1. the Internet made an enormous wealth of information and services accessible to students and researchers;

2. it was an important venue for commercial publicity and trade;

3. Syrian institutions could employ the Internet to promote Syria’s cultural, archaeological and historical heritage and thus advance the tourism industry;

4. Syria’s positions and rights on vital political issues could be advanced, thus countering the “mistaken positions, lies, and distorted views of Syria which appear on Internet sites supported by international Zionism.”[1]

Eighteen months later, on November 17, 1997, Syria began linking up 150

selected government bodies to the Internet. At the beginning of 1999, accessibility was extended to the broader public, and included e-mail, surfing and file transfer (FTP) capabilities within the country itself.

In its approach to the Internet, the Syrian regime, like other governments in the region, seeks to counter material critical of it that is widely available on-line, while insuring that technological innovation in the country is managed with great care in order to fend off unwanted cultural and political penetration and thus maintain tight control over the population. Hence, the authorities agreed to make the Internet accessible only after confirming that they had the ability to control and monitor its content. Adding to the limitations on Syrian users were the high costs of purchasing a computer and connecting to the Internet, and the country’s inferior communications infrastructure. To be sure, Internet usage has expanded since the beginning of the decade by no less than 12,000(!)%, partly because the costs for doing so have been reduced, and partly because of the strong desire for access among Syria’s relatively educated population. However, the regime has made it clear that control over access will remain in force, and that some sites would remain blocked, in line with “country's traditions and habits”[2]

Hence, only 16.4% of the population currently uses the Internet. Moreover, the restrictions imposed on them by the authorities render Syria, in the words of ‘Reporters Without Borders', among the “Internet’s enemies”.[3] Syrian authorities block websites containing material on human rights, freedom of speech, Syrian opposition organizations and Syria’s Kurdish minority, as well as pornographic and Israeli sites. In recent years, they also began to block international social networking sites, in light of their considerable popularity in the country. In 2007, Syria was even termed the “largest prison in the Middle East” for Internet users and bloggers[4] (as well as one of the 10 worst countries to be a blogger in 2009).[5] Indeed, bloggers often serve lengthy prison sentences and are hounded by the authorities in a variety of ways for their activities.

From the opposite direction, there are Western internet companies which prevent access by Syrian citizens to some of their services. For example, in April 2009, the business-oriented social networking ‘LinkedIn' blocked access from Syria, but quickly relented following protests by users, which were expressed through Twitter, among other means. LinkedIn explained its initial action as a human error. But internet firms such as ‘Google' and ‘Sun' routinely prevent Syrian users from using some of their services, in line with US government restrictions on supplying goods and services to the country.

Notwithstanding these limitations, the penetration of the Internet and the spread of social networking sites in Syria has created an important tool to disseminate information within the country and beyond. Users have often found ways to bypass the authorities’ strictures limiting the freedom of expression and organized activities through the formation of on-line pressure groups which address social and economic issues facing the country. The social networking site ‘Facebook', which operates in scores of languages, including, of course, Arabic, is especially popular in Syria.

The Syrian government’s recent campaign against Facebook and call to boycott it has brought the issue of social networking sites onto the public stage. The matter surfaced following a decision by Facebook’s management to view the Golan Heights as part of Israel, registering users from Israeli settlements there as residents of Israel, and not as residents of Syria, as had been done previously. It was even reported that Syria would block the site entirely. In fact, access had already been hindered for two years, both directly and via proxy sites which make it possible to use Facebook anonymously.[6]

