necessarily to be active. However, because of the promising potential that cyber activism has, more and more young people are taking part in this phenomenon, either as participants, or as leaders.
What does being a cyber-activist in this region entail?
It's different from one person to the other. For me, a cyber activist is someone who is consistently using the power of digital technology in order to mobilize thousands of people for a cause. It's not someone who simply joins or creates a Facebook group, but it's someone who understands the power to connect, to bring together people of different nationalities, religions, sects, and races. Cyberspace is a community that we can organize and mobilize. At MideastYouth.com we always use this power to launch campaigns relying upon the energy and power of youth. Being a cyber activist is very hard work, and requires a lot of skills, many of which I still don't have, but each day I'm learning from my failures and my success.
The web seems to be increasingly becoming a platform for dissent. How effectively can social networks like twitter, blogs, facebook, etc. influence political and social change?
Despite the social, political, and physical barriers, the internet is bringing people together in every arena. Realizing the potential of this medium, we are using the demonstrative power of the internet to empower people and cause them to act in unity for peace and tolerance, instead of acting out of hate. This is only possible through effective communication and grassroots diplomacy.
Examples of how you can use Twitter, one of the projects that we successfully run is The Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights, the first and only website of its kind and a leading source for news on Baha'is across the Muslim world. We use Twitter extensively to spread news about the persecution of Baha'is, and created the tag #BahaiRights to track it. We now also have a map: www.bahairights.org/tweets that tracks this down and shows you where people in the world are tweeting about Baha'i human rights abuses. This is a very useful tool for us. We used Facebook in the same way, by creating a "Baha'i Rights Day" in July, and then having people change their avatars to "Baha'i Rights Awareness Day." This way, even people who aren't aware of the human rights abuses, become aware of it and start doing more things to fight back the persecution.
Another example, The Free Kareem Campaign (FreeKareem.org), an international coalition aimed to free a young Egyptian blogger who was sentenced to 4 years for his controversial posts online, we used Facebook and blogs to organize worldwide rallies. We had over 26 cities involved in these rallies. It was a success in terms of spreading awareness about Kareem's situation.
I can always list many more examples, but to conclude, if you actively leverage the power of blogs and social media, then you're already doing your part to effectively influence political and social change. It is not always a significant change at first, but if you're consistent, the difference that you can make is often beyond your own expectations.
How widespread is web censorship in Bahrain and the Middle East at large, and to what extent does it harm your activit?
Web censorship is different from one country to the other in the Middle East. Countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen are amongst the worst examples of a high amount of censorship, however in these countries, the usage of proxies is also high, so people are becoming increasingly aware how to bypass the censorship.
Do you think the West should have a role in supporting young cyber-activists in the Middle East? If so, what should this role be?
I think the West's role should be limited to individuals as opposed to governments. This is especially true for the U.S government. I recently wrote a blog post about this, and I think it answers this question very well. It is about the U.S State Department and their hypocritical involvement with human rights activities within the region, but I think it's applicable to all governments in Europe as well.
(We got permission from Esra’a to report pieces of her blog post from 6th September, 2009: here are some excerpts from The Mida’s Touch: Political Hypocrisy and Foreign Government Involvement’, where Esra’a writes:
‘The U.S State Department is currently the largest funder of human rights work in the Middle East. The U.S government is also the funder of some of this region’s worst dictatorships. Therefore the intentions of such government funding of human rights activism in the Middle East remains unclear and questionable.(…) Please understand our situation—the majority of us are based in countries where human rights activism backed by foreign entities is not tolerated and is grounds for imprisonment or execution. Please don’t take offense—we realize our own governments are oppressive, but there are elements of this kind of influence that must be exposed and corrected.(…) We realize that not all staff of the U.S. State Department and its funded projects are misleading. Many sincerely care about human rights and wish the best for all of us, and we are grateful for their interest in our freedom. However, our concern for our lives must be expressed. These individuals must help their government respect independent activists.(…) Make no mistake – we activists are aching for human rights. But most of us will always remain firm against foreign involvement in our affairs. These are our countries, and the only political demands we wish to make are our own.’)
http://www.mideastyouth.com/2009/09/06/the-midas-touch-political-hypocrisy-and-foreign-government-involvement/
In your opinion, what is the future of young activists and their causes in the Middle East?
I think we have some very hard times ahead of us. It may appear from afar that our struggle is getting easier, but that's not always the case. Just like the web can be used for social good, a lot of people are using the web to spread extremist and corrupt ideologies. Young activists in the region are also far from united, which is a bit troubling. There are too many political, social and religious barriers at hand. In the long-term, we will measure our progress by the recognition and eventual legislation of our right to free expression, equality for women, and human rights for ethnic and secular minorities in the region. Finally, the increased tolerance and appreciation of our differences that we build are the only hope for peace and stability in the region – and thus, our ultimate hope for our future.
Chiara Sulmoni
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- Origin CERMAM
- http://www.cermam.org/en/logs/zoom/youth_the_web_and_cyberactivis/
- Publié le 13 October 2009