• The Revolution of an Age

The Revolution of an Age

Analysts have for decades been describing the Arab younger generation as unreliable and even responsible for the ills of the present and the failures of the future. But the Egyptian youth days which started on 25 January this year dismissed these allegations and have not been just a change of the political power in Egypt, nor have they been a revolution of these young men and women alone, but, overall, have become a revolution of an age, which we have to think about and consider its philosophy, tools and worldwide implications.

In February 2004, a new service was introduced on the Internet: the social network, or Facebook , which has 600m accounts, according to last January s statistics. At first, the service was confined to Harvard University students, a group of whom founded it: Mark Zuckerberg, Edwardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes to exchange news and form groups with mutual interests. Though still free, and after becoming an international corporation with its millions of accounts, it has been generating huge profits: $52m in 2006, rising to over $2bn at the end of 2010.

The Facebook generation used to refer to those youth totally immersed in the Internet looking for things they miss in the real world. Burt the youth revolution in Egypt staged by this generation has made the content of the pages of this service an extremely serious and important matter. That started in the youth s virtual world, but has now been affecting the real world and influencing generations.

The Internet war

In their counter-war methods, the Egyptian authorities did not maintain pages expressing their views on Facebook; it was too late. Therefore, in a desperate attempt to take control of the situation, having realized the gravity of such spontaneous, relentless social communication, unhindered by distance or time, and as happened in Iran and Libya later, the authorities cut off the Internet service, then SMSs their usual procedure. The ruling power, realizing their failure to compete with the youth in their familiar domain, decided to shut off the domain altogether!

We all know the pressure exercised to return the mobile service, but not SMSs, on which the revolution of the age lived. As an instant, technological response, Google devised a service turning mobile voice messages into SMSs in a similar service called Twitter, reminding us of the well-known saying in the Egyptian press a little bird told me . In this way, Twitter revealed secrets and carried the news worldwide.

The idea behind the Twitter site was based on blogs sending no more than 140-letter messages asking a single question: What are you doing now? The site appeared first on a small scale in San Francisco, then became available to all in October 2006. Twitter is based on the idea of following: you follow the news and activities of a friend or a celebrity on his/her page. Similarly, you are followed on your personal page, without you or the other party being aware of this. The site was originally designed to be a personal record giving an account of your current activities; however, it expanded to include opinions and exchange tweets or a famous quotation with friends and followers or refer to a certain site or article.

It is also used by big stars to communicate with their fans and catch up on their news. The 25 January youth revolution in Egypt had such a large number of followers that some British newspapers carried live comments from Tahrir Square through Twitter.

The new media

In an attempt to win the battle of the age and pressure the youth and their technologies, the regime tried to muzzle the TV media in two ways: First, preventing reporters from reaching the Square with their weapons which were just cameras and microphones, allowing itself enough time to distort facts and air miserable images lacking in credibility. Second, banning some TV channels which tried to cover what was going on in the Square.

But that was counterproductive. Once again, the tools of the revolution of the age turned into effective weapons. These were not lethal weapons or Molotov cocktails. However, those peaceful youth became broadcasters, correspondents and photographers, and images on their smart phones filled satellite channels screens, making the Square and other squares an advanced media crew giving round-the-clock coverage in sound and picture of the news.

Interestingly, the channels which escaped banning offered their screens free of charge to the banned channels. Once more, technology shows its power and ability to defeat those who think they can muzzle the media. Revolutionaries have breed themselves from their shackles. They do not fly a magic carpet, nor do they have Aladdin s lamp, but what they do have is much more magical and influential power.

The language of party founders and ideologists is no longer useful or appropriate, as indicated by the new youth vocabulary on the first day of their revolution which started with a single sentence like a neutron bomb: The people want to overthrow the regime. But the youth stepped up their demands, moving the revolting crowds, with their vigor, boldness, clear vision and the will to change broke down all barriers to free expression and showed that the past with its painful memories has given way to a future of a decent life.

