Using Online Video and Blogs to Build Public Awareness in Egypt
The Challenge
For Wael Abbas, internationally renowned blogger, the primary challenge and the sole reason for beginning his blog, was and indeed is, the strict authoritarian rule imposed on Egyptian citizens and the failure of the Egyptian press to provide free and unbiased information to the public. Abbas declares that is the strict rule of President Hosni Mubarak, who came to power in 1981 that has resulted in such a repressive climate within the borders of Egypt. Commenting of Mubarak rule, Human Rights Watch also take the view of Abbas stating that Mubarak’s rule has come to “epitomize the authoritarian Arab ruler, presiding over a system in which opponents are muzzled and imprisoned, and where torture is widespread".
Although there has always been a continuous, albeit small stream of opposition to Mubarak’s movement, it was not until late 2004, when the Egyptian government was preparing to hold a presidential election in which Mubarak would undoubtedly ‘win’, did the Egyptian public’s frustration reach breaking point. New grassroots civic movements, such as Kifaya, the Egyptian Movement for Change, quickly began to form and public protests were increasingly held against Mubarak. Yet despite these worthy protests and growing movements, the Egyptian media actively choose not to take notice of the changes happening within the country and dared not cover these events, resulting in the Egyptian public continuing to kept largely unaware of the growing civic mobilization within its own borders.
Consequently for Abbas, it was this blatant decision of the press not to cover the events of 2004, which lead him to begin his own personal revolution through the Internet. Commenting on this epoch, Abbas wrote: "That's when [2004] we bloggers decided to take matters into our own hands. We believed in the people's right to know." Thus backed by such a belief, he created the blog Egyptian Awareness, filling it with his own photos and videos of the protests. Through his work he seeks to expose and raise awareness about government repression of political protests, sexual harassment in Cairo, election fraud, the assault and torture of political dissidents, and gruesome incidents of police brutality. He has departed from the format and structure of previous Egyptian bloggers, limiting his commentary to simple captions of pictures, writing: “You can write a book and it can all be lies, but one picture can tell the whole story truthfully." (Ibid.)
Abbas’ challenge was vigorously renewed, with the 2011 Egyptian revolution, which took place following a popular uprising that began on 25 January 2011 and is still continuing as of August 2011.
Thousands have taken to the streets to protest poverty, rampant unemployment, government corruption and autocratic governance of President Hosni Mubarak. Although Mubarak has resigned from office and currently facing trial on corruption conspiring to kill protesters during the 18-day uprising, Abbas declares that there is still much to fight for in and for Egypt. He says that in the midst of this new challenge the mission of his blog still stands: that is“to reach people [and] mobilize them. It is to acquaint people with their rights. I want the uneducated Egyptian to know that it is not acceptable for anyone to slap him on [the back of his neck, as police have done with suspects]. If I can do that, then that's good enough." (Egypt Today)
The Players
There are three main players in this struggle. Wael Abbas, Mubarak’s regime and the audience of Abbas.
Abbas completed his BA in English at Ain Shams University in the early 1990s. Although not politically active on campus, he claims that it was only after the birth of the Internet that his career as a civic activist began to emerge. He began by writing for a group blog titled Voice of the People, whose writers used the Internet to discuss Egypt's political, religious, and social issues. Then, as stated, in 2004 frustrated by the passivity of the press, he launched Egyptian Awareness.
Abbas believes that his ability to emerge as and remain a key player in Egypt’s blogosphere, is due in part to the fact that he does not align himself with any movement, ideology or party. Notably, he launched Egyptian Awareness under the tagline "At the whim of its owner who doesn't work for anyone” (Egypt Today). Throughout his work, he has continuously worked to maintain credibility, believing this tenant it is an intrigue part of his work. He also emphasizes his independence within his work explaining: "I do not belong to any party or ideology…There are some Marxist ideas that I think are good, there are some Islamic ideas that I think are good, and there are some liberal ideas that I think are good” (Egypt Today)
However, Abbas work has lead him to be continuously targeted by the Egyptian government. The regime has resorted to character assassination, with pro-government forces spreading false rumours about his character and credibility. Security forces of the state have continually tapped Abbas's phones, making threatening phone calls to him, with comments such as: “Forget about the law. We are the law. The day you fall into our hands, you'll scream for help and you'll cry”.
