Beyond the Soapbox:

Facebook and the Public Sphere in Egypt

Anton Root April 2012 Undergraduate Honors Thesis Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies New York University

Table of Contents
Introduction .3 Egypts Economic and Political Regression ...6 The Men Behind the Group ..11 Public Sphere, Then and Now.......16 Public Sphere on the Net ...24 Facebooks Structural Inhibitions and Benefits 32 Comment Analysis ..38 A Virtual Public Sphere? ......48 Conclusion ........52 Appendix: Comment Translation ......55 Bibliography .69

Introduction The events that took place in Egypt between January 25th and February 11th, 2011 shocked the world, if only because of the veneer of stability created by ex-president Husni Mubaraks regime. When examined carefully, however, the Egyptian uprising that led to Mubaraks ousting and the dissolution of his National Democratic Party (NDP) reveals itself to have been a long-term project. In the past decade, in particular, economic policies, election fraud, and the growing unchecked power of the police drove people to discuss real alternatives to the Mubarak regime and to protest the blatant infractions of the state on citizens public and private lives. While the role of the media, specifically social media, in the Egyptian uprising has been hotly contested by pundits, few have looked at the specifics of online discussion and deliberation. Pundits arguments have tended to be too general to accurately judge the value of new media in aiding the uprising. The arguments they put out are important and often right, but they suffer from oversimplification and sensationalism, thereby restricting the important debate within the confines of a yes (Facebook played a major role in the uprising) or no (it did not) question. Yet an important debate it remains. As internet and social media usage rates increase worldwide, more groups and individuals will find themselves in the position of the Egyptians a people with a newfound ability to express opinions contrary to those of a small elite class. These dissident groups will not trace the footsteps of the Egyptians, but the Egyptian peoples actions can help offer a glimpse into the future of social media and are helping to end an era of media consumption in favor of a more participation-driven model. Through my analysis, I wish to better understand the concept of the public sphere as

4 it applies to modern life. The media landscape has gone through a number of profound changes since the invention of the internet, and the current focus on interaction and participation in the media seems to fit well with the tenets of the public sphere. A society in which exist a healthy sphere for reasoned discussion and civil society can help to expand citizens political role and create better living conditions. If Facebook, along with other social media platforms, was able to expand the public sphere in Egypt, it would represent a crucial political development, as well as strengthen the public sphere theory. In order to evaluate the role of social media in the Egyptian uprising, I attempt to mine the value of the Facebook group We are all Khaled Said, analyzing the deliberation surrounding one note posted by Wael Ghonim before Mubaraks announcement of resignation. Ignoring the big, largely unanswerable, question of whether social media helped to bring down the autocrat, I will instead filter my analysis through the lens of the public sphere as constructed by sociologist and political scientist Jrgen Habermas in his monograph The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Focusing solely on the notion of the public sphere, I look through the comments posted on Facebook and seek out similarities between Egyptians use of social media and the media Habermas wrote about in his analysis of social movements in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as the updated model presented by Yochai Benkler in The Wealth of Networks. In my thesis, I argue that Facebook does have the necessary components of becoming a place for considered debate and a virtual public sphere, but that its users inexperience with the platform has severely limited this capability. The Habermasean conception of the public sphere has several key characteristics: difference of opinion which leads to considered, not common, goals; a production of cultural as well as political

5 commodities; a disregard of status among the participants and inclusiveness as a basic tenet; common interest in truth or right policy; and an attempt to distill personal desires into abstract, universal ideals. I add to this list an internet-specific tenet of Benklers: the linking and see for yourself capability. The way that Facebook users interacted with each other on the pages of the group We are All Khaled Said fulfills several but not all of the categories outlined above. Essentially, the commenters used the new medium in old media ways. The biggest problems include an unwillingness to tolerate opposing viewpoints among the majority of the commenters and users deleting unpopular posts. Yet these problems were not true across the board and can be rectified with more understanding of the platform as a tool for sharing and collaborating, not for broadcasting. Before looking at Facebook and the public sphere I need to establish the political and social contexts. I focus specifically on the past decade of flawed economic and political policies both of which are key to Habermas conception of the public sphere instated by Mubarak and his ministers and how this atmosphere was able to make two previously unknown men Khaled Said and Wael Ghonim the symbols and voices for the uprising. I then turn to Habermas conception of the public sphere as outlined in The Structural Transformation, comparing his historical narrative to the virtual public sphere (if it may be so called) created by the Egyptians on Facebook. Egypts Economic and Political Regression The liberalization of Egypts economy began in the late 1970s by Anwar Sadat, after years of nationalization championed by Gamal Abdel Nasser, in order to spur slowing

6 growth rates. 1 The next two and a half decades saw privatization of state assets and an abandonment of policies that had supported workers and peasants. 2 While bread riots did erupt in Egypt on numerous occasions, as they did throughout the region, the authorities were able to subvert dissident activities by dividing the opposition and cracking down on radical individuals. Though economic liberalization and foreign investment in the mid1980s and early 1990s did help the economy (and especially the military, which was the main beneficiary of foreign investment), the growth rates once again began to fall in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Responding to the downturn, Husni Mubaraks son, Gamal, picked to head the National Democratic Partys Policies Secretariat, began speaking of further liberalization of the economy. His plea for the support of the difficult reforms ahead in 2003 was in contrast to the hollow populist statements typically associated with the NDP. 3 The appointment of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif the following year set in motion the younger Mubaraks economic plans. Among other measures, corporate taxes were halved to 20 percent, public assets were privatized, lower customs duties encouraged foreign investment, and price controls were done away with. 4 The success of the revamped liberalization efforts in Egypt, as throughout the region, has been debated. 5 It is possible to identify two overarching effects, however. First,
1

"Egypt; Economists Blame 'Neo-Liberalism' for Woes." Africa News [Johannesburg] 18 Jan. 2010. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 2 Dahi, Omar S. "Understanding the Political Economy of the Arab Revolts | Middle East Research and Information Project." MERIP Home. Middle East Research and Information Project, Summer 2011. Web. <http://www.merip.org/mer/mer259/understanding-political-economy-arab-revolts>. 3 Badreldin, Ahmed. "Headed in the Right Direction." Business Today 12 Nov. 2003.LexisNexis Academic. Web. 4 "Egypt; Economists Blame 'Neo-Liberalism' for Woes." Africa News [Johannesburg] 18 Jan. 2010. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 23 Nov. 2011.; Egypt at a Glance: 2005-06. Rep. London: Economist Intelligence Unit, 2004. Print. 5 Dahi, Omar S. "Understanding the Political Economy of the Arab Revolts ." MERIP Home. Middle East Research and Information Project, Summer 2011. Web. <http://www.merip.org/mer/mer259/understanding-political-economy-arab-revolts>.

7 with rising unemployment and inflation, the benefits that the economic policies may have brought have been enjoyed most by a small number of wealthy citizens. Those closest to the NDP were able to profit from their connections, at others benefit. 6 Promises of wealth trickling down had not come to fruition, and many Egyptians became worse off than they were prior to 2004. The second conclusion to be drawn is the decreasing power of NDP and the military. As more wealthy businessmen profited from the new economic policy, the state grip on the economy withered, becoming confined to judicial, legislative and security rather than economic issues. 7 In order to counter its diminishing influence over the economy, the Mubarak regime attempted to consolidate power in other ways. The November 2010 parliamentary elections serve as a good example of the NDPs falling legitimacy and the desperate measures the party had to resort to in order to stay in power. Widely denounced as rigged to favor NDP candidates, Mubarak loyalists won nearly 90 percent of all seats when the two main opposition groups the Muslim Brotherhood and the Wafd party boycotted the second round of elections. 8 Traditionally, voting had been a way for NDP to retain its legitimacy. By giving the voters a choice though flawed and insignificant the regime was able to sacrifice a small number of local seats without threatening the large parliamentary majority it had expected to enjoy. Though the rigging may have deepened Egyptians disillusionment in previous elections, the blatantly fixed vote of late 2010 came alongside rising food prices, growing economic disparity, a media crackdown, and a citizenry fed up with police brutality. 9 The Egyptians were no longer able to place their
6 7

"Egypt; Ruling Party in Free Fall." Africa News [Johannesburg] 29 Oct. 2008. LexisNexis Academic. Web. "Egypt; Economists Blame 'Neo-Liberalism' for Woes." Africa News [Johannesburg] 18 Jan. 2010. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 8 "Troubling Results in Egypt." The Japan Times 17 Dec. 2010. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 9 Topol, Sarah A. "Elections Boost Mubarak." Newsweek 20 Dec. 2010. LexisNexis Academic. Web.

8 hope on a charismatic official or promises of better economic well being; the entire system of government was seen as irreversibly corrupt and outdated. As the government became more and more detached from the population, cooperation among opposition groups or, at least, tolerance of one another grew. This made the state weaker: it became harder to exploit the differences among the secular and Islamist opposition groups, which it had done by presenting itself as the defender of the population against radicals. This also made the opposition stronger, as it presented a unified and coordinated front against the regime and made it clear that the stereotypes perpetuated by the regime were nothing but gross propaganda. Much of this anti-government cooperation has taken place online. Internet usage in Egypt increased in 2002, when the government privatized the sector and ended its monopoly over internet service providers. 10 Blogging became a popular medium of voicing opinions around 2004 and 2005, and it helped to forge the Kifaya movement an alliance of opposition groups which called on Mubarak to leave and was against the succession of Mubaraks son to the presidency. 11 As Charles Hirschkind noted in 2010, while many of those who write and within the blogosphere are involved in Islamist organizations, and identify themselves on their blogs as members of these organizations, the political language they are developing online departs radically from that used within these organizations. 12 The blogs helped to provide a space for elaboration of political discourse and enabled the creation of new models of political citizenship. 13 Put simply, the Kifaya movement and
10

Bahgat, Hossam. "Egypt's Virtual Protection of Morality." MERIP Home. Middle East Research and Information Project, Spring 2004. Web. <http://www.merip.org/mer/mer230/egypts-virtual-protectionmorality>. 11 Hirschkind, Charles. "The Road to Tahrir." The Immanent Frame. Social Science Research Council, 9 Feb. 2011. Web. <http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2011/02/09/the-road-to-tahrir/>. 12 Hirschkind, Charles. "New Media and Political Dissent in Egypt." Revista De Dialectologia Y Tradiciones Populares 65.1 (2010): 137-54. Web. 13 Ibid.

9 the bloggers who promoted it played an important part in creating a culture of unified resistance against an authoritarian government that has been able to impose emergency laws for almost three decades. Public discontent has been a staple in Egypt for many years. While union and opposition leaders organized bread riots for decades in order to highlight the citizens poverty, protests have become more political in recent years. The number of yearly protests has increased from several dozen to several hundred over the past decade. 14 One of the most significant protests took place in April of 2008. A general strike in solidarity with textile factory workers in Mahalla brought the country to a standstill and mobilized citizens of various backgrounds. These encounters with the state had two distinct results. First, protest groups were able to organize themselves. Leaders emerged, communication improved, and the number of participants increased. Second, it cultivated in Egyptians a very acute hatred of the state police. As Mona El-Ghobashy wrote after the uprising, a corrupt and omnipresent part of the government, [the state police] had become the chief administrative arm of the state, aggregating the functions of several agencies. Police not only deal with crime and issue passports, drivers licenses, and birth and death certificates. They also resolve local conflicts over land and sectarian relations; fix all national and sub-national elections; vet graduate school candidates and academic appointments at every level; monitor shop floors and mediate worker-management conflicts; observe soccer games and Friday prayers; and maintain a network of local informants in poor neighborhoods, to ensure that dispossession is not converted into political organization. Officers are free to work out their own methods of revenue extraction, sometimes organizing the urban drug trade. Patrolmen routinely collect tribute from taxi and microbus drivers and shopkeepers, while high-ranking officers partner with
14

El-Ghobashy, Mona. "The Praxis of the Egyptian Revolution." MERIP Home. Middle East Research and Information Project, Spring 2011. Web. <http://merip.org/mer/mer258/praxis-egyptian-revolution>.

10 landowners or crony businessmen By January 25, 2011, every protest sector had field experience with police rule. 15 It is little wonder that when the government declared January 25th a national holiday to honor the police freeing up the population to voice its displeasure tens of thousands of Egyptians marched in protest. The protests continued across Egypt for over two weeks, making famous the names Khaled Said and Wael Ghonim, as well as raising questions among commenters on the media about the power of social media, specifically Facebook, and communicative action in closed societies. I now turn to a focus on the two men whose actions were a product of, and helped shape, the events outlined above, as well as the inherent benefits and drawbacks of Facebook as a medium for dissent. Saids death became a rallying point for many Egyptians, who initially saw his case as a humanitarian (not political) issue that the government had to deal with. This was the sentiment that Ghonim captured in his posts as the administrator of the Facebook group We are all Khaled Said. Ghonims use of the medium provides perhaps the best example of the platforms potential as a platform for debate, and if more Egyptians followed his lead, the medium would certainly be more robust and would enhance the rational debates taking place within the country. The Men Behind the Group Khaled Saids death for a long time had no definitive account, and only now are details beginning to become established. Yet where the details are murky, leaving the angry protesters to imagine the worst and to add to the legend created around the so-called Emergency Law Martyr, the main developments had been confirmed. On June 6th, 2010, 28-year-old Khaled Said was sitting at an internet caf, Space Net, in Alexandrias
15

Ibid.