The restrictions on social networking sites were designed to try and prevent Internet users from maintaining contact with one another, whether within the country or beyond. Indeed, it should be noted that on-line connections had been established in the past between Israeli and Syrian residents through Facebook proxy sites. Facebook includes hundreds of Syria-related groups, whose participants, both in-country and outside of Syria, number from the very few to thousands. They cover the gamut of subjects: tourism, business, technology, art and music, sports and student life. These sites also enable users to organize on-line protests, sometimes with considerable effect. For example, the rape of a teenage girl prompted a public discussion regarding the sexual exploitation of children, thanks to an on-line campaign involving thousands of people. An on-line campaign against a draft law dealing with matters of personal status appears to have been decisive in the government’s decision to abandon the proposed statute. Other on-line battles have included one advocating the lifting of all on-line restrictions, for which a personal appeal was even made to Syrian president Bashar al-Asad; and a call by local bloggers to boycott suppliers of cellular phones over matters of price, quality and service. In addition, Syrian Facebook users have organized on behalf of local bloggers who were imprisoned for their activities.

‘YouTube' is also employed by Syrians seeking to promote causes which are opposed to official policies. For example, clips documenting the repression of Syria’s Kurdish minority have been uploaded to the site. In response, it was reported in August 2007 that the site was blocked by the authorities because it contained a clip which showed the dress of the president’s wife flapping in the breeze during an official state function. Similarly, in May 2008, it was reported that access to the Arabic-language Wikipedia site was blocked by all internet service-providers in the country, without explanation, but in February 2009 the restriction was removed, an unprecedented step.

On-line social networks in Syria serve as a tool for organizing pressure groups, something which simply cannot be done in daily life, owing to the regime’s heavy-handed oversight and repression. These networks provide further tangible evidence of the strength of the Internet not just as a tool to transmit information within extremely restricted political environments but also to create a basis for social change in these countries. As such, they constitute a direct challenge to highly centralized authoritarian regimes such as Syria. This challenge can only grow in the years ahead, as the Internet inevitably expands its reach in the country.

Download this article as a pdf file

[1] Dr. Hasna Askhita, “L’internet en Syrie,”, Assad National Library, Damascus.

Paper delivered at the International Federation of Library Associations &

Institutions meeting, “Réseaux pour le développement des Bibliothèques dans

les Etats Arabes.” Beirut, 2-4 March 2000.

http://nmit.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/linternet-en-syrie/#more-11

[2] SyriaLive.net, “Syrian Internet Installation and Subscription Rates to be

Scrapped,” Computer and Internet – 2002, 5 March 2002.

http://web.archive.org/web/20071212172006/http://www.syrialive.net/computer/ar

chive/com-puter_2002.htm

[3] http://www.rsf.org

[4] Reporters Without Borders, “Syria,” 1 February 2007.

http://www.rsf.org/Syria,20777.html

[5] Committee to Protect Journalists, “10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger,” 30

April 2009.

http://cpj.org/reports/2009/04/10-worst-countries-to-be-a-blogger.php

[6] http://www.gotofacebook.co.za, http://facebookoxy.com

]]> http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2009/11/06/on-line-social-networks-in-syria/feed/ 4 http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2009/09/21/the-power-of-140-characters-twitter-in-the-middle-east/ http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2009/09/21/the-power-of-140-characters-twitter-in-the-middle-east/#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:33:20 +0000 Tal Pavel http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/?p=1996 The massive, sustained protests in Iran this past month against the regime’s apparent falsification of the presidential election results was enabled by widespread employment of new communication technologies. Among them is Twitter, the micro-blog which enables its users to distribute short messages of no more than 140 characters ('Tweets') via the Internet, including by way of cellular phones. One may follow their favorite ‘Tweets', whether those of individuals or announcements by groups, by visiting the Twitter website.

Apart from serving as an additional means of personal communication, Twitter is used in the Arab-Islamic Middle East by a whole range of groups and individuals, covering the entire gamut of society. ‘Tweets' are employed by political and social movements, religious websites and Islamic cultural centers, as well as for the promotion of films, fashion and commerce. News organizations, such as CNN, the BBC (especially its Persian language service), Al-Jazeera and the Voice of America all have popular Twitter feeds. Twitter speeds up the capacity to deliver the news because of its short and restricted structure, so much so that it is often chosen over newspapers as a person’s primary news source.

