The Arab Spring : Social Movements

Gladwell sends a very strong message about how social media cannot cause a major revolution in society; likewise, Baron is sending across the same message. Revolutions continue even after the internet is shut down. As crowds gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Baron describes how they “continued to grow during the five days that the Mubarak government shut down the internet” (330). The crowds increased in size without the help of social media. Somehow, word got out and people came to support the cause. Also, Baron brings into realization that Americans are too involved in the world of social media. Americans fail to realize all of the news that they are missing because they “can’t seem to survive without the constant stimulus of digital multitasking” (Baron 330). American citizens are too busy tweeting about what they ate for breakfast to worry about the hungry that is going on overseas. They depend on social networking to tell them the news rather that picking up a newspaper and reading about what is going on in their country or maybe even overseas in a different country.

In his article “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted”, published in the New York Times on October 2010, Malcolm Gladwell looks closely into the notion of social change and the different means to achieve it. He makes a clear distinction between traditional activism, which implies sacrifices and physical devotion, and current activism, based on social networks. The writer considers that “social media can’t provide what social change has always required” (Gladwell, paragraph 1).

Their actions alone sparked the revolution for sit-ins and silent protesting, contributing to the Civil Rights movement. The protesters didn’t put anything on social media that allowed their sit in at the diner to grow, but simply the sight of how “people spilled out onto the street”(Gladwell 400) that grabbed activists’ attention. Gladwell observes that in the absence of social media in these events, the protesters tend to be stronger, have emotional bonds, and be more organized. The people participating in the revolt had strong connections (strong-ties), due to the fact that they all share a high risk of consequences. Talking about the dangers starting on page 404, protesters faced violence from the Klu Klux Klan and other white supremacists. Gladwell uses the examples of the revolutions in Moldova and Iran to show how while Facebook and Twitter did let people be “confident to stand up for freedom and democracy” (401), the use of that social media is a weak-tie. Social media helped bring awareness to these, but as Gladwell explains “social networks are effective at increasing participation-by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires” (408). He talks about how social

Social movements have many different definitions. In his paper, Social Movements, James Jasper defines them as “sustained and intentional efforts to foster or retard social changes, primarily outside the normal institutional channels encouraged by authorities”. (CITE) In simpler terms, a social movement is a movement created by people who want a social or political change. A big part of social movements is resource mobilization theory. Resource mobilization theory states that social movements “succeed through the effective mobilization of resources and the development of political opportunities for members” (CITE). This means that if a social movement wants to be successful, they need to organize themselves so they can do things such as collect funds from constituents and elites, receive volunteers and members, and get their

In the essay ‘Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted’ by Malcolm Gladwell, he writes of how the revolutions of today will never amount to those of the past due to the lack of interactions that social media provides. In the article Tweet Like An Egyptian by Kevin Clarke, who writes of the revolution started by Arab women who learned of all the freedoms in the world by interacting on the Internet and wanting the same rights as all of the other women who have freedom in civilized countries around the world.

When this just isn’t the case, a large amount of movements have started out online. For instance, the LGBT community used social media, specifically Twitter, to raise awareness about the issue of gay rights. By using social media as a tool, the community was able to get not only everyday citizens to understand their side of the issue but also Congress and the Senate. However, the LGBT community didn’t solely rely on social media, they simply used it as just another tool. People used this tool to quickly spread the word and to organize protests and rallies, it is not very different than how MLK organized his

I enjoyed reading your post this week, too. I agree with you with “the group (al Qaeda) has lost their ability to sway the minds of the Arab youth for recruitment purposes.” That is very true that other Islamist terrorist lost their influenza on the region, too. This shows that people showed their willingness and men of goodwill for a more democratic regime. Didn’t they?

December 10, 2010, a Tunisian produce seller sets himself on fire in protest of the government’s extreme repression while under the leadership of the country’s former President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. The prolonged frustrations lead Tunisia into revolution, provoking the already corrupt and violent security forces to counteract in bloodshed. Still, and utilizing the Internet and social media, the revolutionaries reached out to global communities to depict the horror, in hope for help. Consequently and with success, Tunisians’ gained the sympathy they were seeking, while also inspiring the Arab Spring to ignite, a mass of revolutions across Arab nations.

We as a whole, become aware of social events locally, as well as around the world in this manner. Some examples of these movements would be "Stop Kony 2013" as well as donation supports for Haiti and the mass government implemented block for internet. We as a community have communicated mass events through social media, and stood for what we believed in without even leaving the comfort of out homes. We no longer go out to watch movies, because we can just switch on our devices and open our Netflix app, and enjoy a

The 2011 uprising in Egypt was in many ways a traditional brick-and-mortar revolution, but with a cyber-twist to it: based on their statistical analysis of a large body of tweets related to the 2011 uprising in Egypt, Starbird and Palen (2012) observed that activists used Twitter as an important tool to share ideas and information with like-minded people, because Twitter allows a high number of activists interact using its retweet and other mechanisms. In this case, Twitter was used among participants and supporters of a traditional mass movement to bypass government controlled

A revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests (both violent and non-violent), riots, and civil wars in the Arab World that began on 18 December 2010, later gained the heading “The Arab spring”. The Arab spring began by a twenty six year old boy named Mohammed Bouazizi was getting ready to sell fruits and vegetables in a rural town of Sidi Bouzid Tunisia. Bouazizi was the primary supporter for his widowed mother and six of his siblings. The entire incident originated when the police officer asked bouazizi to hand over his wooden cart, he refused the police women allegedly slapped him after being publicly humiliated bouazizi marched in front of a government building and set himself on fire. The Jasmine revolution in Tunisia, the shock wave swept across the country which threatened the stability of this oil-rich region with repercussion felt internationally. After the world witnessed what happened in Tunisia, it caused a spilled over into most of the Arab countries. Such as Egypt, Libya Syria and Yemen. Aim of this paper is to show that the current situation corollary of decades of failed policies, exacerbated by an unsolicited foreign intervention. The extensive consequences, I will argue, require cautious attention and careful management from international communities as well as the Arab human rights committee. This paper seeks to explore the profound causes that prompted the so called “Arab awakening” and the covert hidden agenda behind the sudden pro democratic

How has the rise of social media technologies affected political stabilities in the Middle East?

They have taken different forms such as civil resistance, strikes, demonstrations and marches. Social media revolution has also taken a big importance (such as Egypt) where through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or other social communication platforms people had a chance to rise up and state their opinions, though in some conditions this has been prevented. However, even with corruption, unemployment and the desire to disband the status quo, there are still fundamental differences as to why and how the revolution starts, more significantly in Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain. (Goldstone 2011)

“When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right” is a quote from Victor Hugo that symbolizes the new age of human rights. Over the years, countries around the world have witnessed terrifying yet life-changing revolutions, but no one in history had expected for such a quick and sudden revolution to begin like the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring has allowed people, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, to speak out for what they believe in today. Many laws have been overturned due to the amount of pressure the people are putting on their government. One revolution started it all, and ever since then, we have realized many of the biggest protests in history, the rise and downfalls of the economy, a different side to the

Contemporary social movements such as Arab Spring and Kony 2012 use the Internet and social media as potential tools towards change. But why are some more successful than others. This paper argues that when news outlets see the potential for change, they “premediate” (Richard Grusin) its possibilities, and make that change ever more possible in their coverage. On the other hand, extant stories that are more reactionary do not get the same amount of new exposure, and remain static. In other words, our media - not just social media, but news organizations - play a great role in shaping current events. I will compare and contrast the unfolding of the Arab Spring story, and how little changed regarding Kony 2012, as cases in point.