11 Cleopatra Hammamat neighborhood. At around 11:30 at night, two plainclothes police officers walked in and demanded the patrons identification. As the officers lacked a search warrant, Said refused to comply. The policemen attempted to arrest Said, but he refused to go with the officers. They smashed his head on a marble countertop and took him outside, where the beating continued. 16 Said cried out for help and for the officers to stop beating him, but the assault continued. Then, the officers put him in their car and, having realized that he had died, drove the body back to the area of the beating and dumped it. 17 News of the beating spread overnight across the neighborhood. Several days later, grisly pictures of Saids beaten face were posted online, and the incident grabbed the headlines across Egypt and abroad.18 The Ministry of Interiors account differed drastically: Said was a wanted criminal, a military service deserter, and a marijuana addict, who died by choking on drugs when approached by the police on the street. 19 As the story unraveled, the regimes response to the public backlash became increasingly bewildering and added fuel to the protests. Egyptians sympathetic to Saids cause quickly began to think that the young man had been targeted for posting a video online of local police officers dividing narcotics; 20 two state-sanctioned autopsies repeated the claim that Said had died from asphyxia, only further enraging citizens. 21 The eventual

16

"Alleged Police Murder behind Egypt Protests." YouTube. Al Jazeera English, 14 June 2010. Web. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGhoJ6FPFEA>. 17 Ali, Amro. "Egypt's Collision Course with History." On Line Opinion. The National Forum, 9 July 2010. Web. <http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10663>. 18 Attalah, Lina. "Alexandria Policemen Beat Young Man to Death, Says Rights Group." Egypt Independent. Al-Masry Al-Youm, 11 June 2010. Web. <http://www.egyptindependent.com/node/48225>.; "Egyptian Policemen Charged over Khaled Said Death." BBC News. BBC, 07 Jan. 2010. Web. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10476720>. 19 Zeinobia. "The Other Khaled." Egyptian Chronicles. 14 June 2010. Web. <http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com/2010/06/follow-up-other-khalid.html?utm_source=feedburner>. 20 Zeinobia. "Why Khalid Was Murdered !!??" Egyptian Chronicles. 12 June 2010. Web. <http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com/2010/06/follow-up-why-khalid-was-murdered.html>. 21 "Autopsy Says Egypt Activist Choked, Protest Planned." Reuters. 23 June 2010. Web. <http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLDE65M22620100623?sp=true>.

12 trials of the two officers were highly guarded, and each one saw protesters clash with police and pro-regime thugs. Said was a young, middle-class Egyptian whose activism against the regime was mild. The video of supposedly corrupt police officers found on his computer had been circulating around the neighborhood for several weeks prior to his death. 22 His brutal killing, enabled by the emergency laws that had been extended for another two years only several weeks earlier, encouraged thousands of people to demonstrate against police brutality. Said became known as El Shaheed the martyr of emergency laws and police brutality. Perhaps more damning, however, was the governments response. It showed a lack of accountability and an unwillingness on the part of the judiciary to fairly conduct a trial, and displayed the chilling extent to which the government was willing to go in order to protect the semblance of stability it had built up over the years. With local officials protecting their own from becoming scapegoats, Egyptians anger quickly fell on the central government. Opposition leaders Mohamed El Baradei and Ayman Nour visited Saids family, drawing more attention and sympathy to his case. 23 Many protests clashed with police, which only helped to underscore the protesters message. 24 People conducted politics on the street as they made popular demands, only to experience the authorities willingness to crush any dissent against the ruling regime. Politics also went viral. Videos connected to the case witness testimonies, tributes to Said, news clips made their way online; bloggers meticulously followed and continued
22

Khalil, Ashraf. Liberation Square: Inside the Egyptian Revolution and the Rebirth of a Nation. New York: St. Martin's, 2012. Print. p. 83
23

.. 5 ". Al Dostor. 25 June 2010. Web.

Al Wakeel, Hossam. "

<http://www.dostor.org/politics/egypt/10/june/25/20352>. 24 "Egyptians Beaten While Protesting Police Brutality." USA Today. Gannett, 13 June 2010. Web. <http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-06-13-egypt-police-beating_N.htm>.

13 to publicize the story; commemoratory Facebook groups became some of the most popular online destinations for Egyptians. The most prominent of these groups, was created by Wael Ghonim an Egyptian Google marketing executive and the second of the two key actors who made the Facebook group popular. The group was inherently political but Ghonim resisted making it overtly anti-regime, knowing that in order for the cause to become a mainstream one, 25 he had to be inclusive hence the name We are all Khaled Said. Ghonim felt that as a young, middle-class Egyptian, it very well could have been him in the news stories instead of Said, and he decided to speak from the first person point of view in order to reflect this belief. This technique resonated with the groups followers it was as though Khaled Said was speaking from his grave, 26 writes Ghonim in his recent book Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People Is Greater than the People in Power. From the beginning, Ghonim and his co-administrator, AbdelRahman Mansour, made it a point to focus not only on the events surrounding Saids death and the subsequent trials of the two policemen involved in the beating though there certainly was a lot of news and opinions circulating related to those topics on Facebook and in mainstream media. Ghonim himself became a symbol of the opposition when he was detained for eleven days for his role in administering the group (which had reached nearly half a million followers by then) in late January and early February of 2011. It was yet another misstep by the regime and further brought to light the extent to which the Egyptian police force was willing to go in order to silence opponents of the government. Ghonims emotional, antiregime television interview on February 7th, the day of his release made him an Egyptian opinion leader as it was the first time real mainstreaming of the protesters message and
25

Ghonim, Wael. Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People Is Greater than the People in Power. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print. p. 60 26 Ibid., 61

14 true face. 27 It also drew more attention to the group, which, by then, was instrumental in organizing and rallying large protests against Mubarak. The groups anti-regime campaign was well organized and displayed Ghonim and Mansours understanding of the tools offered by Facebook. The administrators posted not only their own opinions, but included articles from newspapers and popular opinion cartoons, thus making the group an essential news aggregator for those interested in police brutality, Saids trial and, later, the anti-government uprising. They combined images of protests, videos, flyers, photos of newspaper front pages, proclamations, interviews, poems, statistics, and links in order to provide the most up-to-date and useful content for their readers. They looked beyond Egypt, supporting the protests in the region, creating an English version of the group, and relating international affairs to the events at home. They actively sought user participation, inviting comments and asking them to answer poll questions the number of responses often reached into the tens of thousands. The page displayed anti-regime graffiti from Tahrir Square, solidifying the cultural icons in the history books. We are all Khaled Said became a virtual hub for people of all opinions to converse, read news, and share in the revolution against the regime. When asked by CNNs Wolf Blitzer where the Arab spring was heading next, Ghonim responded Ask Facebook,
28

highlighting his belief in the social media network as a way to counter government

propaganda. In a country that struggles with high poverty, relatively high illiteracy, and an internet penetration rate of around 27% 29 with many people able to access the internet
27

Khalil, Ashraf. Liberation Square: Inside the Egyptian Revolution and the Rebirth of a Nation. New York: St. Martin's, 2012. Print. p. 250 28 "Ghonim: Facebook to Thank for Freedom." CNN. 11 Feb. 2011. Web. <http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2011/02/11/exp.ghonim.facebook.thanks.cnn>. 29 "Percentage of Individuals Using the Internet, Fixed (wired) Internet Subscriptions, Fixed (wired)broadband Subscriptions." ICT Statistics Database. International Telecommunications Union, 2010. Web.

15 only rarely through internet cafes (like the one Said was dragged out of) skeptics are right to question the groups influence (and Facebooks more generally) on Egyptian politics or society. Ghonims technologically deterministic rhetoric may reflect a certain reality, but it also remains unconvincing. At the time of the uprising, that number of Facebook users in Egypt was around five million, 30 accounting for around 6% of the total population. Currently, nearly two million users (both Egyptians and foreigners) have Liked the group, making it one of the most popular ones in Egypt. While this is a relatively small number of people, it was enough to drive a large crowd onto the streets, either directly or through other media like text messages, which circulated among friends who may not have seen the online Facebook group. Some of the safety issues raised by critics of technological determinism (such as Evgeniy Morozov) were mitigated, as the protest times and locations posted on Facebook were intentionally misleading the real routes and times were spread by phone and word of mouth in order to surprise the police. 31 That We are all Khaled Said, along with other Facebook groups and other forms of media, played an instrumental role in the uprising by helping to organize, document, and publicize the uprising is clear. What my paper will examine is the role of Facebook beyond that, looking at its potential impact on the public sphere in a country that has experienced decades of political repression and media censorship, limiting critical debate and communicative action. Though Facebook is drastically different from the pamphlets, newspapers, and novels Jrgen Habermas focused on in Structural Transformation, there are important similarities (as well as differences)
<http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/icteye/Reporting/ShowReportFrame.aspx? ReportName=/WTI/InformationTechnologyPublic>. 30 Kang, Cecilia, and Ian Shapira. "Facebook's Egypt Conundrum." The Washington Post 3 Feb. 2011. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 31 El-Ghobashy, Mona. "The Praxis of the Egyptian Revolution." MERIP Home. Middle East Research and Information Project, Spring 2011. Web. <http://merip.org/mer/mer258/praxis-egyptian-revolution>.

16 between the media landscape of contemporary Egypt and 17th and 18th century European societies that should be outlined, along with the general tenets of Habermas theory on the public sphere. As more people begin to use the full range of the features that Facebook offers, the platforms role as a virtual public sphere will expand considerably. By highlighting the relevant aspects of Habermas conception of the public sphere, I establish a loose standard to which a forum should adhere, if it is to be considered a space for rational debate. If discussions on the pages of Facebook did in fact mirror those that Habermas wrote about in his treatise, the argument for the platforms importance in the Eyptian uprising would be strengthened considerably. The Public Sphere, Then and Now In 1962, Jrgen Habermas wrote The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, the manuscript that helped to launch a new field of political theory. In his book, Habermas essentially asks when and under what conditions the arguments of mixed companies could become authoritative bases for political action. 32 Based in a specific historic setting European countries and city-states and the United States in the late 17th and 18th centuries Habermas account begins by defining the private individual and drawing the distinction between the private and public realms. The private individual was a product of a new social order that became possible due to the emergence of early finance and trade capitalism, 33 which enabled a bourgeois class to separate itself from the individuals ruling the state and dominate certain parts of the economy. This eventually led to the development of civil society, which came into existence as the corollary of a depersonalized state authority. 34 Market forces, thus,
32 33

Calhoun, Craig J. Habermas and the Public Sphere. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1992. Print. p. 1 Habermas, Jrgen. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1989. Print. p. 14 34 Ibid., p. 19

17 helped to solidify the private realm by encouraging interactions outside of state control. They also helped to mold news itself [into] a commodity, 35 creating a way to popularize ideas that did not necessarily go along with (and in many cases went against) the agenda set by the ruling class. Another important aspect in forming the private individual was the family unit, which was completely free from state control and was crucial in providing a basis for the immanent critique of the public sphere itself. 36 Indeed, the family was not only private but intimate, the core of the private realm. It allowed for the opinions of women and dependents, who were factually and legally excluded from the political public sphere, to be heard by those who carried their interests into the public debate. 37 As Habermas notes, the medium of the deliberation between the public and the state was peculiar and without precedent: peoples public use of their reason. 38 Though he acknowledges that the manifestations of the public use of reason varied notes, novels, pamphlets, newsletters, salons, coffee houses were all forums for public debate Habermas identified three common elements between all these platforms for expressing opinions. The first was the preservation of a kind of social intercourse that, far from presupposing the equality of status, disregarded status altogether. 39 All individuals had the right to contribute to critical debates. It was the best ideas regardless of the identity of the speaker were the ones that held the most clout. The best ideas could not simply be those that were the most popular; opinion was considered, not common, and the participants scrutinized every idea. They attempted to distill from a plurality of selfish interests those that were the

35 36

Ibid., p. 21 Calhoun, Craig J. Habermas and the Public Sphere. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1992. Print. p. 11 37 Habermas, Jrgen. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1989. Print. p. 56 38 Ibid., p. 27 39 Ibid., p. 36

18 most universal general, abstract [and] depersonalized. 40 Disagreement, skepticism and criticism were meant to improve the strength of the argument to make it palatable to even the most ardent disbelievers. The conversation was furthered by not merely sharing what people already think or know but also a process of potential transformation in which reason is advanced by debate itself. 41 Habermas goes on to say, however, that this does not mean the transformation of public discourse into a sort of market for ideas, which would imply that some were producers and others consumers, and that some had a disproportional wealth to promote certain ideas the laws of the market were suspended as were the laws of the state. 42 The second commonality among the forums for debate was the presupposition of the problematization of areas that until then had not been questioned. 43 When information became, at least in theory, available to all, it also became available to all interpretations, not a single one formulated by the ruling class or the church, thus challenging the status quo. The third commonality was the establishment of the public as inclusive in principle. 44 Habermas does not mean to say that the public sphere was composed of all members of society, but that the availability of information via the market made it theoretically available to all, thus making inclusiveness a necessary (though particularly elusive) condition of the public sphere. The characteristics of the public sphere disregarding status, critiquing the status quo and including all who had access to cultural and informational commodities stood in stark contrast to the political systems of the time. The principle of absolute sovereignty was
40 41

Calhoun, Craig J. Habermas and the Public Sphere. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1992. Print. p. 14 Ibid., p. 29 42 Habermas, Jrgen. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1989. Print. p. 36 43 Ibid. 44 Calhoun, Craig J. Habermas and the Public Sphere. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1992. Print. p. 13