As a parallel information universe, Twitter enables the dissemination of information, mobilization of public opinion, and evasion of governmental censors.  In Syria, for example, Twitter enabled a wave of protests against the decision by the website, ‘LinkedIn' – a social networking geared towards those interested in business – to block its services in Syria, and the decision was ultimately reversed. Earlier this year in Iran, Twitter was employed by ‘the March 18^th movement' in remembrance of the Iranian blogger, Omid Razah, who died in prison on this date, and to pressure the authorities to release seven Bahai leaders that were arrested during the month of May.

A particularly powerful demonstration of Twitter’s potential came following the arrest of an American journalism student in Egypt while filming a demonstration. He immediately sent a message via his cell phone announcing his arrest to 48 “followers” on Twitter, and the message quickly spread around the world. As a result of the ensuing attention and entreaties, he was quickly released. Similarly, the well-known Egyptian blogger, Wa'el Abbas, was quick to publicize his arrest and subsequent experiences with the police this past April, causing embarrassment to Egyptian officialdom.

The usages of Twitter by women in the Arab world are especially varied, not surprisingly, given the relative anonymity it provides to the user. Twitter allows women to search for spouses, describe their lives, discuss issues pertaining to the status of Muslim women in their societies, and communicate and show solidarity with like-minded individuals, for example, lesbians. Women from Saudi Arabia tend to hide their personal ‘Tweets' so that only those who have received their permission in advance can read their announcements. Women from most other Arab societies, which are socially more open and less hierarchical than Saudi Arabia, are more likely to enable their ‘Tweets' to be read by all.

Women’s advocacy groups make good use of Twitter: for example, the Egyptian group ‘All of Us are Laila' has fought against the inequality in women’s daily lives, in Egypt and the Arab world in general, for the last three years. So does Queen Rania of Jordan, who writes about diverse subjects on an almost daily basis, to a readership of about 125,000.

To be sure, there are those who belittle Twitter’s reliability as a source of information, pointing to its maximum limit of 140 characters per item, and the instant worldwide dissemination of Twitter items without any cross-checking information to confirm their truthfulness. But these limitations are also the basis of its strength. Twitter serves as a speedy and direct platform able to bypass official state media oversight and the limitations on free speech by authoritarian governments. In the Middle East, in particular, it is nearly the only path for different social groups to get their messages across without government interference.

The power of Twitter in transmitting onsite and immediate reporting was highlighted in the months leading up to the Iranian presidential elections and in the subsequent demonstrations against the falsification of the results. Along with other on-line social networks, Twitter served as an almost exclusive source for the unfolding events in the streets of Tehran.

However, Middle Eastern governments have not remained passive in the face of the rapid expansion of the new media, and particularly of on-line social networks which increase the possibilities for individual action and challenges to governments.  The authorities around the region have invested considerable efforts in regulating and restricting these new means of communication. For example, the Dubai government partially blocked the use of the highly popular social networking Facebook website and the internet voice and video Skype program, claiming that their action was justified by “content that was not concurrent with the religious, cultural, political, and moral values of the United Arab Emirates.” Iran has cracked down heavily on Twitter and other social networking sites.  Not only has it blocked access to particular internet sites, it has also installed content filters and monitored traffic on them. This was done by means of Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) features installed as a condition for the company’s access to the Iranian market. The ability to monitor internet and Nokia cellular phone traffic resulted in the arrests of a number of persons transmitting reports about the unfolding events in Iran, resulting in a consumer boycott in Iran of Nokia phones as an act of protest.

Time will tell regarding the impact of Twitter on the relations between Middle Eastern authoritarian governments and their citizens. In the meantime, Twitter has demonstrated a capacity to serve as a means for continuous and rapid dissemination of information among wide sectors of the population.  To be sure, this alone cannot bring about far-reaching social change or a fundamental expansion of political and social freedom, but it certainly carries much potential, and even inspires hope among long-disenfranchised and cynical Middle Eastern publics.

