the arab spring revolution

Question

How important was the role of social media in the Arab Spring? using Social Constructivism to discuss the role of social media in the Arab Spring. In your response, focus on either Tunisia or Egypt.

Answer 1

Great question, Jessica!

Here is an explanation:

As you know, Social Constructivism is a theory in which the interactions of people build (or construct) ideas that shape perspectives that writes history. This proved to be essential for the rise of the Arab Spring. The belief that our rights and freedoms need to be protected by an elected government is a principle of Democracy. This idea was rapidly dispersed throughout the Middle East through the introduction of communications technology (for example, social media) because of the impact that globalization has on spreading ideas to all areas of the world. Social interaction, mixed with the idea of Democracy, led to a growing resentment by those who were ruled by oppressive regimes before the Arab Spring (example: Tunisia, Libya, Egypt). People shared their idea that their government needs to protect them and ensure democratic universal human rights (example: social contract by Thomas Hobbes). Multiple news outlets, such as NPR, report that the beginning of the Arab Spring was caused by a video of a 26-year-old fruit vendor was set of fire for refusing to let the police from taking his property – the video recorded by cellphone cameras went viral on social media. This led to an uprising, which caused the government to establish censorship on the freedom of speech. To avoid this censorship, people used Whatsapp as a tool to send encrypted messages to rally protests, as well as Facebook and Twitter, to send live updates and videos of government forces attacking protestors. As a result, more people were infuriated and demanded a new democratically elected government. This is a great example of how the interaction of people shaped the perspective of many to join a democratic movement that rewrote history – social constructivism and the role of social media.

I hope that my explanation helps clarify the topic. Let me know if you need any clarification – I would be more than happy to help!

Here are a few sources to point you in the right direction with your assignment:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299842687_The_Arab_Spring_Revolutions_the_Relevance_of_International_Relations_Theories_An_Analytical_View

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322627363_Facebook_Utilization_and_Arab_Spring_Movement_A_Study_among_Yemeni_Youth

https://www.npr.org/2011/12/17/143897126/the-arab-spring-a-year-of-revolution

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2019/01/25/eight-years-after-egypts-revolution-heres-what-weve-learned-about-social-media-and-protest/

https://foreignpolicy.com/podcasts/first-person/lebanon-protests-whatsapp-tax-arab-spring-first-person/

Answer 2

Social media has an extremely important impact on the Arab Spring, especially in countries like Tunisia and Egypt, where platforms like Facebook and Twitter had a deeper presence due to the broader access to the internet in those countries compared to other nations like Yemen and Syria.

After revolution in Tunisia, young Egyptians spread the call to protest online with the help of a Facebook campaign started by Egypt's largest and most active online human-right activist group. As protest spread, online dissent moved into the offline world.The profile of the most active users of social networks (young, urban, and relatively educated) matches the description of the first anti-government protesters that emerged in the country in January 2011. Because of that some experts have used this to argue that the Arab Spring truly began as a youth revolution meant to "promote a collective identity" and mobilize people both on the web and offline.