How Social Media Is Keeping the Egyptian Revolution Alive
Photo taken by Hanna Sistek
CAIRO -- The revolution in Egypt is unfinished business. While new online tools are used to strengthen civil society, activists are still struggling with the digital divide when it comes to mobilizing masses against the army and the remains of the old administration.
On a Saturday evening [9/10/11] in Cairo, a digital campaign against military trials for civilians is on. Activists are posting comments on the Facebook site of the Egyptian Armed Forces, whose Supreme Council -- the SCAF -- holds power in Egypt. SCAF took over after President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in the revolution in February.
Human rights groups claim that 10,000 civilian Egyptians have faced military trials since the uprisings began -- which is more than during the Mubarak regime.
The campaign was announced on a Facebook page and about 8,000 participants have joined. After bombarding the SCAF's site with comments for 15 minutes, the crowd moved on to criticizing the ministries' sites.
After a while, an official closed the comments sections on the Facebook sites. Activists continued the discussion, however, on Twitter with the hashtag #nomiltrials
Read the rest of the story on PBS MediaShift here: How Social Media Is Keeping the Egyptian Revolution Alive