19 challenged, secrets of the state began to be looked upon as dangerous, and authority was delegated only for executing the norms that were established through public discourse. 45 These norms were not simply instances of common opinion, but rather formulated through critical discourse; this public opinion ultimately came to assert itself as the only legitimate source of law. 46 Civil society took root and private individuals came to see themselves not as subjects of a tyrant, but as members of a society based on equality, inclusiveness, and openness to new interpretations of rules. This phenomenon led to revolutionary movements that saw representative governments (at least representative of the bourgeoisie) take power from sovereigns. Though Habermas was not chronicling the rise of democracy in Europe, he does argue that an essential condition of democracy in large-scale industrial capitalist societies is the existence of a public sphere. This conception of democracy is not quantitative, but is related to self-determination, to the possibility of greater collective control by people over the political, social and economic circumstances of their lives. 47 Significantly, this is not limited to only the political realm; indeed, participation is an activity that can be realized in the social and cultural spheres as well. 48 After explaining some of the ideologies that became prevalent at the time, Habermas then turns to discussing the demise of the public sphere. Though the crux of my thesis will be based on the first part of Structural Transformation, I briefly mention some of Habermas later arguments as they deal with the rise of mass media and the expansion of the public sphere to individuals

45

Habermas, Jrgen. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1989. Print. p. 52-53 46 Ibid., p. 54 47 Calhoun, Craig J. Habermas and the Public Sphere. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1992. Print. p. 164-165 48 Ibid., p. 86

20 outside the bourgeoisie; both themes are important and are directly related to modern day Egypt. According to Habermas, as access to the public sphere was expanded to the unpropertied classes, it undermined the critical aspect of the debate. Individuals who were not as educated were disadvantaged; class antagonisms became prominent and the functioning of the public sphere thus shifted from rational-critical debate to negotiation.
49

Groupness became the goal of the public sphere, and this desire was heightened by the

advent of mass media. To Habermas, the world fashioned by the mass media is a public sphere in appearance only. 50 The production of novel ideas through the process of rational-critical debate was replaced by consumption. The public sphere became less politicized; niche markets ensured that common culture was subdued and it became impossible to effectively deliberate in groups that not only had unharmonious goals, but also drew on sources that were not familiar to all readers and commenters. The public sphere in a mass media world, in short, took on the traits of a secondary realm of intimacy. 51 This held true in Egypt, as in every other place whose citizens had access to mass media. Egypts public sphere and civil society were weak before the fall of Mubarak, but they were not hopeless. The factors that allowed for the creation of the private individual were present in Egypt, as well. The intimate, domestically centered sphere was strong in Egypt, and perhaps was as close to Habermas conception as any of todays societies, owing to high female unemployment. 52 Many people were able to make monetary
49 50

Ibid., p. 22 Habermas, Jrgen. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1989. Print. p.171 51 Calhoun, Craig J. Habermas and the Public Sphere. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1992. Print. p. 24 52 "Egypt - Overview." United Nations Population Fund Agency - Egypt. United Nations Population Fund Agency. Web. <http://egypt.unfpa.org/english/Staticpage/419d6d02-ac4e-4c1f-af98-

21 transactions outside of the realm of the state, but the state still controlled a large part of the economy. Indeed, the most lucrative positions and the ones that offered the best way for advancements the military and the bureaucracy were still tied to the state. Only the entertainment industry offered as good of an opportunity for advancement for middle-class Egyptians. 53 The armed forces, which saw themselves as the protectors of the nation and were the cradle of every Egyptian president since the Free Officers took power in 1952, controlled as much as 25% to 40% of the economy. 54 Mubaraks cronies were able to exploit the part of the economy not controlled by the military. Though tensions rose between the military and the wealthy businessmen, this conflict was never open to the majority of Egyptians; the military and the businessmen had enacted selfish economic reforms that sought to improve the situation for only themselves. The class comparable to Habermas conception of the bourgeoisie was thus within the state, not outside it. Still, Egypt was developing a middle class that, in a way, leapfrogged the Egyptian economy and was establishing itself in the global market; Wael Ghonim typifies this demographic.55 The role of the media in shaping the Egyptian public sphere was important even before the social media explosion. Though Habermas had primarily negative things to say about mass media, many of which have held true in the decades since his book was published, the medias use in Egypt provides a striking counterpoint to Habermas argument. The media environment in Egypt is quite vibrant newspapers, radio and television are available to most, while the internet, which houses access to digital versions
e48aa894b7cd/GENDER.aspx>. 53 Khalil, Ashraf. Liberation Square: Inside the Egyptian Revolution and the Rebirth of a Nation. New York: St. Martin's, 2012. Print. p. 77 54 Abul-Magd, Zeinab. "The Army and the Economy in Egypt." Jadaliyya. 23 Dec. 2011. Web. <http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/3732/the-army-and-the-economy-in-egypt>. 55 "Muslim Middle Class Plays Role In Egypt Uprising." Morning Edition. National Public Radio, 18 Feb. 2011. Web. <http://www.npr.org/2011/02/18/133860407/The-Middle-Easts-Middle-Class>.

22 of older media and also blogs, videos and social media, is available to many people through internet cafes. While Habermas disapproved of the mass media, it is important to highlight it here to help understand the Egyptian context. Of particular importance were regional television networks, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya. Before the January 25 uprising, Egypts national channels and newspapers were not actively censored, providing an outlet for those dissatisfied with the regime. This enabled the regime to keep a semblance of legitimacy in the eyes of the international community, which would have condemned outright censorship. However, the regime subjected the media to more subtle pressure and censorship. In 2010, for example, the state-controlled Nilesat company stopped airing 12 private satellite channels that supported the opposition Muslim Brotherhood a month before parliamentary elections; the regime effectively barred live coverage of the elections to private companies; and police harassed journalists on the day of elections. 56 International channels like Al Jazeera (based in Qatar) and Al Arabiya (based in Dubai, owned by Saudi Arabia) are not directly affected by such censorship, though the government decided to black out Al Jazeeras coverage in Egypt during the January 25 uprising. 57 Despite its seemingly rigid, one-to-many format of information dissemination, broadcast media actually helped to open up debate and promoted various viewpoints. In the 50s and 60s, radio was used for citizen education, especially in the countryside. 58 After several decades, television began to overtake radio. Egypt is a regional broadcasting hub,

56

"Attacks on the Press 2010: Egypt." Committee to Protect Journalists. 15 Feb. 2011. Web. <http://cpj.org/2011/02/attacks-on-the-press-2010-egypt.php>. 57 "Al Jazeera Shut down in Egypt, Signal Cut." ABS-CBN News. 30 Jan. 2011. Web. <http://www.abscbnnews.com/global-filipino/world/01/30/11/al-jazeera-shut-down-egypt-signal-cut>. 58 Abu-Lughod, Ibrahim. "The Mass Media and Egyptian Village Life." Social Forces 42.1 (1963): 97104. JSTOR. Web.

23 and it has the highest number of households with televisions in the MENA region. 59 El Moustafa Lahlali writes, the wide range of programmes offered by the Arab media has encouraged debate and rational criticism, which has been missing for so long in the Arab public sphere. 60 He continues, the new Arab media practice has contributed to the emergence of a tolerant, open-minded Arab public that is willing to accommodate different cultural signs and accept different views. 61 Hirschkinds writings support this analysis. He writes that blogging, which emerged several years after Al Jazeera became popular, allowed for the possibility of linkages, the articulation of shared interest and desires that otherwise would remain hidden, or at least fail to find institutional expression within existing forms of affiliation and political action.
62

The internet allowed for many more people to express their opinions, which often lay

contrary to the opinions of the state, but it was not the first medium that allowed for the expansion of the public sphere. In addition to promoting publics and critical-rational debate, television also promoted education and literacy. Habermas does not single either of these out as a positive contribution of mass media, 63 though especially for illiterate Egyptians popular media was one of very few sources of education. Before the uprising, the internet and broadcast media, even if they were not acting as a space for rational debate, began to alter the practices of the opposition and invited more deliberation among the citizens.

59

Allam, Rasha. "Media Landscape - Egypt." European Journalism Centre. 8 Nov. 2010. Web. <http://www.ejc.net/media_landscape/article/egypt/>. 60 Lahlali, ElMustapha. Contemporary Arab Broadcast Media. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2011. Print. p. 66 61 Ibid., p. 70 62 Hirschkind, Charles. "New Media and Political Dissent in Egypt." Revista De Dialectologia Y Tradiciones Populares 65.1 (2010): 137-54. Web. 63 Calhoun, Craig J. Habermas and the Public Sphere. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1992. Print. p. 24

24 Public Sphere on the Net In many societies, Egypt included, citizens have been unable to build vibrant civil society groups and to engage their peers in rational public debate. Without these institutions, democracy is impossible to achieve, as they allow citizens to voice concerns with their society and government at local and national levels. Indeed, Habermas argues that such institutions lead societies to embrace democracy as the proper form of governance. In most dictatorial regimes, as in Egypt, the state has a vested interest in separating private individuals from one another and keeping civil society groups weak and ineffective. Online media are only one aspect of a vibrant society, but they occupy an important place due to their appeal to the middle class and their stress on participation, not consumption. The internets role in activism will only continue to expand in the coming years, and using Egypt as a case study can help us to understand further uprisings and communicative activism in a new age. My focus on Facebook is based on the belief that as Facebook continues to grow it will become a more commonplace alliance and space for participation in critical debates. Social media allows activists to organize as virtual groups. This new medium is unlikely to whither away in the near future due to the internets decentralized structure, possibilities for censorship circumvention, and global outlook. Its effect on the public sphere is important as a precedent to democracy and as an alternate to real-world public spheres. Many pundits have written about the effect of social media on the Arab spring. This argument has generally been framed as an either 64 (it played a part)/or 65 (it did not)

64

Eltahawy, Mona. "Tunisia: The Uprising Has a Hashtag." The Star. 8 Jan. 2011. Web. <http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/918463--tunisia-the-uprising-has-a-hashtag>. 65 Rosen, Jay. "The "Twitter Can't Topple Dictators" Article." Pressthink. 13 Feb. 2011. Web. <http://pressthink.org/2011/02/the-twitter-cant-topple-dictators-article/>.

25 debate in the US. Those who partook in the discussion include Evgeniy Morozov 66 and Malcolm Gladwell 67(both of whom are skeptical about social medias role in the protests), as well as Clay Shirky 68, Ethan Zuckerman69, Zeynep Tufekci 70, and many others. The commenters base their arguments around a central question: would the uprisings have happened without social media? This is certainly an important question, but it is in many ways irrelevant the uprisings did happen, and social media was used. Answering hypothetical questions can only take an argument to a certain point. The pundits gut reactions, while ably argued, are too general and take certain facts for granted. In order to help clarity and better contextualize the debate, I focus on a specific aspect of social media in the Egyptian uprising. I analyze the discussions of the Facebook group We are all Khaled Said, looking specifically for the factors that Habermas deemed to be crucial to the public sphere. Key among these are difference of opinion which leads to considered, not common, goals; a production of cultural as well as political commodities; a disregard of status among the participants and inclusiveness as basic tenets; common interest in truth or right policy; and an attempt to distill personal desires into abstract, universal ideals. I add to this list an important tenet of Yochai Benkler, that the networked public sphere provides a way for

66

Morozov, Evgeniy. "Foreign Policy Magazine." Foreign Policy. 15 Jan. 2011. Web. <http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/01/15/picking_a_fight_with_clay_shirky>. 67 Gladwell, Malcolm. "Does Egypt Need Twitter?" The New Yorker. 2 Feb. 2011. Web. <http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/02/does-egypt-need-twitter.html>. 68 Shirky, Clay. "The Political Power of Social Media." Foreign Affairs. Jan.-Feb. 2011. Web. <http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67038/clay-shirky/the-political-power-of-social-media>. 69 Zuckerman, Ethan. "Foreign Policy Magazine." Foreign Policy. 14 Jan. 2011. Web. <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/01/14/the_first_twitter_revolution?page=0,0>. 70 Tufekci, Zeynep. "As Egypt Shuts off the Net: Seven Theses on Dictator's Dilemma | Technosociology." Technosociology. 28 Jan. 2011. Web. <http://technosociology.org/?p=286>.

26 readers and users to verify or refute claims made by their peers, what Benkler calls the linking and see for yourself advantages of a virtual public sphere. 71 In order to conduct my study, I have chosen to analyze a note written by Wael Ghonim and 100 comments to the note. Though I did not know the meaning of the note, it was appealing because it was written as a list: its contents were structured and seemed to lend themselves to organized responses. I will begin by looking at the content of the note, moving to the comments thereafter. By looking at the deliberation that took (or did not take) place in the comments to Ghonims note, I hope to better understand Facebooks potential to not only help citizens organize, publicize, and communicate, but to also create a space for rational-critical debate, which people can use to establish democratic principles within their society. While many pundits have looked at the issue from a top-down perspective making general comments about social media without providing examples for their analysis I decided to focus on the minutia and take a bottom-up approach, drawing cautious conclusions only after having analyzed a specific conversation on Facebook. Looking at a small sample of comments has its limitations, and my research is by no means conclusive. Yet looking at the minute details and conversations on Facebook is required to better answer questions about social medias role as a democratizing force. Tension in Egypt had been brewing over the course of late January and early February. Ghonim wrote the note that I analyze at 3pm on February 11th, several hours before Omar Suleimans brief statement announcing Mubaraks departure. The protesters demeanor had begun to turn markedly sour after a speech made the night before by Mubarak, in which he announced his desire to stay in power, blamed the unrest on foreign

71

Benkler, Yochai. The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom. New Haven [Conn.: Yale UP, 2006. Print. p. 219

27 elements, and called on the protesters to go home. The mood in Tahrir and elsewhere was difficult to define equal parts deflation, determination, and a mounting sense of pure rage. 72 The sense of blind defiance extended to the pages of We are all Khaled Said, which, by that point, had evolved from an apolitical call for the investigation of Saids beating to a more directly anti-regime movement. This move, from a group calling the publics attention to a humanitarian issue of police brutality to a firm anti-Mubarak stance, was in many ways precipitated by regimes wanton and destructive actions during the 18 days of protests. Though the number of comments on the day the note I analyze was posted is not as high, some users began to question Ghonims allegiance to the revolution. In ten points, Ghonim explains his position regarding the interviews he gave to the Egyptian and international press. Some of Ghonims detractors and cautious Egyptians questioned the Dubai-based Google executives support for the uprising due to a misunderstanding. A rumor began to circulate that Ghonim supported Mubarak staying on in an honorary figurehead position anathema to those whose demands explicitly included Mubaraks resignation and a promise that Gamal would not succeed his father. This myth came about due to misreporting by the Middle East News Agency, which claimed that Ghonim called on the protesters to leave after Mubaraks speech, when Ghonim actually said this before the speech, thinking that Mubarak was announcing his resignation. 73 The pressure being exerted on him, combined with the fact that he wrote many of his notes emotionally and spontaneously, resulted in a note that was raw and evocative, but also somewhat jumbled. It was a response that Ghonim needed to make in order to retain his credibility. It not only highlighted the divide between new and old forms of media
72

Khalil, Ashraf. Liberation Square: Inside the Egyptian Revolution and the Rebirth of a Nation. New York: St. Martin's, 2012. Print. p. 259 73 Ghonim, Wael. Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People Is Greater than the People in Power. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print. p. 60, 284

28 Ghonim did not clarify his statements in an interview, but chose instead to speak directly to his readers but also bridged the gap between the virtual and real worlds. The situation grew tense both on the ground and online, and the sentiments of We are all Khaled Saids readers mirrored those of protesters in Tahrir.

