How did the Libyan state deal with social media and Internet

Running head: Libyan Revolt - Use of the Social Media and the Internet
How Did The Libyan State Deal With Social Media And Internet, And How Did The Opposition Use It?
Customer inserts name here
Customer inserts Institute`s name here
Customer inserts course instructor name here
Customer inserts course name here
02 October 2011
Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc305303962 \h 3Hypothesis PAGEREF _Toc305303963 \h 10The Role of the Social Media in the Uprising PAGEREF _Toc305303964 \h 10Gaddafi`s Use of the Social Media PAGEREF _Toc305303965 \h 16Use of Social Media by the Opposition PAGEREF _Toc305303966 \h 18Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc305303967 \h 19Works Cited PAGEREF _Toc305303968 \h 22
Introduction
The crisis in the Middle East has taken the world by surprise. Even though this crisis has not been the result of a sudden whim, but in fact has been an eruption resulting from years of simmering resent and oppression at the hands of authoritarian rulers.
The case of Libya is therefore no such anomaly as Gaddafi has been in power of nearly 42 years and in this time of apparent stability, there many infringes against human rights and against the population.
Gaddafi came into power after a coup nearly 42 years ago, through which he overthrew King Iris I. During his ensure Gaddafi introduced laws and regulations which were in accordance with his ideology and while the law said that he was only a ceremonial head and that the country would be ruled by people`s ministers, he was in fact the controller of the entire country. This is because he had very skillfully appointed people from his own tribe or from tribes that were loyal to him, and in this manner he accrued their goodwill, and through these puppets controlled the masses.
This kind of unilateral power helped Gaddafi amass much wealth without paying much attention to the infrastructure of the country and at the same time kept the military weak in order to maintain his rule over the country.
In light of such a backdrop there are several reasons cited by scholars regarding the reasons for occurrence of such a wide spread revolt, which convinced people to lay down their lives for freedom of expression, something which has never been granted to them ever before.
Where did this realization in come about? If the country was isolated from the rest of the world, then this question would have indeed been puzzling, but with globalization and technological progress being rampant, people have gained awareness about how people are living in other parts of the world. In fact one can say that technological advances and globalization have progressed hand in hand with globalization fueling the demand for communication technology. And this in turn has been the key in how the world has been connected.
Considering the case of the media in particular, this paper is focusing on studying how the media has been a way to communicate cultural values and norms. The way in which the global culture has been shaped has been due to the economic prowess of the West, and the way that they are in a position to influence people in the world through their sway on the media. This in turn translates into its philosophies and ideologies being conveyed in a positive light to the exclusion of all other nation`s philosophies which the western powers are bent to diminish and ridicule. Therefore showing Western culture in a positive light is the media, which is subscribed to by people all over the world. While older people are in a position to watch and get entertained by the news, expressing their opinions in ways that generally do not change the world, the youth, which forms a major portion of the developing world is easily influenced and is also more triggered to aspire to change the world in accordance with the way they see fit. Particularly because they have more years to spend in the world and by continuing to live in such environs they feel that they will deprived of the ‘good` things that their western peers are enjoying.
Adding some detail to the term ‘good` things, this term as used in the context of this paper uses it to describe the democratic ideologies that are the foundation of western countries, but have been absent from middle eastern countries entirely due to years of monarchist and then autocratic rules of dictators and military regime. Therefore here the democratic values that are now the foundations of the Western world and are in fact where freedom of expression, freedom of life and faith as well as upholding human rights is at the centre of all legislature and laws.
Therefore, when young people who have been deprived of their basic rights, and have no involvement in the life they are leading due to the law that are imposed by an ageing, increasingly power-hungry dictator, feel that they too have a right to a free life and so start discontenting from the way things are.
Such was the scenario that occurred when the revolts started in Tunisia when a young vendor burnt himself to protest the humiliation that the forces had subjected him to, due to no fault of his own. The rebellion that occurred due to that last straw had wider implications than ever imagined. This act literally set fire to the simmering rage that was within the people of that country resulting in the overthrow of an autocratic regime.
This act was then looked upon as an example in the rest of the Arab and other middle-eastern countries, where Egypt followed. Now there is Libya, which is the core basis of discussion in this paper. The struggle against Gaddafi can hence be said to have been fuelled by the media portraying western ideologies and raising the rebels into a heroic stature following other rebellions making students and youth aware of the silver lining that existed despite the population having thought otherwise.
Therefore the purposes of this paper, it is important to study what the experts and scholars with regards to this have said. Such a study will lend the paper a better view on the historical perspective of the Libyan movement as well as give a deeper insight as to how events have developed into a full-fledged struggle for human rights. Considering these in turn we can see that many journalists all over the world have written about this even from their own unique perspectives. While many support this happening stating that this instability is necessary for stability, according to Shadi Habib, the director of research at Brookings Doha Center. CITATION Ant11 \l 1033 (Shadid 2011) This is a relevant perspective with regards to the threads of thought running on the revolt.
However when talking about stability, the West has always been in favor of stability in the regions as given by their support of Eastern dictators who were pro-West and their policies aligned with the policies of the Western leaders who were interested in harvesting oil from the region. CITATION Joh11 \l 1033 (Ross 2011) Ross, in his article also states why he thinks that this is not a civil war, but is in fact a revolt in the following words: CITATION Joh11 \l 1033 (Ross 2011)
"First, events on the ground show clearly that the opposition protests started peacefully, and that the current military option was forced on the demonstrators by the extraordinary brutality of the Gaddafi`s Special Forces.
Secondly, we can see from events that the ensuing uprising was at its core a civilian revolt (not, for example, a revolt within the army). It is certainly true that numerous army units chose to join the resistance, bringing with them many of the weapons that the rebels now use. But the entire resistance is decidedly a civilian, not military, operation." CITATION Joh11 \l 1033 (Ross 2011)
The author is therefore indicating that while the Libyan cause might be classified as a civil war by a few experts, it in fact is a civilian uprising, an uprising of the common man that has been led by the common man`s observation of practices and customs that have made him realize that he too is entitled to the same and that no dictator is fit to tell him how to lead his life.
Coming to the use of the social media and the internet by the Libyans in fueling this uprising and gathering supporters for it, is in some ways similar to what happened in Egypt, but neither country can be compared in the truest sense as Egypt was far more advanced and the use of the internet and social media was much more widespread as the government in Egypt did not keep as close a check on the use of internet and media as General Gaddafi`s people did.
Even so, the revolt has taken cue from Tunisia and then Egypt where the power of the people was seen to triumph over the authoritarian rulers who had concentrated power into their own hands. However for Libya, experts are expecting a more difficult transition in terms of power. Moreover experts are suggesting that the overthrow of the current regime will usher in a new era of uncertainties as countries recover from the rebellion and figure out who the next leader will be. Moreover there are fears, according to M. Cherif Bassiouni, who is an expert in international law that the overthrow of the government is going to be much easier relative to the struggles that lie ahead of these people in restoring stability and law and order. CITATION Ant11 \l 1033 (Shadid 2011)This view is relevant as there is a leadership vacuum created in the absence of leadership where external as well as internal forces try to take advantage of the situation. Moreover, as Shadid states further in the article, that this theory is proving to be true as extremist forces referred to as "Islamists" in the piece are creating terrorists links in the region.
But whatever the aftermath may be it is to be said that these revolutions were led by the student populations who are technology savvy and in turn used social media and the internet to communicate with each other and to create an understanding that they were being collectively oppressed and it was their duty to protest against these infringes on their basic human rights.
But the forces that held Gaddafi together, seen in a strategic perspective according to CITATION Viv11 \l 1033 (Walt 2011), the reason why Gaddafi has been in power for so long is that Libya, relative to its neighbors is more tribe-oriented, and this is a crucial factor in estimating the support that Gaddafi has, as tribe members are fiercely loyal to each other, and would die to save another`s life or honor, which has been one of the reasons why Gaddafi was able to create so much havoc and take so many people`s lives in the protesting camps. Further to this, the rebels also managed to make a mistake of raising the flag that was used in the Libyan Monarch`s time which Gaddafi had managed to overthrow. Under the monarch`s regime, the Western powers had held much sway and the people were truly deprived of their rights. Therefore when the armed rebels supported the previous regime, many were driven to nationalistic tendencies and supported Gaddafi as they took him as a symbol of sovereignty and a voice against the western powers who have long since tried to control the country. Moreover with the British troops landing and fighting in Libya this suspicion was confirmed among the supporters camp and they strove to support Gaddafi against inevitable anarchy. And in this scenario, the Western Powers also failed to respond adequately. CITATION Viv11 \l 1033 (Walt 2011)
The role of social media in the uprising has been vital indeed. Even so there are arguments being put forward by people and experts such as Malcolm Gladwell who are questioning whether the role of social media in the context of the revolutions has been as wide and far-reaching as it is made out to be. Or is it that the uprisings were inevitable even if social media had not existed in the form that it exists in today. CITATION Pet11 \l 1033 (Osnos 2011)
To prove to this cynic that social media probably did not have that great a role to play in the public rage that was simmering under the oppressive covers of the Gaddafi government, the social media has been useful in rallying people around a similar cause and coordinate their activities so that they are better able to fight for their rights. The author, Peter Osnos wrote the article in March when Gaddafi had been able to retaliate to the rebels by using force, but after the writing of this article, the rebels were indeed successful in overthrowing Gaddafi and this was with the help of social media.
As far as the use of social media is concerned preceding the overthrow of Gaddafi, in face of severe consequences in propagating the rebellion, youth started sing dating and entertainment sites in order to purport their view points and in order to circumvent the stringent checks on material published online.
Moreover the use of social media has also helped the influential Diaspora outside of Libya to connect with the rest of their country people. According to John Timpane CITATION Joh111 \l 1033 (Timpane 2011):
"The assault on that fortress has been joined by the "Libyan Diaspora" - expats as well as family and friends of those struggling back home. In little more than a week, the international Libyan community has pulled together into a focused, urgent media world unto itself.
The Diaspora workers funnel text messages, photographs, and e-mail between Libya and the outside world, to support and guide the struggle back home." CITATION Joh111 \l 1033 (Timpane 2011)
According to primary sources that have been quoted in the article, some of the people`s opinions and statements accurately depict the situation that exists in Libya and how it is different from that in Egypt CITATION Joh111 \l 1033 (Timpane 2011):
"You can't use the Egypt model in Libya," said Duella, "because it would never work." Only six million people live in Libya, compared with Egypt's 80 million-plus. Egypt's Hosni Mubarak may have been an autocrat, but he seems mild next to Gaddafi and his iron choke hold since 1969 on society, the economy, and information. Gaddafi has always banned the sale of foreign newspapers. There is next to no tourism and no privately held TV or radio.
"Compared to other parts of the Arab world," Iskandar said, "there is less use of Internet, less use of Twitter and Facebook, partly out of fear, partly because there just isn't the access." He estimated there were 320,000 regular Internet users there, scant next to the 16 million in Egypt."
The figures that are cited by the people in this quote translate to 20 percent in Egypt compared to almost five percent in Libya, and that really is a small number. With such a strongly controlled media, what the people did in Egypt was much stronger there as compared to Libya, but then if it was so, and if Gaddafi was really that successful in choking off freedom of expression and exposure to the rest of the world, the question arises as to why and how did the revolt happen? CITATION Leo11 \l 1033 (Panetta 2011)
To this the answer is hidden in Jamal-Al-Hajji`s call to use the internet in order to organize a protest, much like the one that was held in Egypt to seek Hosni Mubarak to step down.
Hypothesis
In considering all the view points and the fact that the use of the internet and hence the social media has been limited in the Libyan uprising, the paper holds that ‘the use of social media by the state and the opposition along with its misuse, and its banning all have been indicators to the rest of the world regarding the plight of the common man and has enabled the world community to act on how things have been in Libya.`
Prove this point various primary and secondary sources have been consulted and the arguments, presented prior to this hypothesis as well as those that shall be presented from here forth, will try to prove the hypothesis correct.
The counter argument that this hypothesis is likely to encounter is that social media is really not the key to the revolt and that it has had little role to play in Libya given that much of its population does not even use the internet. And this is the reason why its use has not played an important part in government or rebel strategy.
The Role of the Social Media in the Uprising
Twitter and Facebook as well as dedicated websites on the topic have served a useful purpose for the rebels who have been able to post their views, videos and experiences on these sites and to link them up with blogs to create a worldwide flow if information, that is then picked up by the international media to be shown and acted upon by the rest of the world.
This section of the paper seeks to amalgamate the views presented by various experts and commentators in a confluence from which main points regarding the role of the social media can be derived.
For starters, social media is actually the media that connects people across the globe along one domain with people being able to post not only their views but other content such as document and data files as well as videos and pictures which they want to show to the rest of the world. The founders of social media might not have envisioned the kind of impact their websites would have on the rest of the world, and the kind of political use that they have been put to today.
Nevertheless, this has been the c...