This research has been published on July 26th, 2009: Tel Aviv Notes, Dayan Center, Tel Aviv University (PDF).

According to Al Quds Al Arabi newspaper, Syria is planning to reintroduce the ban on Facebook after a first ban of the social networking website in November 2007. This came after Facebook allowed residents of the Golan Heights to mark their country of abode as Israel. Until recently Golan Facebook users were compelled to enter Syria as their country of residence on their page. This change came after a campaign organized by HonestReporting, an organization dedicated to defending Israel, who launched the Facebook group “Facebook, Golan Residents Live in Israel, not Syria“.

Image Source: honestreporting.com

On the other hand, Syrian activists are also planning to launch a campaign to boycott the website after it's recognition of Israel's claim over Golan heights.

Image Source: jawlan.org

http://www.dayan.org/Women%20and%20the%20internet.pdf

Tel Aviv Notes, Dayan Center, Tel Aviv University - 30 August 2009.

In recent years, the Internet has become a swift and accessible means of communication, thanks in part to the proliferation of personal blogs and, even more recently, micro-blogs (through “Twitter”).  Users are now able to transmit short announcements and updates via mobile phones connected to the Internet.  Groups and individuals formerly marginalized or ignored by mainstream media, and in what are generally conservative and tradition-heavy societies, now possess unprecedented means by which to disseminate their views.

This is especially true with regard to women.  All over the Middle East, women are active on the Internet, writing in Arabic, Persian, Turkish and English, telling their personal stories and discussing societal matters, taking advantage of the relative anonymity that the Internet offers.  Some women have no problem with enabling all interested parties to read their Twitter blogs and feeds.[1] Others, especially concerned with protecting their anonymity, e.g. in Saudi Arabia, insure that only people with their prior permission may do so.[2]

Their Internet usage covers both public and private matters, often using frank and even sharp language which can otherwise not be voiced in their societies. This is particularly evident in Saudi Arabia. A number of Saudi women have already made their mark in promoting women’s status via the Internet. The Saudi journalist Rim al-Salah, for example, champions the improvement of the status of women in the kingdom as part of a larger campaign to improve the life of ordinary citizens.  She slams the ease by which men are able to divorce their wives, even by sending them a fax, and sometimes without their knowledge.  What will be next, she wonders, the sending of a divorce notification via an SMS or e-mail?[3] The writings of Saudi journalist Hifa’a Khalid are also noteworthy in this regard.  Seeking to promote fair divorces for women, she created an Arabic language website entitled ”The Saudi Divorce”, which details her organization’s activities and includes variety of information materials, including articles and interviews.[4] A third person worth mentioning is Eman al-Nafjan, a mother of three and “English lecturer at a health sciences university in Riyadh”, who maintains a year and a half old blog in English addressing women’s issues in the kingdom and has published a variety of articles.[5] A fourth is Zaynab Ghasab, who has written about the mindset of Arab, and particularly Saudi female terrorists, which she says stems primarily from their ignorance.[6] Addressing the particularly sensitive religious sphere, Hatun Ajwad al-Fasi, one of Saudi Arabia’s leading female intellectuals, has publicly complained of the lack of equality for women during prayers at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.[7] More bold still in her critique (although writing from abroad), has been the liberal Saudi writer Wajiha al-Haydar, who views the adoption of secularism as the solution for most of Saudi society’s problems.[8]

Around the region, female commentators treat a variety of subjects. The Palestinian journalist Maryam al-Dahar has attacked the forgiving approach towards Islamist terrorism adopted by Arab satellite television news programs and called on the Arab public to forthrightly condemn terrorism.[9] The exiled Syrian intellectual Marah al-Baka` has condemned the ignorance and closed-mindedness which characterizes so much of Arab society, in contrast to the intellectual openness of Western societies.[10] Similarly, in an interview on al-Jazira TV during the controversy over the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, the Syrian-American psychiatrist Wafa’ Sultan railed against the absence of freedom of expression in the Arab world.[11] In Kuwait, the writer Ibtihal Abd al-Aziz al-Khatib condemned the absence of an Arab equivalent to Israel’s Winograd Commission which investigated the government’s and army’s conduct in the 2006 Lebanon War, emphasizing the lack of accountability of Arab leaders.[12]