29

30 Ghonim begins by proclaiming that Egypt is above all, 74 affirming his patriotism, which was questioned by members of the group. He continues to highlight his fight for the revolution up to that point, reminding his readers of his activism for Egypts freedom and the imprisonment he suffered because of it. His third point speaks directly to the publicness of the group and the concentrated effort of all Egyptians, not just one individual, in the success they protesters had had thus far: the voice of the people is stronger than the voice of any one person The people are stronger [than any leader] and the people are now in the streets fighting for their points of view regardless of the point of view of Wael Ghonim. That Ghonim commends the collective over any individuals is encouraging, but he neglects to mention his readers and the users on We are all Khaled Said as contributors to the revolution. While many Egyptians writing on the pages walls and commenting on each others posts were also likely to be partaking in the street protests, it is clear that at least some of the people were participating in the uprising solely by expressing their opinions online. This would have been the case with Egyptians (and other Arabic speakers) living abroad. Ghonims neglecting to acknowledge the role of those individuals who are able or willing to express their opinion online speaks to the way their contributions are perceived vis--vis those actually partaking in the protests. Ghonim continues his note by supporting the revolutionary youth, asking his readers not to express anger at the protesters for Egypts economic struggles during the uprising, stating that those responsible for the state of the economy are the corrupt rulers. He then clarifies his stance on the successes of the revolution, saying that he was not

74

Ghonim, Wael. " Khaled Said' Facebook, 11 Feb. 2011. Web.

' ". We Are All

31 pleased with the regimes empty promises, but rather with the fact that change has become a tangible reality and no one will be able to take Egypt back to [its] pre-January 25 spirit. However, he also says he does not blame those who believe the regimes calls for negotiation to be only a farce, comparing these skeptics to a girl, who when she is getting raped and is able to get a hold of a knife, the rapist says, let us negotiate. The strong image that Ghonim uses to convey his point represents the tension that infused the revolution. Ghonim then continues to voice his support for the protesters, saying that he cannot use their efforts for his own advantage and that those who spilled the blood of martyrs should be brought to justice. He says he will stop talking to the press unless it is absolutely necessary in order to not be misquoted or misinterpreted again, explaining that his words were skewed in the press, making it seem that he made the statements after Mubaraks speech when he actually said them before. He then claims that in order to avoid further confusion, he will speak on television only, where it would presumably be harder to show his words out of context. He finishes by saying that the accusations of betraying the revolution made against him do not affect him because he follows only what he believes to be right and that neither he nor any of the protesters are motivated by foreigners. It is significant both because of what he says and what he does not say. Ghonim acknowledges the role of Egyptians protesting to be greater than one man or womans, even though the Western press began to call him the leader of the youth movement. He understands that multiple viewpoints exist about the situation, that everyone (including himself) is entitled to an opinion, and that each person should act according to his or her own beliefs. Ghonim also lays out what are more concrete policy statements regarding the

32 source of Egypts economic woes, the need for persecution of those involved in spilling the blood of the martyrs, and the fact that foreign powers are playing no role in the uprising. While these are unlikely to arouse much disagreement from his followers, the more direct statements stand in contrast to Ghonims pleas for understanding and respecting opposing opinions. Ghonim, then, is at once shaping opinion and stating that the opinions of others deserve to be respected, playing the role of the moderator that is reasonable but impartial. As the groups creator, he has the responsibility to encourage a plurality of ideas and establish the ideal that the groups publicness is inclusive in principle. That he promotes his own opinions while also encouraging others is in itself not damaging to the freedom of the public sphere, as long as those who oppose him are able to voice their opinions. The notes visibility as the main text, however, allows for Ghonims opinion to be buttressed by the structure of the forum itself, which, is problematic but not entirely disqualifying the group from being a virtual public sphere the pamphleteers and publishers that were important to Habermas were also acting as moderators and filterers of information while (either directly or indirectly) establishing their own opinions on the subjects they discussed. The problem of visibility of varying opinions, however, is an acute one in Facebook groups when the number of correspondents achieves a large enough number. Facebooks Structural Inhibitions and Benefits By 3:30pm, only thirty minutes after Ghonims note, 3031 of the 6003 responses had already been published a rate of around 100 comments per minute, or 1.67 comments per second. This is a huge response and it indicates the importance of the page as a forum. By default, Facebook shows the 50 most recent comments, though users can click and open

33 up the pages of older comments, 50 at a time. At such a rate, those whose comments take five minutes to formulate and type would be ten pages 500 comments ahead of where they began typing. The commenters, thus, would have a hard time a) identifying where in the conversation they began typing and what was said before the comment that led to their idea; b) finding any responses to their comments; c) keeping up with the ideas posted before during the time it took them to write the comment; and, thereby, d) sustaining a back-and-forth conversation with (especially) one, or more, individuals. Magnifying this problem is the fact that Ghonim posted a comment (not a note) on the groups wall at 3:16pm, which also drew thousands of responses from the readers. Keeping track of all the new comments if that is what one intended to do would be nearly impossible during the time the conversation was taking place, making it difficult for all opinions to surface and have a chance to be debated. Of course, not all comments were analytical enough to take five minutes to compose, the seemingly most common being expressions like, Enough, Wael! or I am/we are all with you, Wael. Though such opinions are certainly important in judging the overall popularity of the group and the simple sentiments of the people, much like a poll does, these are not necessarily considered opinions. They offer no explanation as to why, or whether, the user either opposes Ghonim or supports him, nor do they reference any of Ghonims ten points, making it impossible to understand what exactly the commenters position is on the issues at hand. Those users looking to circumvent the speed issue reposted their messages several times into the comments. This made their viewpoints more prominent by appearing more frequently, which helped to mitigate the issue of speed, as well as the issues created by the overall number of comments, discussed below.

34 If speed is to be scrutinized, however, its benefits must also be mentioned. Never before in Egypt or any other place, for that matter could such a multitude of complex opinions be recorded in so little time. Had the regime chosen to censor or punish those spreading heretical opinions, the task would have proven Sisyphean. Its monitors would be lost not only in the high numbers of responders, but also at the speed with which the responses were coming in. Recording and deciding which comments were the most egregious requires time this time may not be long, but it is certainly longer than the seconds it took for new comments to appear. Indeed, targeting the heads Ghonim and internet access seems to be the only sensible solution. As the Mubarak regime found out, however, this contemporary iteration of the classic dictators dilemma had no desirable outcome: both methods only fueled the protesters anger and made those involved infamous. The sheer number of comments 6003 presents its own challenges, which are magnified by the speed at which they appear. This criticism is often described as the Babel objection, which Benkler clarifies to mean, when everyone can speak, no one can be heard, and we devolve either to a cacophony or to the reemergence of money as the distinguishing factor between statements that are heard and those that wallow in obscurity.
75

This criticism has been pinpointed into three arguments, a) that large sums of money will

have to be spent in order to promote ones opinion, despite the low entry costs to digital publishing; b) that the readers will fragment and individuals will view the world through millions of personally customized windows that will offer no common ground for political discourse or action, except among groups of highly similar individuals who customize their

75

Benkler, Yochai. The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom. New Haven [Conn.: Yale UP, 2006. Print. p. 10

35 windows to see similar things; and c) that discourse among these highly similar individuals will damage deliberation by polarizing the discourse. 76 As Benkler shows, some scholars have responded to this criticism by highlighting the centralizing power of the internet, in which power law prevails in shaping and few sites are able to draw large numbers of readers. The power law is also known as the theory of the long tail, which claims that few sites receive the overwhelming majority of traffic, while the overwhelming majority of sites gets very few hits. However, for a central group like We are all Khaled Said, the problem of too many voices reemerges once again, on an individual-site scale, rather than internet-wide scale. Examining if and how the three points highlighted above surfaced in the comments of We are all Khaled Said is important, as much of the scholarship pertaining to internet and the public sphere takes them into account. Regarding the issue of cash dominating discourse, the government was one entity with enough money to shape the discourse online. It is impossible to tell just how heavily the state monitored the internet, or how much resources the government spent on promoting its own point of view. While the constitution guarantees freedoms of speech and online privacy, Egypts 30 year-old emergency laws superceded these laws. 77 During the uprising, the Mubarak regime used other forms of media in order to spread its propaganda,
78

monitored internet subscribers and the visitors of cyber cafs, 79 and arrested bloggers

and online activists for anti-government or anti-religion statements. 80 However, the

76 77

Ibid., p. 234-5 "Egypt." Freedom on the Net 2011. Freedom House, 2011. Web. <http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/Egypt_FOTN2011.pdf>. p. 122-3 78 Greenberg, Andy. "Vodafone Says Egyptian Government Hijacked Its Networks To Send Propaganda." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 03 Feb. 2011. Web. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2011/02/03/vodafone-says-egyptian-government-hijackedits-networks-to-send-propaganda/>. 79 "Egypt." Freedom on the Net 2011. Freedom House, 2011. Web. <http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/Egypt_FOTN2011.pdf>. p. 123 80 Ibid., p. 124

36 regimes point of view was not highly prevalent on social media, creating a negligible effect, if any at all. Grassroots campaigns like We are all Khaled Said were not commercially driven. While it takes some amount of time and money to create a group or participate in its discussion, throwing more money at the groups comments would have had little effect on its discourse. If it became apparent that somebody was spamming for his or her own commercial or political benefit, the other users would either oust the party responsible or move their conversation to another group. Attempting to disrupt several thousand individuals opinions would be an exercise in futility. The readers of the group found the site, despite the fact that Ghonim spent very little money to promote the page and decided to contribute because of their solidarity with the group, not because of a commercial incentive. Whether or not one should look at Facebook, the corporation, and Ghonim, the highly trained marketing whiz, as the funding behind the group is a more interesting proposition, but one that is outside the scope of this paper. I treat Facebook as a platform that is available to a sizable chunk of Egyptians; Ghonim is the promoter of discussion on that platform. In other words, I treat them no different than Habermas treats pamphlets and their authors in Structural Transformation. The fact that Ghonim began his group as a civil and not political one allowed him to gather more followers than most of the overtly politicized opposition groups. Said became known as the Martyr of the Emergency Laws, signifying that the anger was initially not directed at Mubarak or the NDP, but the extent to which Egypt deteriorated over the past several decades. The mourning the activists staged following Saids death reflected this position Ghonim carefully spelled out that theirs was a silent stand. No

37 demonstrations, no chants, no signs. This is not a political stand. It is a humanitarian stand in solidarity with victims of torture in prisons As for politicians, we hope they will come, but they are not allowed to take political advantage of the situation. 81 A thorough investigation and justice for Said, showing that the rule of law was still respected in their country, would perhaps have satisfied Ghonim and his followers; as the local media seemed to be largely ignoring Saids death, they had nowhere else to turn but Facebook in order to push the case into the mainstream media. By focusing on a commonality among the Egyptians, Ghonim was able to at once deal with the two other problems proposed by the Babel objection. The initially nonpolitical nature of the group enabled it to recruit politicized individuals of different opinions. Christians and Muslims, leftists and conservatives, men and women, old and young, all were able to see the evil in Saids killing and wanted justice to be dealt to the perpetrators. This brought them in contact with one another for a common cause, serving as an important (and increasingly common) training that would unite the country during the January 25 uprising. As we will see, the range of opinions expressed on the page did not lessen as the uprising took steam and Ghonim became more firmly anti-Mubarak. As the political situation in the country became more volatile, the groups members began to express their opinions more clearly and unabashedly. The opinions expressed on the page are varied, exposing the readers to a great number of ideas and perspectives. With such a number of competing ideas, it would have been difficult for any user to become more polarized and radical in his or her thinking. Whether or not these ideas were actually

81

Ghonim, Wael. Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People Is Greater than the People in Power. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print. p. 88

