Notes on role of social online media in fomenting revolution in Tunisia/Egypt. A change of the wind has come about in two North African countries. Not that these two revolutions were without precursors and provocations of many kinds; it just happened that the first days of 2011 were when the respective populaces of Tunisia and Egypt said, ‘enough is enough.’ The coinciding of these two uprisings could be viewed as the result of two volatile regimes finally buckling under the pressures of their own opressive agendas, but the two revolts couldn’t have been half as successful without the invisible hand of…fate, you guess? No. Actually, the hand collaborating to galvanize popular sentiment in these two upheavals was the hand of online social media, and unrestricted media at that.
Could this be a grim portend for the nervous Neds in Beijing?
What might the latest turn of events mean for the brain trust of China, a nation with one of the most notoriously restrictive internet firewalls? At the first hint of instigation and agitation among netizens, Beijing’s first reaction has been to blackout sites or services that traffic ‘sensitive’ online material. One need only do a bit of reading to gather anecdotal evidence of the government’s abhorrence for unrestricted content floating about in cyberspace.
America promoting measures to battle online censorship…could it spell tension?
The State Dept. has chosen the aftermath of the middle Eastern uprisings as an appropriate time to remind the public about their bold intention to promote internet freedom. Both Egypt and Tunisia took measures to shut down or limit the internet during the height of the crises. Totalitarian leaders often rush to strike the internet, as they must be aware of its potential to stir up unrest.
One of the remedies the U.S. State Dept. hopes to roll out is financing internet circumvention methods. I’ve had experience with a couple of methods that fall under the umbrella term of circumvention. The State Dept. hopes to support these kind of existing methods, along with some flashy new techniques, with the allocation of nearly $30 million. For instance, they propose a crack team of internet minutemen that cruise from e-café to e-café instructing netizens on how to get around finicky firewalls and prevent email hacking (picture a Johnny Appleseed of internet freedom). These measures and others constitute a novel approach to censorship, but who knows how effective they might be in the face of the most oppressive regimes.
One of the tried and true ways of hopping firewalls is using a proxy server. Currently, I’m operating without one because I find most forms of social media trivial (redundant and incessant facebook status updates, anyone?) and the use of a proxy server can slow down performance. Most of the news I need to know can still be gleaned from the amalgamation that slips through the Great Firewall of China. English-language websites aren’t nearly or consistently blocked as Chinese-language sites.
Also, as pointed out with the latest crisis in Egypt, a large and sudden influx of users to these circumvention services slows things down to a crawl. Most of these circumvention services, at their current capacity, cater to a small population of die-hard users, those who venture outside the realm of censored internet on a daily basis.
Will the United States’ proposed support of free internet everywhere lead to even more strained relations with Beijing? Time will tell. And those of you reading this from a free port of entry to the web, keep your eyes peeled for the next changing of the guard. When it happens, be sure to email your friends in China with the news! New York Times story.
Rory Keane is an American-born teacher and writer who has logged nearly two years in China, and is working on another year-long stint in the Middle Kingdom. He writes about travel, sociopolitical issues, health, entertainment, and culture, among other topics.