Egyptian women have also made considerable use of the Internet in their battle for equality.  For example, the “We Are All Layla” site has carried the flag against daily injustices against women for the last three years (the organization’s Twitter account contains numerous links to material dealing with women’s issues across the region).[13] The venerable doctor and prominent Nawal al-Sa`dawi has long campaigned against female circumcision, and now employs the Internet to spread her message, as do other activists on this issue.[14] The poet and activist Fatma Na`ot attacks the absence of religious tolerance towards Egypt’s Coptic minority,[15] as does the human rights campaigner and blogger Dalia Zaida.[16]

One of the key Iranian blogs treating status of women issues is “Change for Equality”,[17] which was awarded a prize for its activities by “Reporters Without Borders”  Its centerpiece activity was an initiative to gather a million signatures on behalf of a petition to change existing laws which discriminate against women. Scores of Iranian female activists have paid a considerable price for their struggle on behalf of women’s rights, including arrests and imprisonment.[18]

Similarly, the “Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organization”, the “Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan” (RAWA)[19] and scores of similarly-named organizations employ the Internet to campaign for minority and women’s rights and greater social justice.

Local initiatives by women on a variety of subjects also take on greater weight thanks to the Internet.  Some would not even be possible without it.  Such initiative have included:  a boycott by Saudi women of stores selling underwear and lingerie which employ only men; criticism of a call by Saudi religious figures to keep women out of the Saudi media;[20] the establishment and operation of a radio station in Egypt which caters exclusively to women’s needs and interests;[21] and the creation of a Pakistani internet site by a fashion house which contains articles about the status of women in Pakistan.[22] Of course, the Internet has also become an important arena for men and women to meet one another[23] and to share details from women’s daily life “under headscarf”,[24] this is perhaps even more the case with regard to gay-lesbian communities around the region, for whom the Internet provides a vital means of moral support as well as points of personal contact.[25]

Of course, the Internet serves as a platform for a variety of women’s voices and worldviews. One cannot say definitively that they are substantively different from men’s, simply by virtue of their femininity.  Moreover, not all women, and not all classes in society even have access to the Internet.  Nonetheless, the proliferation of “women’s space” and “women’s voices” on the Internet has clearly expanded the discourse regarding the need for social change in the region, with an eye to shattering the glass ceiling[26] which hovers over women in order to insure them their fundamental rights.

The author wishes to thank the Internet site http://zavita.co.il (“A Different Angle on the Arab World”) for material cited in this study.

[1] http://twitter.com/thefah; http://twitter.com/walaa; http://twitter.com/Lastoadri; http://twitter.com/frozentears; http://twitter.com/amrkhaled; http://twitter.com/sarahtotya.

[2] http://twitter.com/ghaidaa;  http://twitter.com/nawal_saad; http://twitter.com/Sa4a; http://twitter.com/YasmeenAbuamer; http://twitter.com/rose1990; http://twitter.com/amany86; http://twitter.com/emanabdelmonem; http://twitter.com/sara_dds.

