Should we support internet activists in the Middle East? | Marc Lynch - 0 views
lynch.foreignpolicy.com/...t_activists_in_the_middle_east
egypt blog bloggers blogging rights repression Jordan aid USA Lynch
![](/images/link.gif)
-
In many ways it was a pessimistic talk, which pushed back against expectations that new media technologies like blogs, Facebook or Twitter were going to radically change politics in the short or medium term. Over the longer term, there is a more real transformative potential, especially for the individuals who use the technologies. But analysts need to not be confused by the bright sparkling lights of fancy new technology or assume that it will have effects independently of the real lines of power and politics.
-
politics come first, and that technology alone can have only a very limited impact in the face of authoritarian states. Where internet activists have had a significant impact in Arab countries, it has usually been tied to distinct political opportunities – such as the Kwuaiti royal transition or elections --- or else led by people who were activists first and used technology as a tool. New media did help activists in Egypt, Bahrain and elsewhere to punch well above their weight for a while... but eventually the regimes caught up and the real balance of power showed.
-
I have a hard time thinking of a communications technology more poorly suited for organizing high-risk political collective action than Facebook.
- ...2 more annotations...
-
Neither the United States as a government nor civil society-based supporters of the activists have been able to do much to help them when they run afoul of the authorities. And the more that they are encouraged to develop political strategies, the more likely they are to run into such problems. We often have a habit of issuing bad checks to these people, egging them on and encouraging them to take risky actions but then failing to effectively protect them. If the Facebook groups had actually managed to get people out into the streets earlier this month, what were their fans in the West prepared to do when the police started beating them up and getting them fired from their jobs or expelled from school? Not much. If citizen journalists expose corruption in a local government office, who is going to protect them when they are sued for libel or beaten up for their efforts… keeping in mind that they enjoy no legal protections whatsoever as ‘citizen journalists’.
-
the point should be to create the kind of legal and political environments in which internet activists – and all citizens – can operate without fearing the worst consequences, rather than encouraging them to take such risks without any protection. But I throw this out for discussion. What do we owe the activists who we encourage? What is the best way of paying that debt?