That scientific system of gathering crowds is another feature of the age: toppling a regime can only be brought about through establishing an alternative regime, which insisted on being a peaceful demonstration and depended on patience which was said to be the authorities weapon and restored popular spirit and national unity.

The world watches in astonishment

The world with its audio-visual, print and electronic media has become a witness to round-the-clock coverage in various languages of events as they unfolded, of the revolution of a new age ushered by Egypt s youth. On the day following the fulfilment of the first demand of the millions the stepping down of the regime head in preparation for the country s cleansing CNN described what it saw as unprecedented. For the first time in history we see a people who stage a revolution then clean the streets, it said.

It was as if these young men and women wanted to say they began to feel it is their country and they don t mind cleaning it. It was not just material cleansing that excited comments on the revolution. We should teach the Egyptian revolution at school, the British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested. In northern Europe the Norwegian Prime Minister said, We’re all Egyptians today. As the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi stressed, There’s nothing new in Egypt. As usual, the Egyptians have made history. The Austrian President Heinz Fischer said, The people of Egypt are the world’s best and they deserve a Nobel peace prize. As the American President Barack Obama recommended, Egyptians have inspired us, and they have done so by putting the eye to the idea that justice is best gained through violence, for in Egypt it was the moral force of non-violence, not terrorism, not mindless killing that bent the arc of history toward justice once more.

In the light of such numberless responses, it is possible to maintain a new point of view in a modern sphere characterized by the values of change promoted by the youth s peaceful revolution. The Arab world and the Muslim nation fell prey to the Western media following the 9/11 attacks, but we are now looking at the revolution of a people backed by successive civilizations and a rich heritage of wisdom staged amid tools of brutality by persons armed only with the ideas of enlightenment, freedom and progress. That marks a turning point in the stereotyped attitudes to the Arabs as advocates of destruction.

Electronic memory

The Internet memory has become a modern, reliable alternative to human memory with its frailties. Egypt s youth revolution of the age has triggered the Internet memory. Millions are exchanging news, comments, anecdotes, jokes, pictures and films and know about assets and corruption.

A parallel contemporary revolution is being carried out on the Internet. Some are borrowing the tools and language of the age from Egypt s youth and trying to establish the traditions and trends of the age. All this is stored in a readily available unlimited electronic memory. The phrase the world has become a small village has become a tangible reality since we entered the age of the electronic media which made everybody sit at one table. As the phrase is now taken for granted, the 25 January Revolution in Egypt has made it undisputed and acceptable to historians and scientists alike.

An extraordinary opportunity

In the light of all this there is an extraordinary opportunity to enter the age of science. The gradual approach is no longer acceptable, and the scientific surge approach has gained ground and reduced time. There is no room for fear in the scientific machine which has occupied a central place in the revolution of the age. We have to restructure our society in such a manner that makes these tools a means of progress rather than distraction from the prospects of the future.

The extraordinary opportunity makes us support and be supported by the age. The type of education which conservative educationalists have made it meaningless is no longer worth continuing. We need curricular that respect the mentality of young men and women who think, live, revolt and work simultaneously. We should pave the way for them to develop their creative and leadership abilities.

Age has said its word, and the youth will maintain their power, but it is unlikely to have a revolution every day making use of such a power. It is therefore up to us to take the initiative in providing a better future for those moved by the age.

The revolution was not staged by the hungry alone or by angry sectors of society, but it was essentially the revolution of an age that wanted to force its will, of the age of opinion which reflects thought and clear view of real life. It was the revolution of crowds demanding to have a share in managing their life and charting their future. As the body suffers from lack of food, the mind suffers from lack of freedom and so resists oppression, banning and confiscation. The youth had such tools that helped them achieve their objectives. That s why when they were asked to pay tribute to their martyrs and reaffirm their demands, over three million people gathered in one square, in addition to further millions in other squares in Egypt and elsewhere, who dispersed after a peaceful demonstration. It was as if the language of the age were paying farewell to war which supporters of permanent, inactive regimes, ignorant of the laws of the age, were used to.

Sulaiman Al-Askary