[3] ريم الصالح, “طلاق الفاكس,”, إيلاف, 15.09.2008.

http://www.elaph.com/Web/AsdaElaph/2008/9/365790.htm

[4] هيفـاء خالـد, “مرحبا بكم في موقع مبادرة الطلاق السعودي,”, الطلاق السعودي.

http://saudidivorce.org/DIV

[5] Eman Al Nafjan, “Saudiwoman’s Weblog,”.

http://saudiwoman.wordpress.com

[6] زينب غاصب, “النساء والإرهاب…,”, الحياة, 05.07.2008.

http://zavita.co.il/archives/301

[7] هتون أجواد الفاسي, “هل بيت الله الحرام للرجال فقط؟,”.

http://www.alriyadh.com/2008/04/06/article332214.html

[8] وجيهة الحويدر, “اعلموا …2,”, الحوار المتمدن, 23.02.2008.

http://www.ahewar.org/debat/show.art.asp?aid=125832

[9] مريم الضاهر, “الإعلام العربي و”ما يسمى بالإرهاب”,”, الشرق الأوسط, 16.06.2007.

http://zavita.co.il/archives/92

[10] مرح البقاعي, ” شرق الغيب وغرب المعرفة,”, إيلاف, 24.10.2007.

http://www.elaph.com/ElaphWeb/AsdaElaph/2007/10/273736.htm

[11] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAXoDHy3_Ek

[12] د . ابتهال عبد العزيز الخطيب, ” أين «فينوغرادنا»؟,”, أوان, 04.02.2008.

http://www.awan.com/pages/oped/31332

[13] http://kolenalaila.com

[14] http://www.almasry-alyoum.com/article2.aspx?ArticleID=66523

[15] فاطمة ناعوت, ” الدينُ لله، فهل الوطنُ للجميع؟,”, الحوار المتمدن, 05.01.2008.

http://www.ahewar.org/debat/show.art.asp?t=0&userID=191&aid=120706

[16] http://daliaziada.blogspot.com

[17] http://www.forequality.info/english

[18] Reportes Without Bborders, “Iran,”, 7 February 2008.

http://www.rsf.org/Iran,25431.html

[19] “RAWA is the oldest political/social organization of Afhan women struggling for peace, freedom, democracy and women’s rights in fundamentalism-blighted Afghanistan since 1977.” <http://www.rawa.org/index.php

[20] Middle East Online, “Saudi clerics call for women ban from media, TV,”, 24 Match 2009.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=31157

[21] Ahmad Ghashmary, ““Girls only”: Arab women live and on-air,”, Mideast Youth, 31 March 2009.

http://www.mideastyouth.com/2009/03/31/%E2%80%9Cgirls-only%E2%80%9D-arab-women-live-and-on-air

[22] http://www.fashno.com

[23] http://arablounge.com

[24] http://www.loveinaheadscarf.com

[25] http://alwaandykes.blogspot.com

[26] Diane Tucker, “Arab Women Beginning To Crack The Glass Ceiling,”, Huffington Post, 18 March 2009.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-tucker/arab-women-beginning-to-c_b_176137.html

Almost all government sites in Liberia fell for days. But when gargbage covers the streets of the capital Monrovia, who cares of the Internet ?

It's hard to think of a country online that can completely ignore the collapse of its government Web sites, for hours and days.

But, this case demonstrates the depth of the digital divide between countries in Africa and the rest of the world. It turns out that there are still places in the world, where a general collapse of the government web sites, is like falling from a tree in an empty forest.

Read the interview with me on Haaretz daily from August 27th. 2009 (In Hebrew)

The law proposed two warnings and then, after a third violation, disconnection from the Internet for up to a year of Internet users caught illegally downloading files (music or films).

The bill was passed by both houses, and all that remained was for them each to ratify the final text, but “15 Socialists were hanging about in the hallway, charging in at the last minute to cast their votes and defeat the law”.

The music and movie industries push governments and internet service providers to terminate or suspend service of peer-to-peer file sharers since it hurt the revenues of artists and production companies, but the Failure came after similar rejections in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Germany and even the European Parliament.

In their part, Sarkozy said he was determined to see the law passed and accused the opposition of parliamentary maneuvering.

The Culture Minister plans to bring the bill back on April 27.

The International Federation for the Phonographic Industry and the worldwide counterpart to the RIAA, said it would continue lobbying for the French three-strikes law.

I intend to write about online free speech in Israel as well as Internet Filtering in the MENA and other current issues.