38 competing against each other and judged by the readers on their credibility and strength of argument is the topic of the next section. Comment Analysis The comments I have chosen to analyze for what they add to the public sphere are not an entirely random sample. Not knowing the content of the comments, I had no way of being prejudiced in order to support my hypothesis. However, I did decide to look at comments written over an hour after Ghonims initial post in order to mitigate the effects of the speed problem outlined above. The comments also passed the eye test in terms of their length there were a few lengthy comments and not as many single-line, simplistic statements either affirming the commenters solidarity with Ghonim or saying Enough! to the protests. The average comment was around 50 words long, enough to formulate a measured response to either Ghonims note, or to an earlier comment. Of course, those who wanted to express their opinion in a fuller way had the option of doing so and did the longest of the comments was by user Sisters of Saudi Arabia, who voiced her frustration with Ghonims interview in 665 words. The comments showed a wide range of opinions on a wide range of issues, from Ghonim himself, to the Egyptian military, to foreign intervention. Of the 100 comments, 35 supported Ghonim, 22 antagonized him, 17 referred to Ghonim but did not make clear whether the user was in support of him or not, and 26 did not address Ghonim at all. In each of these categories, there was a wide range of opinions expressed. Shehab Elgendy, for example, wrote, The lives of those who are being harmed and those who will be killed in the coming days will be on your neck Wael. It is your fault that this sedition is being spread everywhere. Just stop this already. Soha Alprincesa also called him a miniature

39 version of Elbaradei a spy and a traitor. Others were more specific and less malicious in their criticism. Dr. K. Kamal, for example, wrote, Wael you are playing with our minds. You need to pick a direction to follow, go either right, or left. But you cannot say one thing and then later on, say something else. Stick with one opinion and I hope you dont change your mind. Likewise, those supporting Ghonim listed various reasons and had different opinions about the groups admin. Nihal Esmail Mohamed, for example, wrote, Your words are words of wisdom, Wael. Believe me a lot of people are on your side and we must spread the wisdom. It is true that I am confused now, and I do not know who is wrong and who is right, but we have to stop and think and stop our emotions from overtaking us. Mohamed Nabil Ali, responding to one of the prevalent themes in the comments, wrote, Wael, I urge you to ignore those idiots that say that America and Israel will enter our country because they are simply idiots who do not understand anything. Indeed, the threat of foreign intervention loomed over the discussion, leading to fear mongering and praise of the army, as well as criticism of military rule. Annaa Ameer, for example, criticized Ghonim for supposedly being content with army rule, saying, If you think that the military will meet our demands if we calm down, then you are wrong. I urge to be careful and understand what I am saying because, unfortunately, there are people who believe what you say. Another important theme, alluded to above, is the idea that some users, or Ghonim himself, are khain, traitors. The word appears many times throughout the discussion, and it seems to be a serious accusation. Earlier in the comments, user Rasha Fahmy, writing in English, pleads with her fellow Egyptians to accept the fact that everyone sees things differently and stop being judgmental. She

40 finishes her appeal by writing And finally, I hope [you] wont call me a [traitor] because I expressed my opinion. Such an aura of blind nationalism and willingness to shut out opposing perspectives is certainly damaging to the concept of the public sphere as Jrgen Habermas conceived of it. However, these inflammatory phrases and name callings did not have an effect on the commenters as they continued to express a wide view of opinions. This is likely due to the detachment from the conversation caused by the medium. To Habermas, this was one of the problems of the mass media public sphere, which he believed was a public sphere in appearance only 82 and took on the traits of a secondary realm of intimacy. 83 Yet the difference between a mass media environment in which the vast majority participate by consuming and one in which they are also able to publish their opinion is stark. In prerevolutionary Egypt, the detachment from the real world unrepresentative and authoritarian only served to encourage ideas and participation in the public debate. There was little government-sanctioned space for any dissent, so it had to move either out of the country, as demonstrated by satellite channels, or online. Curiously, user Rabab Farouk, after chiding those who claimed that the achievements of the protests to that point had achieved enough, wrote, So please, if you are simply too lazy to go out and protest, leave it to the bravery of those out on the streets to get us our rights back. The irony in his writing this statement on Facebook is unmistakable, but it is a significant proclamation as it distinguishes between the brave protesters on the street who are calling for more reforms and those who are content with Mubaraks concessions. Farouk, apparently, does not mean to say that all those on

82 83

Calhoun, Craig J. Habermas and the Public Sphere. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1992. Print. p. 23 Ibid., p. 24

41 Facebook are lazy. He is encouraging people to out to the streets, but his statement makes it clear that it is possible to participate in both spheres, and as long as the message for Mubarak to step down is being promoted. During the uprising itself, some, though certainly not all, users participated in the protests, creating a bridge between the real and the virtual worlds. The majority of protesters would likely have gone to the Jan25 protests had they been active on social media or not. However, the group We are all Khaled Said certainly was educational and inspired its readers to participate in real-world campaigns. Aside from educating its readers, it also helped to promote cultural production, which the Mubarak regime was previously a patron of. Ghonim often posted pictures of graffiti and cartoons on the groups wall, as well as short YouTube videos and songs. The group became not just a place for expressing opinions, but also a cultural center that resisted Mubaraks rule in its totality. This cultural and opinion production helped the group to have a closer immediacy to the real world than a public sphere shaped by mass media alone. Unfortunately, calling someone a khain seems to be one of the few ways of interaction among the Facebook groups commenters. Indeed, for Habermas a key tenet of the public sphere is that it does not merely [promote] sharing what people already think or know but [that it is] also a process of potential transformation in which reason is advanced by debate itself. 84 I found few signs of furthering of ideas and deliberation in the comments I analyzed. Structurally, Facebooks continuous stream of comments unlike threaded commenting that is prevalent on news websites and blogs makes it hard to organize and pacify the speed and number problems outlined above. It also makes it nearly impossible to understand who a user is referring to.
84

Ibid., p. 29

42 The users online skill level and understanding of Facebooks commenting platform also undermined the potential for a coherent discussion forming. One commenter, Aisha Gamal Ibrahim, for example, wrote simply, I agree with the opinion you wrote to Wael, but not the comment, apparently referring to another commenter. A more advanced user decided to copy and paste the name of the person to whom he was responding in English, which would theoretically make it easy to find both the original commenter and any subsequent follow-ups. The substance of his reply, however, left much to be desired: Mohamed Faisal, You are an ignoramus. Faisal did not comment again on Ghonims note, despite having initially written a relatively lengthy post praising the administrator. User Yousef Alfnan also pasted the name of the person to whom he was responding, and wrote a lengthy response to Khaled Ahmad. Alfnans message was critical of Ahmads trust in the military and brought in a different analysis of the situation, stating, the people do not want freedom like you are saying. The people want food, clothing and shelter. Ahmad neglected to reply. The final comment out of the 100 I analyzed that had the potential to further the debate mentioned another user by name, one Omar El Samdooni, praised him highly: May God bless you Omar El Samdooni. This is the voice of reason and the voice of someone who loves Egypt. You are unlike the ones that say things for personal gain and the gain of others who only have their own interests in mind. Yet, I could find no other mention of this name in the comments. Indeed, the disappearing persona seems to be a recurring theme in Facebook comments. One of the first comments to Ghonims note was by a man named Sofien. The comment must have been either extremely insightful or inflammatory, as it prompted a number of responses that voiced support for the Egyptian military. As one of the few

43 comments that incited such commotion, I was anxious to read it; unfortunately, it was not there. Perhaps, Sofien did not like the attention he was getting and deleted it; perhaps, he deleted his Facebook account altogether or was perhaps kicked off the social media website. Another comment, a relatively harmless one written by Dr. K. Kamal had disappeared over the course of my study. Another user, who originally went by Tarek Mohamed, had since changed his name to the more ambiguous Commandos Force, and began toting Gamal Abdel Nassers photograph as his profile picture. The groups commenters were also not very keen in returning to the conversation 477 users contributed more than one comment. The vast majority of those posted only two different comments. Only five individuals posted ten or more unique comments. Overall, of 6003 comments, 79.7% were by users who posted only one unique response (some users copied and pasted the same comment, which increased the comments visibility but did very little in the long run to advance discussion). In the 100 comments I analyzed, seven users posted more than once Abdelkader Benghazali, Rabab Farouk, Sumaya Hamadmad, Azza Sobhy, Tarek Mohamed (Commandos Force), Yousef Alfnan, and Mourad Mamdouh; only Farouk and Alfnan posted three comments, while the others posted twice. Despite their continued contributions, most of their comments did not necessarily advance the conversation, or attempt to advance the conversation by directly responding to someone. In fact, only Alfnan responded to someone directly, though he was an anomaly among the other users (he commented four total times to Ghonims note, and two of his posts were directed at another user). I do not mean to imply that there were no comments that responded to someone else. However, the majority of comments that did refer to someone directly, were targeted at Ghonim.

44 Responding to Ghonim was meant to promote a certain narrative and opinion and in a way exhibited a furthering of a conversation, however futile it may have been, since Ghonim did not respond back. The administrators did request users opinions in the past, a practice that developed early on in the groups existence. Ghonim, for example, asked the users input on whether an English-language version of the page should be launched to promote Khaled Saids case abroad, 85 or tracking feedback to the real world campaigns in order to better tailor them to the users likings. 86 Ghonims readiness to use polling in order to shape campaigns in the past suggests that the note he wrote in response to his critics was not meant to be a consensus decision he would avoid the media, but go on television shows for interviews if absolutely necessary. The commenters had little to argue or debate about, leading to comments that for the most part either expressed support for or chided Ghonims statement. Several users, however, did attempt to debate his viewpoint by providing their own opinion and asking Ghonim to clarify his message. Yosra Othmans comment serves as the best example: in my opinion, the gains that have come out of this revolution are temporary, no matter if you say we will not go backwards. I see that all these plans are simply ways for them to fool us, so that all the things we want dont happen They have always been lying to us, what is it that gave you the idea that if we leave the streets, they wont go back and do that same thing they have been doing for all these years? Please discuss this with us, even if we disagree at least we know how you came to this opinion. Another user, Sumaya Hamadmad, also asks, Can you please explain to me what these accomplishments are? The president is still the president and has not stepped down, and the government is still as it is. That the note did not contain a poll allowed for users to express
85

Ghonim, Wael. Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People Is Greater than the People in Power. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print. p. 93 86 Ibid.,83

45 a variety of opinions without having to check off only one box. Many, however, did not return to the conversation after they posted their opinions, especially since Ghonim had posted new statements on the groups wall, moving the discussion to the more recent post. Many users decided to post their opinions to things other than Ghonims statement, leading to at least the potential for debate of these tangents. While very few people responded to specific users, many more responded to categories of users at a time Whoever says that Wael will take the first flight out of Egypt if Israel attacks us, To all those who took part in this revolution for the sake of change and for the sake of bringing down corruption, How interesting it is that all of sudden people are asking others to calm down, I would like to say to all those who are saying that everything has been accomplished Due to the large number of comments, the users appear to be keen on targeting strands of ideas and multiple individuals at once. Thus, one user responds to many, in a way replicating the mass media model of the public sphere. Of course, on Facebook, the many can respond, though there seems to be little desire among the commenters of We are all Khaled Said to have back-and-forth conversations. While some did attempt to spur discussion, such efforts were mostly futile, as most readers only posted once and the number and speed of the comments made it difficult to keep up with the conversation. One way to encourage discussion amid the commenters would be electing representatives who argue on behalf of the masses. This would allow for ideas to be deliberated among few individuals, representing large groups of followers; this structure is the backbone of representative democracies worldwide. While Facebook as a platform does enable Likes a simple voting tool that does not reveal any insight, but could be used to

46 single out the authors of the top comments these were not used effectively and tended to favor the earliest comments to Ghonims note. As the frequency of the comments increased (in the first minute, only 30 comments were posted; in the first half hour, however, the average number of comments/minute was 100, suggesting that the comments did not mushroom at once but snowballed as people had time to read and type out a response to Ghonims note), it became simply too time-consuming to look back into the comments, as the new comments were coming at torrential speeds. Had there been a feature to sort the comments by the number of Likes, it may have been possible to sort out the best arguments and establish the several users whose input was valued the most by his/her peers. Since no such function exists, however, the most liked comments to Ghonims note are currently hidden behind several thousand others. Complicating the idea of an elected representative is the fact that few people seemed willing to distill their comments to the most basic and agreeable tenets in order to help the discussion. While some did distinguish between personal beliefs and the best course of action for the country (Yousef Alfnan, for example, wrote, the people do not want freedom like you are saying. The people want food, clothing and shelter.), the majority of comments either reflected personal opinions or collective opinions not necessarily backed by the reality of the wide range of viewpoints represented in the groups comments (Abdelkader Benghazali: May God protect you, I swear you are our leader.). There is a distinct difference between forming an opinion based on personal experience that can be discussed among many people and assuming that ones opinion applies to all; the overwhelming majority of the 100 comments I analyzed fell into the latter group.

