Connecting the Actual with the Virtual: The Internet and Social Movement Theory in the Muslim World-The Cases of Iran and Egypt

Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs

Volumn 30, Issue 4, 2010, Pages 555-574

  Lerner, Melissa Y ^a  

^a PRINCETON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 80051607218     PISSN: 13602004     EISSN: 14699591     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13602004.2010.533453     Document Type: Article

References (117)

1. Daniel W. Drezner and Henry Farrell, "Introduction: Blogs, politics, and power: a special issue of Public Choice", Public Choice, Vol. 134, 2008, p. 2.
2. There were an estimated 70 million blogs on the Internet in 2007.
3. Elizabeth M. Bucar and Roja Fazaeli, "Free Speech in Weblogistan? The Offline Consequences of Online Communication", International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 40, 2008, pp. 403-404.
4. D. Drezner and H. Farrell, "Introduction: Blogs, politics, and power", op. cit., p. 2.
5. Svetlana V. Kulikova and David D. Perlmutter, "Blogging Down the Dictator? The Kyrgyz Revolution and Samizdat Websites", International Communication Gazette, Vol. 69, No. 29, 2007, pp. 29-31.
6. Quintan Wiktorowicz, "Introduction", in Islamic Activism: A Social Movement Approach, ed. Quintan Wiktorowicz, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004, p. 2.
7. Ibid., p. 3. Emphasis from text.
8. Charles Tilly, Social Movements 1768-2004, Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2004, p. 4.
9. Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone, New York: Touchstone, 2000, p. 172.
10. Ibid., 173.
11. Ibid., 175-176.
12. Ibid., 176.
13. Deborah L. Wheeler, "Blessings and Curses: Women and the Internet Revolution in the Arab World", in Women and Media in the Middle East: Power through Self Expression, ed. Naomi Sakr, London: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2004, 139-140.
14. Edmund Ghareeb, "New media and in the information revolution in the Arab world: An assessment", The Middle East Journal, Vol. 54, No. 3, Summer 2006, p. 416.
15. D. Wheeler, "Blessings and Curses", op. cit., 141.
16. Michael Whine, "Islamist organizations on the Internet", Terrorism and Political Violence, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1999, p. 125.
17. Ibid., pp. 127, 129.
18. As explained later, the One Million Signatures Campaign regularly moves its websites to avoid Iranian government censorship.
19. Deva Woodley, "New competencies in democratic communication? Blogs, agenda setting and political participation", Public Choice, Vol. 134, 2008, p. 114.
20. D. Drezner and H. Farrell, "Introduction: Blogs, politics, and power", op. cit., pp. 3-5.
21. Ibid., p. 11.
22. Ibid., p. 3.
23. "United States: Flickring here, twittering there", The Economist, Vol. 388, No. 8593, August 2008.
24. Babak Rahimi, "Cyberdissent: The Internet in Revolutionary Iran", Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 7, No. 3, September 2003, pp. 101-102.
25. D. Wheeler, "Blessings and Curses", op. cit., p. 141.
26. B. Rahimi, "Cyberdissent", op. cit., p. 102.
27. Liora Hendelman-Baavur, "Promises and Perils of Weblogistan: Online Personal Journals and the Islamic Republic of Iran", Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2007, p. 80.
28. Ibid., p. 86.
29. E. Bucar and R. Fazaeli, "Free Speech in Weblogistan?", op. cit., p. 403.
30. Nasrin Alavi, We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs, Brooklyn, NY: Soft Skull Press, 2005, p. 1.
31. Derkhshan goes by the online name "Hoder" (E. Bucar and R. Fazaeli, "Free Speech inWeblogistan?", op. cit., p. 404).
32. E. Bucar and R. Fazaeli, "Free Speech in Weblogistan?", p. 404.
33. John Kelly and Bruce Etling, "Mapping Iran's Online Public: Politics and Culture in the Persian Blogosphere", Cambridge, MA: Harvard Law School, 2008, p. 2.
34. B. Rahimi, "Cyberdissent", op. cit., p. 102.
35. Ibid., p. 106.
36. J. Kelly and B. Etling, "Mapping Iran's Online Public", op. cit., p. 9.
37. E. Bucar and R. Fazaeli, "Free Speech in Weblogistan?", p. 404.
38. L. Hendelman-Baavur, "Promises and Perils of Weblogistan", p. 87.
39. B. Rahimi, "Cyberdissent", pp. 107-8.
40. N. Alavi, We Are Iran, op. cit.
41. Ibid., p. 7.
42. Ibid., p. 346.
43. Unfortunately, increasing cooperation from Western technology providers (such as Google in China) has helped repressive governments control the information that their citizens can access.
44. See Clive Thompson, "Google's China Problem (and China's Google Problem)", New York Times, 23 April 2006.
45. B. Rahimi, "Cyberdissent", p. 108.
46. R. Putnam, Bowling Alone, op. cit., p. 179.
47. J. Kelly and B. Etling, "Mapping Iran's Online Public", op. cit., p. 2.
48. Ibid., p. 13.
49. Ibid., p. 12.
50. R. Putnam, Bowling Alone, op. cit., p. 177.
51. J. Kelly and B. Etling, "Mapping Iran's Online Public", op. cit., p. 21.
52. B. Rahimi, "Cyberdissent", op. cit., p. 110.
53. Ibid., p. 109.
54. E. Bucar and R. Fazaeli, "Free Speech in Weblogistan?", p. 404.
55. L. Hendelman-Baavur, "Promises and Perils of Weblogistan", op. cit., p. 84.
56. Ibid., p. 85.
57. J. Kelly and B. Etling, "Mapping Iran's Online Public", op. cit., p. 9.
58. Ibid., p. 37.
59. L. Hendelman-Baavur, "Promises and Perils of Weblogistan", op. cit., p. 86.