Additionally, not only has Abbas received harassment through the media, but he has also suffered physically. In 2009, he was detained twice at the Cairo airport, and in the second incident, he was held for ten hours, with his laptop during this event being illegally confiscated. Furthermore in April of that year, a police officer and his brother broke into Abbas's home, assaulting both him and his mother and knocking out one of his teeth. It has been recorded that Abbas filed an official complaint, but it was not investigated due to "insufficient evidence," despite extensive medical and photographical documentation of Abbas' injuries (Global Voices Advocacy) . This harassment has only increased, with the Interior Ministry in 2009 filing manufactured charges against him. In November 2009, he was sentenced to six months of jail and a 500-pound fine for "tampering with an internet cable” .While he was cleared of the charges on appeal in February 2010, the next month he received the same sentence, this time for "providing a telecommunications service to the public without permission." However, despite this repression and harassment, Abbas refuses to become an anonymous netizen and continues to blog under his real name.
The Egyptian regime is the second player and although allowing some latitude to activists and dissidents, the state continues to be named as one of the top ten "worst countries to be a blogger" by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Although the regime has continuously argued against this label, claiming that they do not block many websites, it remains clear that the regime continues to engage in widespread intimidation, harassment, and detention of bloggers (Freedom House). Abbas states that although they may not completely block websites, "they have other ways that they attack blogs, [like] report[ing] them to the hosts, saying they have a lot of inappropriate material. They did that with my YouTube account [which was shut down for a week in 2007], my Facebook account, my email — they've shut down my email several times" (The Yale Journal of Human Rights) .
The third player here, is that of Abbas audience. Initially, when founding his blog, Abbas stated his intent was to reach the youth of Egypt with his message that abuses of Egyptians' human rights are unacceptable. He claimed his original target audience was "the youth who can't live a decent life" in Egypt. In a bid to attract young Egyptians without much education or interest in politics, he wrote his blog in colloquial Arabic, as opposed to the formal version of Arabic that is taught in schools, thus making his blog more accessible to Egyptians without a high level of education. As he says, "I try to talk to them in their own knowledge...and tell them that first we understand them, and second that we are interested in having a conversation with you. Don't make them feel intimidated, don't make them think that you are an elitist" (The Yale Journal of Human Rights). Although he continues to interact with the Egyptian youth, due to the international gained from his blog, he now writes for a wider audience. However, he continues to write in an informal style in an attempt to engage and interact with the widest audience possible.
Tools and Tactics:
1. Clear Aim: One of Abbas core tactics and indeed a tactic which was undoubtedly vital to his success, was the clear aim he set for his blog: to provide information. To provide information, concerning Egypt’s social and political problems. As stated previously, to maintain credibility he did not align himself with any party, ideology or group, but sought only to inform and expose issues to the Egyptian public, issues which the Egyptian press continually failed to expose. Furthermore, in keeping with his aim to inform, Abbas chooses most of the time not to provide solutions for the problems around which he attempts to raise awareness. Explaining his approach, Abbas states: “I don't have answers…I can only point out the problem…for people to solve it" (The Yale Journal of Human Rights).
2. Transparency: Another key tactic of Abbas was and is his, continued commitment to transparency in his work. He seeks to be as open about his writing, his content and himself as possible. An example of his commitment to transparency, was when in 2009, he was accused of being a criminal, he simply responded by posting a copy of his criminal record on his blog for all to see. He believes transparency within his work, enables him to maintain integrity as a journalist and credibility amongst his audience.
3. Unique style: Abbas blogging style is unique and is something which attracted and continues to attract followers. His blog Egyptian Awareness, is filled with his own photos and videos of the protests and unlike most Egyptian bloggers, he limited his commentary to simple captions of pictures, advocating: "You can write a book and it can all be lies, but one picture can tell the whole story truthfully”. Furthermore, his language is always informal, with frequent profanities being mixed in with his message. He states that this informal style allows him to reach a greater audience and more particularly many Egyptians who do not possess a high level of education. Speaking on this ‘tactic’, he says: “I try to talk to them in their own knowledge...and tell them that first we understand them, and second that we are interested in having a conversation with you. Don't make them feel intimidated, don't make them think that you are an elitist" ( (The Yale Journal of Human Rights).