47 Supporting ones opinion with an argument based on established facts what Benkler called linking and seeing for yourself did take place, but was also underdeveloped. While linking is theoretically possible in Facebook comments, the practical use of the feature has not kept up to its potential. There are only 150 links in the 6003 comments to Ghonims note, and many of those are the same links advertising other Facebook groups and pages, and YouTube videos. In fact, there were only ten unique links that referred readers to sites other than Facebook and YouTube. Of these ten, four linked users to blogs or forums. Those looking to provide support for their arguments or to educate their peers, therefore, only linked to six articles published in three established organizations, Guardian, Al Masry Al Yaum, and Al Yaum As Saba. Few links were used in context, as many of them were posted on their own or with only a sentence or two hardly enough space for a genuine critique of the contents. The desire to prove ones argument did seem to exist. One user, Noheir Samy, even emulated a news break, writing, Breaking News from the Associated Press: The U.S. sixth fleet is moving towards Egyptian coasts in pretext of securing navigation in the Suez Canal at a time when Israeli troops are massing at the Egyptian Borders. If you love Egypt, send this to every Egyptian. We must protect Egypt now, stop protesting. I urge you all for the sake of Egypt, forget Mubarak right now. Forget him! Think about Egypt, oh Egyptians! Mona Doan, also writing in the form of a news article, wrote, Witness says that President Hosni Mubarak is now sick and is in Sharm El Shiekh This was around 12:30 PM. The lack of linking may be accounted by the relative novelty of the Facebook group as a forum for political discussion as the platform becomes more commonly used, its advocates will likely improve their habits and include links. At the time of the Egyptian

48 uprising, however, it seems that few people actually used links in the way envisioned by Yochai Benkler the link and see for yourself method. The number and speed of the comments may have made users more reluctant to post links, which make comments longer to read. A Virtual Public Sphere? Undoubtedly, Egypts economic, communicative, and political developments over the past decade created conditions in which an alternate, underground political sphere would not only thrive, but would be essential for expressing opinions in a non-violent matter. The brutal beating of Khaled Said stood in stark contract with Egyptians nonviolent calls for change in the country and enabled Wael Ghonim to create a virtual space in which people of various political affiliations could unite for a humanitarian, not political cause. As the Egyptians conditions deteriorated, the group became more politicized not necessarily backing a specific candidate (even though Ghonim was a supporter of El Baradei), but opposing the current regime. Ghonims marketing prowess, as well as the structure and the comments on the Facebook group We are all Khaled Said, have shown that while some problems of the mass-media public sphere are scaled back in a networked environment, new ones arise. As constructed in the comments to Ghonims note, the most significant benefits of the virtual public sphere that I examined are: a) the inclusive atmosphere which is impersonal and anonymous enough to encourage responses; b) the creation of a virtual community that generates not only educational but also cultural products; c) the ability to use various forms of media to support ones argument, including pictures and video; d) the ability to see others opinions on a mass scale; e) the capability to push a story into the

49 mainstream; and therefore f) the feeling of contribution to a national dialogue that, in the past, had been limited to only a few individuals. However, serious drawbacks are also apparent: a) the speed (as well as the number) of the comments makes it nearly impossible to sort out any continuous thread of ideas; b) the difference in the level of understanding of the medium makes less advanced commenters incapable of using the platforms full range of tools; c) the contentious nature of the topic made various personal opinions hard to distill into relatable similarities among the Egyptians, which, while did not fragment the users, made the vast majority of comments too specific or too presumptuous to debate well; d) the benefit of relative anonymity, which encouraged comments, also made commenters likely to not follow the discussion or read reactions to their post; and e) the ideal of linked, fact-backed discussion was hardly apparent, as the few commenters that used outside sources linked only to several places. The benefits and drawbacks outlined above do not fit neatly into the Habermasean tenets of the public sphere. To be sure, there was a considerable variety of opinion expressed among users posting in the comments, both regarding Ghonim and the uprising itself; cultural as well as political ideas were expressed; there was an interest in doing what was best for Egypt and its citizens, though the course of action varied differently; and inclusiveness was a well-established fact, though some users certainly did not express the utmost respect toward those whose ideas were drastically different. On the other hand, there were few attempts to distill personal opinions and desires into universal goals; few used the linking feature and the links that did appear were homogeneous; ideas were rarely debated; and very few people trying to engage their peers into a conversation.

50 Structurally, Facebook can be an apt platform for a virtual public sphere, but it is not without its limitations. Linking is easy, which gives users the potential to buttress their opinions with credible sources. Facebook also enables readers to vote for the best arguments by Liking them, giving any comment the potential to stand out. However, the problem of the disappearing persona is a keen one. It reduces the amount of trust the users have toward each other and damages the inclusiveness aspect of the public sphere. While the tools for publishing an opinion are relatively cheap and accessible to many Egyptians, the fact that every user is able to delete his or her comment, instead of attempting to support or elaborate it when it is questioned by others, undermines any chance for a coherent debate taking place. This is especially true if the deleted comment was a controversial one, which seemed to be the case with Sofiens missing post. Another structural flaw the constant stream of comments makes it nearly impossible to engage someone in a structured debate. There are ways to circumvent this problem (by copying and pasting someones name into the comment, for example) and several users did use the platform to its fullest advantage in order to stimulate discussion. The vast majority, however, did not. This may have been the effect of the revolutionary fervor on the protesters during the most tense days of the uprising, even those in coffeehouses, one of Habermas preferred forums for deliberation, were busy tending to the injured and not necessarily thinking about what could happen if Mubarak fell. 87 The detachment from the chaos of Tahrir could have been beneficial to the users; for most, however, it was not, as their (understandably) emotional and rash comments hurt the prospect of deliberation in the comments.

87

"A Riche History." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 17 Dec. 2011. Web. <http://www.economist.com/node/21541715>.

51 User indifference was hardly an issue, as a range of opinions was expressed and at times quite forcefully. The main issue inhibiting the commenters, I believe, was their variety in levels of experience with the medium. While some users left comments that encouraged responses or themselves responded to opposing viewpoints, the atmosphere in the comments was hardly one in which reason is advanced by debate itself. 88 The conversations that took place were largely stuck in several simple narratives, with users mainly avoiding confrontation with others ideas, choosing instead to label them traitors if their opinions were too unorthodox. This atmosphere may have been encouraged by both the violence on the streets of Egypt, as well as the decades of seeing government libel against its opponents in the mass media. It seemed, ultimately, as if the users were looking to broadcast their messages to the greatest number of people, instead of standing behind each comment and attempting to advance the debate by resorting to a rational discourse. It should not come as a surprise that Ghonim a marketing executive at Google, after all was perhaps the ideal internet user in engaging the virtual Egyptian public sphere. The way he and co-administrator AbdelRahman Mansour moderated the page, filtering the news and cultivating a culture of disbelief of the status quo, allowed it to become a true virtual community. But Ghonim should also be criticized for not doing more to shape the community into a sphere for deliberation and for not responding to the users in order to set an example of a back-and-forth conversation. Ghonims prominence as the notes writer of the certainly allowed his viewpoints and opinions to be the most visible; however, the same was true of the writers and pamphleteers 250 years ago. The difference between the Facebook administrator and the European writers is the medium that they use to spread
88

Calhoun, Craig J. Habermas and the Public Sphere. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1992. Print. p. 29

52 their ideas and beliefs. While Ghonim did encourage some participation, through voting or commenting, and repeatedly stated that his opinion is not the opinion of every protester, he would have been more effective by using Facebooks tools to interact with his readers in a back-and-forth manner, not just creating more lively debate, but also providing an example to the other users. By using his note as a personal statement without explaining or debating his opinions, he limited the groups ability to become a more effective and participatory sphere. Conclusion As Facebook becomes more prevalent and as users become more acclimated to the platform, it is likely that many of the drawbacks I saw in my analysis will be alleviated. A culture of repression and censorship perpetuated by the Hosni Mubarak regime and that was only slightly opened up with the advent of regional satellite channels like Al Jazeera will take time to wash away. For many Egyptians, just the ability to express their unabated anger with the Mubarak regime en masse represented an important first step in ousting the president and ushering in new political traditions. As the democratic transition in the country continues to be marred by the missteps of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, it is likely that even more people will contribute to the expression of rage. That is an important ability in any society looking to become more politically open, and is the foremost role of virtual public spheres that are likely to become entrenched in countries across the world. The all-important question, What next? cannot yet be settled or even properly discussed online. That is not to say that this will remain the norm in the future. The comments I analyzed proved that however small their efforts may be against the cornucopia of enraged citizens, few people are using the Facebook platforms in innovative

53 and participatory ways. Their contributions cannot be discounted, and as their numbers increase, they will provide the model of online discourse, both political and cultural. Even within the group I analyzed, We are all Khaled Said, many questions remain. Tracking 100 comments to a note by Ghonim is a limited scope meant to track the behavior of commenters with one another. While I concluded that thought leaders did not emerge, this may not be the case across the board and in all comment discussions Yousef Alfnan, perhaps, contributes more than only four comments to Ghonims posts and is recognized in the community. Reading through the comments posted in the days before or after the ones I analyzed would help to better establish if that is the case. It would also help to look at the Facebook groups managed by political candidates do they interact with their constituents more than Ghonim did? Do they present the opinions of their voters at official meetings? The answers to these questions may very well be yes, closing the gap between the virtual and real public sphere. Much has been written about Facebook and the public sphere, and it seems that both the allies and enemies of the networked public sphere can make serious claims: Yes, the virtual public sphere helped to establish a culture of participation and expression of anger; but no, this opinion was not necessarily considered, and at the end of the day tied to the groups administrator, Ghonim, who owed his readers nothing in terms of votes. During the uprising, Facebook was essential for getting people to protest and for exposing the brutalities of the regime to an international audience the two things that the opposition leaders needed most in their attempt to dislodge Mubarak. But it did little to help users decide what to do next. My hope remains that as more people become more knowledgeable in new media and the full extent of Facebooks tools, users will interact more with one

54 another and help the virtual public sphere bring about actual political change on the ground through elected representatives.

Appendix: Comment Translation 1. Ahmed Mamdouh: By the way, the days in which the internet was cut off, this page was open. Who had it open? The internet was cut off in all of the governorates of Egypt. You guys are in rashness, wake up! This is a disgrace! Somebody answer me! Who had the internet open!? Egypt is calling you and saying, enough! This is disgraceful! 2. Hussein S. Al-Bajoury: You will continue to leave those in Tahrir until the country is up in flames. You caused the first spark, and now when it has become a huge fire you feel inside you as if you have to put it out, but you are afraid to approach the fire in fear of burning yourself. If you truly are courageous, come close to the fire and speak your mind. 3. Eed Ali: You are trying to bring down the will of the peopleyou think you are going to fool the genie and put him back in the bottleand do not waste your time trying to say you will burn the Muslim genie. Enough self interest, whatever you earn in self interest you will earn the proper way. The dogs will howl and the caravan moves on. 4. Berry M. Amer: I believe that the Presidents speech was lacking in form rather than in substance. He sat there for half an hour talking about his accomplishments, and even when he was talking about what he would do with his position of authority, he did not mention it until the end, and by then the people had gotten bored and realized that he would not step down. His approach was wrong from the very beginning; he should have talked about what he would do with his presidency and about the constitutional changes. His approach was all wrong. 5. Saleh Hany: To all those who took part in this revolution for the sake of change and for the sake of bringing down corruption, and I mean those who are at Tahrir Square and those who have been there since January 25th, and even those in their homes who fear for the

55 future of this country: until last night I was with you, with the youth, with a lot of my friends who were there since January 25th and some who joined later on. We all have the same goal from which we have a few demandslet us present to you what we wanted from the first day of the revolution. 1- Amend 3 articles of the constitution that we all know about. 2- Do not vote for anyone affiliated with the President or his cabinet. 3- To repair the Peoples assembly and the Shura Council. 4- Put on trial those who are corrupt and return the money of the people to the people. Let us look back at the latest events and see what has been implemented. 1- Amend 6 articles of the constitution that we all know about. 2- Not running for elections. 3- Removing the danger of looking into appeals. 4- Prosecuting the corrupt. 5- The president to step down and hand power to his deputy, except what concerns the constitution according to the provisions of the constitution. We have began this revolution for the sake of Egypt and there are many of us that started this revolution and are unaware that they are being called to lead the revolution for the sake of this nation, and its freedom, its stability and to put an end to all sorts of corruption. However many of us now are speaking in the dialect of revenge and they are unaware that this dialect will turn against the country as a whole. My friends and I have come to think that what we have reached at this point in the revolution is a call to rebuilding and not to destruction of this nationand we have tried to convey this point of view of ours in Tahrir but we were met with refusal and denial. I believe that this is not the way to the freedom and democracy that we wanted as a whole for ourselves. So we made a decision to go back home so that we do not lose what we have accomplishment so far from changing and rebuilding this country and to avoid making this revolution, a revolution of destruction rather than a revolution of rebuilding especially after the military has promised to cooperate with the people. We have a lot of confidence in our military. We want freedom, safety and growth for Egypt. So look into your minds; In the name of God the Most Gracious the Most Merciful, and if they incline to peace then incline towards it. That is the faith we should have. This reform will not happen through the military, the people nor the government officials so long as all they seek is corruption and destruction; and the symbol of this revolution will change into a symbol or destruction and spread of rumors. The military has backed up our demands and the pledges of the government and the revolution. So do not lose your country, your religion nor your people, use your minds. 6. Ahmed Abdul Basset: Our Lord knows every wrong doer, liar and everyone who has worked to demolish this revolution. This revolution was born without any hope, and now it is all our hope, and like Wael said, the blood of a martyr will not go in vain. 7. Arch Samah Anwar (Sara Magdi): Wael, stay besides the Egyptians. We still have not attained our right or our freedom. Egypt is above all, but we want our rights. 8. Aisha Gamal Ibrahim: I agree with the opinion you wrote to Wael, but not the comment.