60. E. Bucar and R. Fazaeli, "Free Speech in Weblogistan?", op. cit., p. 405.
61. Ibid., p. 407.
62. Ibid., p. 406.
63. Ibid., p. 407.
64. Ibid., pp. 409-10.
65. Ibid., pp. 411-412.
66. Q. Wiktorowicz, "Introduction", op. cit., 14.
67. Case in point, Arash Sigarchi was eventually held responsible for three of the original five charges brought against him. In the end, the content of his blog was able to support only three crimes: insulting Khomeini, insulting Khamenei, and criticizing the Islamic republic.
68. E. Bucar and R. Fazaeli, "Free Speech in Weblogistan?", op. cit., p. 412
69. Ibid., p. 413.
70. L. Hendelman-Baavur, "Promises and Perils of Weblogistan", p. 88.
71. Sussan Tahmasebi, "Answers to Your Most Frequently asked questions about the campaign", http://www.changeforequality.info/english/spip.php?article226.
72. "Change for Equality Blocked for Eleventh Time", 28 June 2008, http://www.change4equality.com/english/spip.php?article304.
73. Email, Dr Mirjam Künkler to Melissa Lerner, "Fwd: News: Change for Equality - One Million Signatures Campaign, Iran", 11 December 2008.
74. "About One Million Signatures Demanding Changes to Discriminatory Laws", 28 August 2006, http://www.change4equality.com/english/spip.php?article18.
75. Interview by Sussan Tahmasebi, "Focus on the Campaigner: Hoda Aminian", 4 December 2008, http://www.change4equality.org/english/spip.php?article411.
76. "Face to Face", 27 December 2008, http://www.changeforequality.info/english/spip.php?rubrique3.
77. Maryam Hosseinkhah was detained on 18 November 2007 for her contributions to the One Million Signatures campaign website and the Zanestan website, associated with the Women's Cultural Center.
78. Maryam Hosseinkhah, "Detentions and Summons against Campaigners for Gender Equality", 24 February 2008, http://www.change4equality.com/english/spip.php?article225
79. Q. Wiktorowicz, "Introduction", op. cit., p. 12.
80. Discussion with Mirjam Künkler, Princeton University, 11 December 2008.
81. See "About 'One Million Signatures Demanding Changes to Discriminatory Laws'" on the One Million Signatures Campaign website.
82. S. Tahmasebi, "Answers", op. cit.
83. D. Wheeler, "Blessings and Curses", op. cit., p. 140.
84. Nadia Oweidat et al., The Kefaya Movement: A Case Study of a Grassroots Reform Initiative, Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2008, p. 22.
85. D. Wheeler, "Blessings and Curses", op. cit., p. 145.
86. Hossam Bahgat, "Egypt's Virtual Protection of Morality", Middle East Report, No. 230, Spring 2004, p. 23.
87. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, "Egypt: Coincide Hosting the Largest Communication Conference in Africa, an opposition's Web Site is being Blocked Egyptian Government should Unblock Kefaya Homepage", 12 May 2008, http://anhri.net/en/reports/2008/pr0512.shtml.
88. For more information on this trend, see Heba El Sayed and Chris Westrup, "Egypt and ICTs: How ICTs bring national initiatives, global organizations and local companies together", Information Technology & People, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2003, pp. 76-92.
89. H. Bahgat, "Egypt's Virtual Protection of Morality", p. 23.
90. Abbas's blog, Misr Digital: An Independent Egyptian Blog, is updated almost daily and can be found at http://misrdigital.blogspirit.com.
91. Stephen Franklin, "Arab bloggers pay toll for truth; Journalists challenge authority in unfriendly environs", Chicago Tribune, 22 July 2007, p. 3.
92. More information about "Free Kareem! Campaign to Free the Brave Egyptian Blogger Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman" is available at http://www.freekareem.org.
93. Manar Shorbagy, "The Egyptian Movement for Change - Kefaya: Redefining Politics in Egypt", Public Culture, Vol. 19, No. 1, 2007, p. 177.
94. Ibid., p. 190.
95. N. Oweidat et al., The Kefaya Movement, op. cit., p. 20.
96. Ibid., p. 21.
97. Ibid., p. 23.
98. Ibid., pp. 23-24.
99. "Egypt: Coincide Hosting the Largest Communication Conference in Africa, an opposition's Web Site is being Blocked; Egyptian Government should Unblock Kefaya Homepage", The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, http://anhri.net/en/reports/2008/pr0512.shtml.
100. N. Oweidat et al., The Kefaya Movement, op. cit., p. 28.
101. Ibid., p. 31.
102. Ibid., p. 32.
103. Ibid., p. 50.
104. Marc Lynch, "Brotherhood of the Blog", Guardian.co.uk, 5 March 2007.
105. S. Franklin, "Arab bloggers pay toll", op. cit., 3.
106. Michaelle Bowers, "The Egyptian movement for change: Intellectual antecedents and generational conflicts", Contemporary Islam, Vol. 1, 2007, p. 81.
107. C. Tilly, Social Movements, op. cit.
108. R. Putnam, Bowling Alone, op. cit.
109. See, Quintan Wictorowicz, Islamic Activism and SocialMovement Theory: A New Direction for Research, London:Routledge, 2002.
110. Aghil Ameripour, et al., "Conviviality of Internet social networks: An explanatory study of Internet campaigns in Iran", Journal of Information Technology, Vol. 25, 2010, pp. 244-257.
111. Marlyn Tadros, "Knowing the Promises,Facing theChallenges:TheRole of the Internet inDevelopment and Human Rights Campaigns and Movements in the Arab Middle East", in Charting Transnational Democracy: Beyond Global Arrogance, ed. