Sunday, February 20, 2011

Lessons from Bad Repression and New Media

Andrew Exum, during a visit to Egypt, has been reporting back what he has found.  He has a great take that finesses the: facebook/twitter ended the regime vs. it was all people power.  That is, the social media helped with the networking, but it required real bodies out in the streets to make a difference, not just virtual protesters.  In addition, the regime accelerated its demise by shutting down the web, forcing people to go outside to learn stuff, and by shutting down the cell phones, as nothing pisses folks off like lost access to their community.



Striking stuff in a very succinct package.  Exum, or Abu Muqawama, his alias on twitter and elsewhere, has been clear, interesting and excellent at providing his own perspective and links to useful sites along the way.  Consider this your Sunday morning web-recommendation (perhaps a weekly post, if I can remember every Sunday morning).

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