56

9. Mourad Mamdouh: Egypt is like a girl, who when she is getting raped and is able to get a hold of a knife, the rapist says; let us negotiate. The people think that all this is just an act, and I do not blame them. >>>this is what I expected from the very first day and I pray to God that this does not happen but unfortunately it will. 10. Mohamed Shehata: Do not worry Wael, I knew the vaccine would have its side effects, but those side effects go away when the poison goes away. 11. Dia Mohamed: I am with you; you are truly a real man in a time where the only stars are those in the cinema. My blood and soul are worth less than my country because I love my country. I am with you until the end, until reform. 12. Hisham Abdalla: My brother Wael Ghonim; no one is doubting your patriotism nor your opinions. I believe it the opinion of all Egyptians that love their country and want to see it at its best; but the situation as you insinuated is very, very complicated and the solution lies in the doctrine of the peoples will for real change. No one expected or even dreamed about what we have come to, and the heart beats of the people is the true expression of what we have witnessed during the era of this unjust government. So when we saw the chance to take action we knew there was no alternative except by the command of God Almighty. Our mind suggests to us to calm down and follow up what will happen within the next few days, but our hearts will not stop screaming and demanding our rights. So I call onto my brothers of stability to look over organizing the rows and with all our love and patriotism I urge that we do not allow Egypt to be dragged into a dark tunnel and a fate that may have dire consequences. May God protect you Egypt.my brothers, now is the time for change and the attempt to abort this revolution is an attempt to abort our rights and the rights of our future generations. However I appeal to all of you to judge reasonably now and how I made my personal opinion clear. We call upon a representative to represent us in front of the government and to pressure them to fulfill all the demands of the honorable youth at a time which is for sure a time of victory instead of hurting ourselves. We must stabilize and keep our country safe. 13. Allaa Abdelhaleem: Our Lord end the bloodshed! May our Lord make your plans fall in place and support you for whatever you do that is good for Islam and the Muslims. May our Lord protect Egypt from all evil. 14. Aya Ahmed: May our Lord grant us victory over the unjust people. 15. Yousef Alfnan: Khaled Ahmed: Talk is easy and beautiful and I know that if the military came to the people of Tahrir Squre and asked them to go fight it will be rare if you find those that will join them. I do not have any doubts in them but this stubbornness will cause us to lose a lot; a lot more than what we are losing now. First of all the people do not want freedom like you are saying. The people want food, clothing and shelter. Most of the people in Tahrir do not even know the constitution and they dont know any politicians. I bet you if you asked them to pick a president for Egypt, they will all pick people that are

57 far from befitting for that position. I am worried that this randomness will take us to a disaster. 16. Tarek Mohamed (Commandos Force): Published by Muslim in the book of faith from the conversation of Hudhaifa bin Al yaman(May God be pleased with him) said, that the messenger of God(Peace and blessings be upon him said: "and the heart gets sick like the body and its cure is in repentance and taking precautions, and it gets rusty just like the mirror gets rusty, and its polishing lies in the remembrance of Allah, and it gets bare just like the body and its beauty is in the fear of Allah, and it gets hungry and thirsty just like the body, and its drink is in knowing Allah and love and reliance and delegation and attendance." 17. Lamiaa Mohamed Fares: You want to set this country ablaze? Are you aware of what is going on? Every hour that goes by Egypt will be more in danger. Shame on you, fear God. http://www.albshara.com/showthread.php?t=21084&page=1 and check this out too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6Gn2UUn7VA&feature=player_embedded 18. Ahmed Sameh Saed: It is a strange people; the ones that take most of their rights and demands and they know that keeping Hosni Mubarak just for show, and are certain that Israel is waiting for the opportunity to take Sinai, and want to change the 6 articles of the constitution all at the same time. They also know that if the military were to turn against the government they are simply asking for everything for free and at that point the blood of the martyrs would have gone to waste. 19. Medhat Ramadan: We want reform not destruction. We must have confidence in the military, and with this attitude we are only destroying. 20. : I cannot believe this Wael Ghonim, Wael we entered a dark tunnel. We told you to withdraw and not to talk again. But you keep talking until you reach the fire at the end of the tunnel. I really want to know who is behind all this. 21. Hossam Farraq Alnagar: Your words are very clear Wael 22.Yosra Othman: Im sorry Wael, I have a lot of respect for you and my confidence in you grows each day, but in my opinion, the gains that have come out of this revolution are temporary, no matter if you say we will not go backwards. I see that all these plans are simply ways for them to fool us, so that all the things we want dont happen. Can you tell me why it is that you believe them this time? They have always been lying to us, what is it that gave you the idea that if we leave the streets, they wont go back and do that same thing they have been doing for all these years? Please discuss this with us, even if we disagree at least we know how you came to this opinion. 23. Mourad Mamdouh: If you can, please publish what you just said. 24. Ahmed Zaghlul Zaghlul: I am with you but brother Khaled, I urge you to be calm.

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25. Yousef Alfnan: If you are true Egyptian Wael, send the people back to their homes just like they were saying on Al-masriya channel that you claimed. I am like a bat, I cannot see in front of me and I cannot trust anyone. All I know is that America is on the verge of entering Egypt. 26. Mohamed Nabil Ali: Wael, I urge you to ignore those idiots that say that America and Israel will enter our country because they are simply idiots who do not understand anything. 27. Kareem Zidan: Mohamed Faisal You are an ignoramus 28. Zoza Antaka: I just want to say to all those who doubt Wael Ghonims patriotism that it is not your right to do so. Wael is a young man who worries for his country and he does not want its people to be insulted. May our Lord help you and all those who are like you but we must be aware of the sedition. Wael I am speaking on behalf of all the youth who support you and want change for this nation. 29. Yousef Alfnan: The military is treating the youth like they are children. Enough of this, there are people that have a right on us and they are our family. And just because we lost 300 martyrs does not mean that we should lose 85 million Egyptians. May our Lord have mercy upon our martyrs if they are martyrs and our Lord will hold accountable everyone involved in this. 30. Azza Sohby: Firstly, I chose you to speak on my behalf and I have confidence in you. Secondly, I am convinced with what was said and I am confident that they will fulfill our demands because they have no other choice. We have to give them time to fulfill the demands. Thirdly, dont call for a change of government right now, what we want now is stability and the government either way will change with the election of a new president. We cannot waste time changing the ministries, and that is better for us right now because we are putting too much pressure on them. 31. Ahmed Alminshawy: Congratulations to America for overthrowing the regime by planting the seeds of Facebook into the youth who have used it to their advantage. 32. Mahmoud Eltaib: You guys, before all this I hated Hosni just like any other Egyptian, and I agree with Wael that this revolution has accomplished a lot of great things, and I believe that any decision that has been said will not be untruthful, because if any of the people responsible can see what the people are doing, they will know that the people will shake any power that tries to overcome them. Also, I wish we could pay attention to something else that is important, there is not government in the world that will accomplish their promises in a matter of a day or a night especially under the pressure of the people right now. Lastly, I ask God to protect Egypt from any sedition. 33. Sumaya Hamadmad: However I must make clear that I am pleased until now with the accomplishments we have made so far. Can you please explain to me what these

59 accomplishments are? The president is still the president and has not stepped down, and the government is still as it is. Wael, thank you for what you have done for us until now and perhaps this is enough for you, and let someone else carry on from here; and I urge you not to speak to the media at all. 34. Ali Mohammed El-lozy: The revolution has not accomplished its goals. The president has not stepped down and he has not removed the emergency law and he has not dissolved the councils. 35. Mahmoud Kamel: You are now either with, or against the demonstrators in Tahrir. http://apps.facebook.com/poll-arabic/genelanketoy.php?anketid=5764 36. Mohameed Atta: Mr. Wael, I must say up to here is enough for you. Shame on you the people cannot even find jobs and you do not even know about the people that work the daily jobs. (much of the lower class in Egypt earned money by finding random jobs to do every day; meaning that one day they would work a job for someone and get paid cash, then the next day would go and find someone else to work for, trying to make enough just to get through the day.) He needs to be stopped, We know that he is doing all this so he is not put on trial but that doesnt mean that we should just leave it to God to trial him in the afterlife. Enough is enough! There are so many solutions I swear to you, in order to remove this government. I am a political thinker, if you want I can come up with several solutions to this problem to remove this government. 37. Livtyler Rose: You guys, let us talk with wisdom and thought. What you are saying is not for certain, it is merely false promises form the government in order to calm the people down just like their tactic with using thugs against us. They just want to divide us again and make us turn back and end the revolution that caught the attention of the world. You guys, with the will of God there will be no chaos because the goal of this intimidation is for them to convince us that without them (government) there will be chaos. But this will not happen so long as the people are united as one with the same idea in mind. And if you want an example of this; remember the Turkey after its revolution; it was able to form a new democratic nation and rebuild itself in less than 7 months. So, if our will power is strong, no one will be able to stand against us. All it is, is that he (Hosni Mubarak) is too attached to his regime. His arrogance is preventing him from stepping down from the government. If he truly was looking out for the welfare of this country, he would not have waited this long and did what he did from killing the people and claiming that he will give people their rights. It is all non-sense. I will stop here and say that, indeed God is with the patient ones. 38. Ramy Mohy: Leave it to the people in the street and our Lord will do what is best, we started it and the people will continue it until out demands is met. 39. Amani Mima: Now thats what I am talking about 40. Mohamad Mahmoud Saber: I agree with you in your opinion and thank you for the clarification, I agree. Lastly, do not pay attention to those who accuse you of treason

60 because those people do not know that what you have been preaching is what changed the course of this nation. 41. Nihal Esmail Mohamed: Your words are words of wisdom, Wael. Believe me a lot of people are on your side and we must spread the wisdom. It is true that I am confused now, and I do not know who is wrong and who is right but we have to stop and think and stop our emotions from overtaking us. 42. Tarek Mohamed: (Commandos Force) It wont happen overnight. 43. Mahmoud Metwaly: I myself did not believe it. I feel for you very well because we both have the same mindset. You have the same thoughts I had before the 25th of January; and when I went out I didnt believe that all that would happen and I said it is impossible that after all that he has accomplished, Wael would say such a thing. 44. Azza Sohby: Wael, can you, Moiz, Amr and all those who took part in this movement of 25 each get together with a group of the youth? You must all firstly unite on one idea that will serve the country and protect it. 45. Rabab Farouk: The news says that the firing in Rafah came from the people targeting the security forces; the security forces that have been ruling them with humiliation and firing at them because the Arabs of Sinai are naturally armed. I also heard that they took to the streets celebrating by firing shots into the air when they thought that Mubarak would step down and that when Mubarak gave his speech claiming he will not step down, they started firing at the security forces. 46. Sawsan Mohamed: Ok Wael, can you convince the people with your opinion since you claim that you are in some way pleased with the reform we have had so far? Convince them and explain to them please. 47. Bahi Yehia: Peace be upon you Wael, I want your feedback on what I am about to say and I hope you have the assertiveness and sincerity that I sensed when you spoke with Mona Al Shazly. I am an engineer and I am currently not in Egypt due to the lack of opportunities for work there. My question is to you is: If someone takes your money and insists on fooling you even when you have no food to eatwhat would you do? If the gas is being exported to Israel and the electricity in Egypt is being cut off due to lack of gas, what would you do? When you want to get married but you cannot find an apartment and they (government) have all the land for freewhat would you do? When you spend billions and you start exporting wheat and the people cannot even find breadwhat would you do? Even more importantly are the youth that were killed by the government; who will hold them accountable? What about the ones that stripped the country and transferred billions to foreign bankswhat would you do? When Gamal merchandises with our debts and our debts increase every yearwhat would you doplease tell me? 48. Um Rahma: Continue with the revolution for I swear to you, the more the patience the better the results. Did you not see that every time a week went by, the progress was better

61 than the previous week? God willing, He will not put shame on us. We will enjoin in what is good and stand in the face of tyranny. Whoever has died is a martyr and whoever has suffered will not be forgotten. If you should be suffering - so are they suffering as you are suffering, but you expect from Allah that which they expect not. (Koran 1:104) Every protest that takes place is devoted towards democracy. All kinds of people are at Tahrir Square right now, not just the youth. I am confident that if the youth stopped marching, the rest would continue. The youth have now become a small fraction of the millions of different people. We are all one group and we have the same demands. Do not direct your dissatisfaction towards the youth only, whoever commits treason, has committed treason against his nation and not just against the youth. This is no longer about Tahrir Square, the call for freedom has spread to all the provinces of Egypt. May God protect Egypt and its people and may he pardon all of us. 49. Aya Ramadan: I do not understand what he is waiting for. He should leave already, I hope our Lord relieves us of him, but you guys have to be careful because he is a dangerous man who trusts no one. 50. Ahmad Amar: Do not turn back; the revolution will stay until the end. The concessions are not sufficient and the government has no security. The souls of the martyrs are on the hands of Mubarak and his posse on the Day of Judgement. 51. Abu Muhab Ruby: Mr. Wael, whoever takes on a path must continue on that path until the end and those are words that never need to be said to someone who loves Egypt. 52. Nagla Elmasry: Wael you are a fraud. 53. Mona Doan: Witness says that President Hosni Mubarak is sick now and is in Sharm Elshiekh in his palace in Jolie Ville Golf Hotel overlooking the Red Sea. This was around 12:30 PM. 54. Dr. K. Kamal: Wael you are playing with our minds. You need to pick a direction to follow, go either right, or left. But you cannot say one thing and then later on, say something else. Stick with one opinion and I hope you dont change your mind. 55. Amr Tarek: Do you think we will be able to make Egypt better than before? http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_188091127889168&notif_t=group_r2j 56. Asmaa Azab: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=H0jG4RKYilQ&feature=player_embedded#at=44 57. Shehab Egendy: The lives of those who are being harmed and those who will be killed in the coming days will be on your neck Wael. It is your fault that this sedition is being spread everywhere. Just stop this already. 58. Rabab Farouk: Whoever says that Wael will take the first flight out of Egypt if Israel attacks us, needs to know that Wael was out of the country before and came here when the

62 protests started and he was arrested, and when he got out he did not think about leaving and he is still here. So this is evidence that he is not what you guys are calling him. 59. Abdelkader Benghazali: May God protect you, I swear you are our leader. 60. Ragab Mohamed: Enough, we dont want this to all get destroyed. You yourself said that the president makes true promises. Even if the president turns out to be lying we will make another revolution and stop him, it is not like we are going anywhere. 61. Basma Maklad: With all due respect to you Wael, your words are too flip flop. Sometimes you say that you are confident in the military and then you go back and say that the blood of the martyrs will not go in vain. When you do this you get the people riled up in an indirect fashion just so you do not lose them. You guys, I no longer understand why this revolution happened, nor what the demands of it are anymore. Enough of this. Neither Mubarak nor anyone from the people will benefit the country if this chaos contaminates the people. At first it was only Mubarak, now we are trying to bring down the likes of him such as Omar Suleiman, and Ahmed Shafeeq. I have never in my life seen a people that stays in the streets and every time they are told something they make a protest out of it. You guys have to calm down a little bit and think. You are fighting over people that will eventually leave the government and you will destroy the country. We do not have to follow the Tunisias catalogue or the catalogue of other revolutions if we can fix this with as little losses as possible. The situation now has become just all about stubbornness, because we never even dreamed that this was going to happen. Enough of this, let us enjoy the victory that we have earned. Tomorrow if the president says he will step down, the people still will not leave and they will say we want Omar Suleiman to leave and so on and so forth. Also we do not want to the military to make a coup detat. We want them to spend their time protecting the borders of Egypt, not burden them with the presidency and domestic issues. 62. Houwayda Al Hagi: You children of Egypt are brave and may our Lord protect you; and if there were a thousand of you Wael amongst the Arabs, our situation would have been better, and Palestine would return to us and the Arabs would be above all. 63. Sarah Sh: I ask of you, as someone who has a lot of nationalism amongst the protesters (I am not saying you are their leader, but you do have a great influence amongst the protesters.) I urge to try to calm the people down and urge them to listen to the presidential speech that will take place soonand Egypt is above all. 64. Sumaya Hamadmad: How interesting it is that all of sudden people are asking others to calm down. Of course this would happen because the people are protesting in the streets, but they will not stop until they get all their rights. 65. Love My Country: The presidents decision to keep his position in the government in my opinion is an attempt to overcome the revolution and to destroy it. If he accomplishes this, everything will go back to what it was before, and if he does not accomplish it, he will depend on the United States to protect his wealth and money that he took from the people of Egypt before he leaves. If this man loved this country he would have stepped down but

63 instead he is crafting a way to destroy it and infuriate its people for the sake of personal gains. And if it were not for the intellect of people, and using their minds and controlling their anger, this speech would have had an infuriating affect on the people that would have lead to destruction and blood would have been spilled everywhere. 66. Marian Salib: Wael, I am sorry but what you are doing with both the supporters and the opposing side is very pathetic. Do what you say because there are a lot of people now that have their agendas that they want to fulfill. We are supposed to stop them from accomplishing it, not help them out. Please Wael, we have confidence in you, do not lose us and lose Egypt, please. 67. Bayan Otfy: There is rumor that the elections will be fair? Or are we going to go back to the past? Do not say you will go back to the (Tahrir) Square because if you leave it now, you will never see it again. The governments will not allow anyone to speak up again, and they only let it happen this time because they did not think it would get this big. 68. Israa Mohamed: I cannot seem to understand what this vacuum is. You keep saying call to this and that. What exactly are you calling for? I have come to believe that you afraid to go back just so you do not lose your trust with the people and in such a situation I cannot say that you are responsible for it or else their blood will be on your hands. You have become even lower than someone who changes in the course of events. 69. Fady Safwat: I am with you but choose a side that is clear and blunt and I will be with you. 70. Ahmed El-sayed: Wael, the comments you made are fine but the important thing is that the military guarantees this for us. You also have to give them a schedule of when we want our demands met. 71. Annaa Ameer: If you have confidence in Suleiman that has claimed that we are people, who lack intellect of democracy. He believes we are still fools who cannot determine our own fate. You are nave and delusional Mr. Wael. I do not doubt your patriotism, but I doubt your understanding to situations that Egypt is going through. You still do not know who Omar Suleiman is or where the military stands in terms of supporting the tyrannical regime. If you think that the military will meet our demands if we calm down, then you are wrong. I urge to be aware and understand what I am saying because unfortunately there are people who believe what you say. 72. Mony Mohamed: Just so you know Wael, your opinions seem to correlate many of our opinions, and if anyone tries to attack you just know that there will many other people that will defend you. 73. Noheir Samy: Breaking News from The Associated Press: The U.S. sixth fleet is moving towards Egyptian coasts in pretext of securing navigation in the Suez Canal at a time when Israeli troops are massing at the Egyptian Borders. If you love Egyptsend this to every EgyptianWe must protect Egypt now, stop protesting. I urge you all for the sake

64 of Egypt, forget Mubarak right now; forget him! Think about Egypt, oh people of Egypt! 74. Ahmed Rady: There has to be a solution Wael, the president is already leaving. 75. Ayat Abdelhakim: There are different kinds of people in the streets right now. There are those that want revenge from Mubarak and want him to step down; then there are those who represent different parties such as the (Muslim) Brotherhood that want to rule and they are a minority. Egypt is not ready for this right now. A lot fo those in the streets are not tied to a political party and they just want what is best for Egypt but little do they know of the political repercussions. First of all Wael, you are a much loved person and your word is heard by many. Ignore those who call you a traitor for they are a minority. The Egyptian people know your sincerity and patriotism. Put your trust in God and go out to Tahrir Square and talk to the youth of the 25th movement in private and when you reach a decision, talk on the microphone and tell the people of the accomplishments weve reached so far and how we can take advantage of it. Also, mention the losses weve had and mention what would happen if we continue on that path in terms of the security issues that Egypt is exposed to. Say whatever your conscience tells you to say. Do not fear anyone but God.I hope you read this. 76. Eslam Moustafa: Wael, tell the people I am not going to Tahrir, and I am sure that if they have confidence in you, many people will follow you. 77. Rabab Farouk: I would like to say to all those who are saying that everything has been accomplished; you guys said the same thing when Mubarak dissolved his cabinet and made a new one. If they had listened to what you guys said and left at that time, Mubarak would not have come up with a second speech, nor would Al Adly have stepped up to rule, nor would Suleiman still be around. So please if you are simply too lazy to go out and protest, leave the bravery of those out on the streets to get us our rights back. 78. Samaa Khaled: I'm totally with you, Wael.. Allah save Egypt & let the best our destiny 79. Diab Serhan: No one is capable of speaking ill but take caution of your statements especially the private government media; because they will use it to manipulate and pressure your compatriots in the blessed revolution. And beware of the deception and safeguard your life because it is important to us and your comrades. The government is like a snake, if you try to shut its mouth it will bite you with a deadly bite. 80. Safy Nabeel: Hopefully all is well. 81. Mohamed Shaban: I hope that the next president loves Egypt as much as you do Wael. 82. Mohammed Mohsen Naeem: All I am going to say is I pray that God is with us against those who did us wrong and to all those who have the solution in their hands and do not want to solve it. Wael, do you think it please God that every president that rules over us has a bad ending. I am taking your side. I am certain that the country has truly changed and that is why I believe that the demonstrations should stop because it is in our peoples nature that

65 when our efforts get no results that we turn to violence. We just got this country on its feet so if you can please fix the situation that would be greatly appreciated. I also hope that the 6 million in the streets realize that Egypt is 80 million not 6 million, and that there are a lot of people against this. So if they think that everyone who has a problem can just go sit in Tahrir Square and their problems will be solved, they are wrong. The country will fall apart, and I believe my words are very clear. 83. Dalia Barakat Elmishrfy (Indeed God defends those who believe)(Koran) May God reward you with good. 84. Hossam Mohamed Nour: Giving your opinion about this was a huge mistake. May God forgive you. 85. Ahmed Ragab: Ok, and lets say destiny has chosen to play an important role in this, what would you do? Listen Wael, heres something you need to know, destiny chooses its heroes, and not the opposite, understand? 86. SasMo Mohamed: He guaranteed in his speech that he will no longer be the president and the military says it will only hold power until the transition is complete. Enough of this already, he already stepped down, I am convinced. He will fulfill our demands. We did not even agree on who would replace him when he leaves. We keep telling him to leave but we have not even looked ahead to the next step. No one has agreed on one personality to replace him. Logic says that we should find out what we should do in the next few months, no one here wants to listen. 87. Mohammed Al-Matari: Wael, it is imperative that you understand that half of those in the street are people in their graves (meaning people that have been killed), when will you become open minded and understand what I am saying? 88. Mervat Damarawy: Oh Khaled, Oh Ghonim, you are the reason for the corruption of Egypt, and just like you spread sedition and corruption in our country. Try to clean up and fix what you have done. You work in Dubai, you studied in an American university and you married an American and I am skeptical of you support for Egypt. You are just trying to get a piece of the cake. You are inconsistent with what you say on the TV stations. Leave! Leave! Leave! We are strong against you now after we were sympathetic towards you the day you cried. 89. Sameh Kamel: What are you trying to tell us? 90. Manal Abdel Salam: May God bless you Omar Alsamdoony. This is the voice of reason and the voice of someone who loves Egypt. You are unlike the ones that say things for personal gain and the gain of others who only have their own interests in mind. 91. Yesterday I saw a lady on TV crying saying that she raises 10 orphans and that her son is injured and is in the ER in the Qasr Al-Ain hospital. People have become blind and cannot see with their two eyes anymore because they have been attacked

66 by the riot police with bullets. May God protect them and heal them as soon as possible, God willing. "Have mercy upon those on Earth, and you will get Mercy from the One in the heavens." 92. Eng Fatma: You are the starter of this revolution and the one who kept it moving. How is it that the people are not convinced with your opinion when you were the one that brought the intensity to them? Even when the national security wanted to know the reason behind all this they abducted you. That means you are the symbol for these people. I am in support of your opinion that the people should leave. You are their example; there could be people out there that are not as politically intellectual so when you give an opinion it should be the logical opinion to them and it should convince them. How do they make their own party and disrespect the symbol? Isnt the voice of the majority important? 93. Abdelkader Benghazali: I swear you are the one that gave hope to the people and the evidence is in the people that are dying for the cause. You have more patriotism in you that anyone in charge right now. 94. Sarah A. Refaat: i really respect u now... 95. Soha Alprincesa: Wael Ghonim is a miniature version of Elbaradeihe lived outside the country and came back to destroy it. You are a spy and a traitor. You were commenting on things during the time when the internet was shut downhow is that? And while that was happening, in the comments you said you were going to Tahrir Square, you traitor! 96. Sisters of Saudi Arabia: I am a Saudi sister that loves Egypt. It is strange of you to try to prove yourself right. I swear to God I only added myself to this page just so I can get a laugh. My noble brother, your image has been shaken. You loved the media attention and you convinced yourself that you are the savior and the leader to this great revolution for the great people of Egypt. You image is shaken and you are not decisive in what you sayall that matters to you now is to stay on top of the media. You made me laugh when you came out with a statement like you are some glorified leader with people waiting to hear what you have to say. And you thought that the millions were waiting for you to tell them to leave Tahrir Sqaure and go home to calm downyou made yourself bigger than you really are. This is a revolution my brother, a revolution! It a revolution for a great people such as the great people of Egypt. This revolution my noble brother, pay attention to what I say, is like strong flood that no one can stop. Yes, no one will be able to stop it except with the expulsion, exile and stepping down of Mubarak outside of Egypt. The people want a strong end to this in their favor. Havent you learned your lesson. When you see a flood happening you can do, one of two things; you can go with the flow or step aside and stay quiet. You can just watch from the sidelines as it passes you by. If you try to stop it, it will destroy you. Your vision inside your head is fluctuating, convinced with what you have done and you are convinced that you have accomplished what you want. But at the same time you still want the media attention these days. You are waiting for the people to fulfill their demands and get Hosni Mubarak out of office, which they will by the will of God, and then you plan on joining them in celebration and taking the spotlight. You may not be an agent or a traitor but you are a trajectory and you just dont know it. When they released

67 you but did not release the thousands of other prisoners and they made you an important figurewhat happened during your time in prison?? When you said that you are rich and you do not need the money from the people, you simply dug yourself into a bigger whole. When rich people want something from the common people they get them to unite under something else other than money. That would be leadership! Presidency! Symbolism! And that is what you got when you had your first television interview after being released from detention. At that point I said, Who is this guy anyway? And who called him a hero? This is part of a specific agenda that you have that you are not even aware of, to become a hero and a symbol and a spokesmen for the youth. You thought that you could win over their sympathy with a few words and a few tears but you do not even know the poverty that Egyptians go through. You do not know what they go through, on the contrary you lived in one of the worlds greatest cities, Dubai. As soon as you become their spokesmen you want them to go home like you requested them to do earlier from Tahrir Square. Obviously whoever is controlling you thinks that this revolution of the youth is only a few thousand people but little do they know that they have poor sight. The reason the government has not been able to stop the revolution is because the people stuck to their demands and did not leave Tahrir Sqaure. The reins have now gotten out of the hands of all the parties and the opposition! They will bring down Hosni Mubarak! Yes they will! I am confident in that! So, my noble brother, put yourself in our shoes and do not climb the on the backs of the revolutionaries because you said with no hesitation that the mission was accomplished. And to that we say thank you and please do not try to fool us again with another statement. 97. Ahmed Almishawi: Congratulations America on turning against the government in Egypt by planting the seeds of Facebook to the youth who used it to their advantage. You also got one of our Egyptian youth and made him the president of a branch of one of Americas biggest companies, and you got him married to an American woman. 98. Mohammed Alshazly: Wael, you have the solution, we will not leave you. You will end the book the way you want it to end, so come down here from your seat and lets start a new page. 99. Mahamed Elkarny: I am Egyptian and I never betrayed it. And I did not sell it not did I forget it. I sacrificed my blood for it. The humiliation has increased in it. Its dignity has been lost. Its leaders trampled its flock. They forgot her concerns. I am an Egyptian who drank from its water. I do not have any other citizenship. I did not abandon its ship. I sleep on its soil. I would die for its protection. I stayed up till the morning through its nights. I sang to its delight. I farmed in its land. I planted its seeds. I raised its flag. Finally there comes the day I can die for it. I am her son, protecting its dignity. (poem/Mohamed Alqarni Aljafary) 100. Esraa Samir: Egypt is above all, I just heard what you said a little while ago on Alarabiya channel. Indeed I am with you and all of Egypt is with you, and whoever understands, will understand.

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