4. Various methods: Although Abbas is known for his blog, in a bid to keep the public informed he simultaneously uses additional forms of communication, such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. Such a tactic not only provides various forms of information, and enables Abbas to reach a greater audience, but also due to the constant harassment received by the state, this tactic of engaging with numerous methods of communication, allows Abbas to keep connected, if one method was to fail on him. This was seen clearly when in 2009, both he and his mother were attacked by policemen and he used his cell phone to post running Twitter updates on his status and even from the police station he reported the crime at. His followers spread the news to blogs and then to traditional media outlets, both local and international, which publicized the state's harassment of Abbas.
STUMBLING BLOCKS:
The primary obstacle for Abbas and his work, is undoubtedly the repressive Mubarak regime. As previously noted Abbas, along with various other opposition groups, declares that is the strict rule of President Hosni Mubarak that has resulted in such a repressive climate within the borders of Egypt. Commenting on Mubarak’s rule, Human Rights Watch also take the view of Abbas stating that Mubarak’s rule has come to “epitomize the authoritarian Arab ruler, presiding over a system in which opponents are muzzled and imprisoned, and where torture is widespread" Furthermore, it is the regime itself which although allowing some latitude to activists and dissidents, continues to be named as one of the top ten "worst countries to be a blogger" by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Although the regime has continuously argued against this label, claiming that they do not block many websites, it remains clear that the regime continues to engage in widespread intimidation, harassment, and detention of bloggers (Freedom House). It seems unlikely that until the regime comes to an end and the Egyptian press cease its passivity in reporting the countries social and political problems, will the opposition players in Egypt cease their claims.
As a consequence to the repressive regime, the continued harrasement of Abbas is a major obstacle. As noted in the previous section ‘The Players’, since his blogs inception in 2004, to the present, Abbas continues to remain a target of the state, with both he and his family being continually harassed by the forces of the regime.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBnv_waa3v8
OUTCOME:
Abbas today is considered one of Egypt's most influential political bloggers. For his work, he has been awarded the prestigious awards of Human Rights Watch's 2008 Hellman Hammett Award, been named CNN's 2007 Middle East Person of the Year, and became the first blogger to receive the International Committee for Journalists' Knight International Journalism Award, in 2007. However, despite his increasing international attention and prestige, Abbas still remains clear in his aims. He says through his blog, he wanted his “country to change, to become more democratic, and to recognize the basic rights of its citizens”. Thus, he continues to focus his work “on making people aware of what was going on and helping them understand their rights”. He writes: I am a regular Egyptian who wants my country to be better …I want to see transfer of power, democracy, freedom, and freedom of opinion and expression”. Although a lot of work remains to done within the realm of freedom of the press in Egypt and there remains a constant battle against the Mubarak regime to make public awareness of societal issues a key tenant of the state, Abbas states that regardless of his difficulties faced and the work to do, he possess no regrets about his blogging career: "At least I have the respect of the people, and people know that I am doing something that is good…that might result in change in the end.”
Further Information:
Video interview with Wael Abbas
Tavaana Case Studies on Wael Abbas
Wael Abbas on Fil Omq, Egyptian Channel 2
TAKEAWAY 1:
Know your audience. Use language that your audience will understand and process. Wael Abbas using this tactic kept his blog informal and sought to reach a greater audience and more particularly many Egyptians who do not possess a high level of education. He writes: 'I try to talk to them in their own knowledge...and tell them that first we understand them, and second that we are interested in having a conversation with you. Don't make them feel intimidated, don't make them think that you are an elitist'.
Takeaway 2:
Use various media online methods. This will allow your message to be accessed my as many followers as possible, while also allowing you to keep connected in the case of a government shutdown on one method. Abbas although known for his blog, in a bid to keep the public informed he simultaneously uses additional forms of communication, such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
