Are online social networks the reason behind political revolutions? For some, the main instigators of current street opposition movements in Tunisia, Yemen, Morocco and Egypt are social networking websites, plus revelations made by WikiLeaks. This explanation is both right and wrong.
Social networking websites would probably not have an influence if social conditions causing the revolution were not there in the first place. These sites have members from countries such as Sweden, Japan and Australia, too, but there, people don’t go into the streets to overthrow their governments. There are people who claim that the main target of these sites are Arab countries and that they are used as an indirect method to direct these countries’ political scene.
However, to claim that the online networks are a political instrument in the hands of a couple of great powers is like saying that all global developments are caused by the same powers. From this perspective, one may even believe that Tunisia’s Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Morocco’s Mohammed VI are perfect rulers; but, with the interests of great powers having changed, these powers are now provoking the people to replace their leaders.
What is going on in the Arab countries and in Northern Africa is the expression of accumulated social frustration caused by failed governments. It is obvious nowadays that it is not possible to make people happy through policies inherited from the Cold War era, which emphasizes security instead of liberty. However, because current regimes have established a wide system of corruption based on sharing their countries’ wealth, no one should expect them to hand over power willingly.
That is why people are revolting. Keeping radical Islamist movements under pressure and making sure that they are not represented in the administration is no longer enough to preserve power, either. On the contrary, authoritarian regimes make existing political currents more radical. That is why it does not seem credible to say that social networking websites or WikiLeaks are sufficient to push people to stage an uprising.
Nevertheless, WikiLeaks, social networking websites and increasingly widespread Internet access certainly have a quick and synchronizing effect on sociopolitical processes. It is undeniable that the current resources made available by way of dissemination of information play a crucial role as societies with similar problems show similar reactions simultaneously.
People learn more easily that there are other people who suffer from the same kind of problems and that resistance has started elsewhere. They even exchange information in order to get help on how to organize similar insurgencies in their countries. That is one of the new opportunities globalization affords. It is unrealistic to think that ideas will not freely move while capital does so.
Furthermore, diversified channels of information allow people to better see how other peoples manage to live in a more prosperous and stable way. They also learn what their leaders have hidden from them so far. The influence of social networks and WikiLeaks is important, but these are not the first examples in history.
It is common knowledge that during World War II leftists in Italy, France and Spain coordinated their actions by as much as the technology of the time allowed. The same also happened in the 1960s during revolutions in Latin America.
Those who never look in the mirror and believe that “communication” is the problem try to limit people’s access to social networks, hoping that people will then be stuck in their own little worlds. However, current technology makes all these attempts at imposing limits obsolete. In any case, how can one stop people when they have the will to act? BERİL DEDEOĞLU
