“Tweeting out a Tyrant”: Social Media against the Regime

Beginning in late 2010, the Arab Spring revolutionary movement spread across Middle Eastern countries filling Arabs with a sense of power and a desire for change. Previously suppressed by economics, class systems, and governments, Arabs began civil resistance campaigns revolting with strikes, marches, rallies and demonstrations.  Differing from revolutionary movements of the past, Arabs used modern technology to their full potential in order for their voices to be heard.  21st century social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, provided Tunisian, Egyptian, and Libyan revolutionaries the means to organize, demonstrate, and create political transformation during the Arab Spring.

Referred to as “the spark that started it all”, the Arab Spring movement kicked off in Tunisia in December of 2010.  Named the Jasmine Revolution, this marked the first popular and successful North African or Middle Eastern political uprising, able to topple an established government, since the Iranian Revolution of 1979. (Tunisia) “The roots of this Tunisian 'uprising' are to be found in a lethal combination of poverty, unemployment and political repression: three characteristics of most Arab societies” (Andoni).  One young man, Mohamed Bouazizi, took action on the 17^th of December 2010, by committing self-immolation.  Bouazizi, after struggling to survive in Tunisia, realized that his government and his country needed change. Bouazizi’s drastic protest gained worldwide recognition as demonstrations and protests erupted, spreading from Bouazizi’s hometown, to the state capitol of Tunis. The Tunisian president at the time, Zine el-Abedin Ben Ali, made a last effort to save his country by offering to alter his political cabinet and provide hundreds of thousands of jobs.  Ben Ali’s actions came too late, as revolvers held strong to their goals of stripping Ben Ali of his power and toppling his regime.  On January 17, 2011, Ben Ali and his family fled the country to seek refuge in Saudi Arabia.  Following this, Tunisia experienced months of rebuilding in order to reunite as a nation.  In October 2011, Tunisia held elections for a constitutional assembly, which was shortly followed by the elections of an interim president and the drafting of a new constitution. (Tunisia)

            Tunisia’s Arab Spring movement differed from past revolutions because of the Tunisian’s use of available technology and media.  Pioneering the combined use of social media with revolution, Tunisian activists were able to arm themselves with a new powerful weapon, one capable of organizing, demonstrating, and creating political transformation during the Arab Spring.  “New media have proven effective and swift in circulating information among tens of thousands of protesters who are unable to use other means of communication to access the public en mass” (Miladi). 

Referred to as the “Twitter Revolution”, Tunisians used social media platforms to their full potential, providing access to information not only to other revolutionaries in Tunisia, but also extending this to the whole world.  Posts from activists showed the world actual events as they happened, circumnavigating the state controlled, strongly biased, media network of TV and radio.  Posts and videos about the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, the event said to have started the revolution, spread across the Internet and began the media revolution.  Protestors began to use hashtags and visual Facebook posts in order to accurately show events unfolding, driving up support for the cause across the country and world.  Media posts, groups, and profiles allowed for the mass planning and organization of demonstrations capable of reaching tens of thousands of people almost instantly. (Miladi) “Three months before Mohammed Bouazizi burned himself in Sidi Bouzid we had a similar case in Monastir. But no one knew about it because it was not filmed. What made a difference this time is that the images of Bouazizi were put on Facebook and everybody saw it” (Beaumont). The success of the revolution and overthrow of the Tunisian government can be attributed to the use of social media because these platforms were used to spread information and organize demonstrations of such numbers in a quick, powerful, and effective manner.

            Egypt, being heavily influenced by the revolution that occurred in Tunisia, was the second country to be impacted by the Arab Spring movement.  “Inspired by the events in Tunisia, Egyptians gathered to protest on January 25, the national holiday Police Day, calling for an end to corruption, injustice, poor economic conditions, and the 30-year-old regime of President Hosni Mubarak” (Egypt).  Suffering from repression and similar conditions that were seen in Tunisia, millions of Egyptians protested in Tahrir Square and across the country, demonstrating that change was necessary. Protests grew in size and number, resulting in a national revolutionary movement that ousted Mubarak after 18 days of unrest.  After the resignation of Mubarak in February 2011, Egypt went through a few years of political uncertainty resulting in “Egypt being polarized between supporters of the interim government and the military on the one-hand, and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and those who fear the authorities have become too repressive on the other” (Arab Uprising: Egypt). 

            Revolutionaries in Egypt, after seeing Tunisia’s successful uprising, used similar social media tactics to organize, demonstrate, and create political transformation. In preparation for the demonstration that was to be held on the 25^th of January, 2011, Egyptians used Facebook and Twitter as a means to organize, recruit, and inform people. Social media was a main reason why the protest was so successful and was able to get so many people out of their homes and into the streets.  The speed at which this information can reach its intended audience drove up numbers at protests as well as provided the assurance that there are others out there fighting the same cause.  Activists used Twitter and Facebook to their advantage, generating pages and hashtags to inform the people of Egypt, and the rest of the world, about what was happening, how to help, and where to meet.  Social media played such an important role in the ousting of Hosni Mubarak because it showed the world the truth of the situation.  Rather than the state controlled radio and TV network, people turned to social media for more accurate reports of events.  In June of 2010, police brutally beat and proceeded to kill an Egyptian, Khaled Said outside of an Internet cafe.  Videos, images, and accounts of this act quickly spread across social and media networks showing the truth of the tragedy that occurred.  A Facebook page, “We are all Khaled Said”, was created and serves as one of the most influential revolutionary pages for the Egyptians.   As support for this page and others rose, so did popular support for the ideas that they represented.  “This is an extraordinary case. This guy was tortured and killed on the street. I did not know him but I cannot shut up forever” (Comment).

Months after the Tunisian Revolution, unrest began to hit the streets of Libya in mid-February of 2011.  In a similar situation to other Arab countries, Libya was oppressed by poverty, inequality, unemployment, and corruption.  "I think the demonstrations are going to be rather serious.  Libyan people have been oppressed for more than 41 years and they see to the west and to the east of them, people have been able to rise and to change their fate” (Day of Rage Kicks off in Libya). The arrest of a prominent human rights leaded, Fathi Terbil, on the 15^th of February, resulted in a few hundred Libyan demonstrators protesting in front of Benghazi’s police headquarters.  The protests were met with police force and turned into an armed confrontation.  Over the following days, more protests erupted across the country with a “Day of Rage” planned for the 17^th.  Demonstrations took place in all of Libya’s major cities on the 17^th but were met with violence from the Libyan security forces.  Activists destroyed police building and sacked state owned TV and radio stations.   Government buildings were burned and protestors forced government, military, and police personal out of Benghazi.  By February 19^th, the old regime had been ousted from power and a new provincial government had been established in Benghazi.  Rebels continued to fight pushing west across the country against government forces.  By late October 2011, rebel forces were able to overcome Gaddafi and his remaining supporters in Tripoli.  Currently, Libya is in its worst political and economical depression since ousting Gaddafi.  Oil production has stopped and the government has lost control of areas of the county to violent militias.  (Libya) (Libyan Civil War)

Libyan activists, inspired by the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions, used social media to organize, demonstrate, and create political transformation during the Arab Spring.   Libyans also used Twitter and Facebook to organize demonstrations and to invite people to these protests.  Instantaneous Tweets at these protests showed people around the country what was happening in real time as event occurred.  Activists in Libya turned to social media as a means of informing people of the truth.  “While Al-Jamahiriya, the Libyan state-owned television channel, was broadcasting nonstop patriotic songs…the Arabic satellite channel based in Doha, was showing images of angry Libyan demonstrators throwing shoes at a giant street screen carrying live pictures of Colonel Qaddafi’s speech.  The contrast highlighted a fierce battle between Colonel Qaddafi’s supporters, who were using the state-run news media, and Libyan protesters, who were turning to social media and the foreign news media, to win over hearts and minds, inside and outside Libya” (Mekay).  With corrupt state run media outlets hiding the truth, demonstrators took to Twitter and Facebook in order to make sure their voices, ideas, and were heard.  Using social media, Tunisians were able to show the true injustices that were happening in Libya.  Social media helped to gain enough support in Tunisia and across the world to overthrow their corrupt government and instate a new one. 

21st century social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, provided Tunisian, Egyptian, and Libyan revolutionaries the means to organize, demonstrate, and create political transformation during the Arab Spring. These platforms connected the people, the movements, and, most importantly, the ideas necessary for this change to occur. Social media can be reached by anyone with Internet access and thus can be used as a quick, powerful, and effective way of gathering people and spreading ideas.  “The medium that carries the message shapes and defines as well as the message itself. The instantaneous nature of how social media communicate self-broadcast ideas, unlimited by publication deadlines and broadcast news slots, explains in part the speed at which these revolutions have unravelled, their almost viral spread across a region” (Beaumont). Social media opened these revolutions to public opinion, as first hand information was accessible across the world.  Revolutionaries are armed with a new powerful tool, one capable of instantly accessing and connecting masses of people from around the world to fight for a cause. 

Works Cited

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Beaumont, Peter. "Can Social Networking Overthrow a Government?" The Sydney Morning Herald. N.p., 25 Feb. 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

Comment by a nineteen-year-old standing outside the court building; Al Masry Al Youm, July 27, 2010

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"Tunisian Revolution." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 04 Nov. 2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.