Online social media was a crucial tool for activists involved
in the social and political movements that spread across the Middle East and
North Africa that would become known as the Arab Spring. At its best, the Arab
Spring demonstrated that even the most authoritarian leaders can be taken down
by peaceful protesters and activists who discovered through social media that
they were not alone in their feelings towards the government and who learned
that their collective strength was greater than their fear. At its worst, it demonstrated
that even in the age of social media, an age where atrocities are reported in
real time and information is always a click away, many of the world’s leaders
remain far too apathetic to the suffering that continues to exist in the world.
The Arab Spring began on December 20, following the self-immolation of Mohamed
Bouazizi, a Tunisia street vender whose act was an act of defiance against the Tunisia
regime led by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was at the time one
of the most authoritarian leaders in Africa. The story of Mohamed Bouazizi
spread like wildfire across social media networks, and before long, peaceful protesters
began taking to the streets to demand democratic reform in the authoritarian
state. After less than two months of protests, El Abidine Ben Ali would step
down from office on 4 January 2011, after 23 years in power and a transitional government
was established. The Arab Spring would spread to other countries, including Libya,
Algeria, Egypt and Syria. Egyptian protester and former Google employee Wael
Ghonim would characterize the Arab Spring as “Revolution 2.0,” arguing that the
tool of social media made it possible for the masses to successfully
demonstrate against authoritarian by allowing the people to organize in masses
and to supersede the government’s tightly controlled media outlets.
In his article, "The Blogging Revolution:
Government in the Age of Web 2.0,” David C. Wyld notes that the countless
blogs, articles, tweets and other social media comments on a certain issues may
seem insignificant or even innocuous when viewed independently, but collectively
may be “nothing less than revolutionary.” In a sense, the Arab Spring demonstrates
this reality. Before, single acts of dissent
where punished severely and defiance was snuffed out by fear. However, the
social media revolution and the proliferation of technologies that made the
Arab spring possible, allowed the people to demonstrate as one.
The Arab Spring led to a successful transition of
power in Tunisia and a successful (though short lived) transition in Egypt.
While the transitions in Tunisia and the early days of the transition in Egypt remained
peaceful, the demonstrations that began as part of the Arab Spring would lead
to Civil War in Libya and Syria. During the early spring of 2011, forces loyal
to Syrian President Bashar al Assad began to turn their weapons against peaceful
protests and began a civil war that would lead to the death of more than
300,000 people by April 2015 and create more than 4 million refugees and internally
displaced peoples. Shortly after the start of the Syrian Civil War, the Assad regime
began to expel foreign journalist from the country, making social media a critical
source of news for residents of Syria and observers outside the country.
In a sense, the Syrian Civil War is the first major
war in which social media has played a critical role. Social media was the tool
of peaceful activists in the early days of the conflict and became the main
source of information throughout the conflict.
Malcolm Gladwell argues that social media “shifts our
energies from organizations that promote strategic and disciplined activity and
toward those which promote resilience and adaptability.” The adaptability of
online social media for activists has been demonstrated by the Syrian Civil
War. Social media has survived countless attempts by the Assad regime to snuff
out the message of the opposition as well as countless attempts to prevent the outside
world from seeing the truth about what is happening in Syria. Despite attempts
to keep the message out, online social media has proven to be an incredibly
adaptable tool for journalists, activists, governments and even ordinary
citizens. Unlike other conflicts, where government agencies and state owned
media outlets have controlled the messages their people, here, the internet age
has allowed countless social media activists to report on the situation in
Syria in real time. Organizations like the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
and the Violations Documentation Center in Syria have provided real time
reporting on human rights violations committed by all sides of the conflict and
have ensured that the stories of the Syrian people are shared with the world.
However, despite the fact that the world cannot deny
the truth about the atrocities committed on a daily basis in Syria and despite
countless calls for action, world leaders have reportedly failed to act to stop
the suffering of the Syrian people. The United Nations Security Council has repeatedly
failed to adopt a resolution to force Assad out of office or allow any real
intervention in the country. Social media is a critical tool for 21st Century activism,
but social media alone cannot change the status quo of inaction that plagues international
politics.
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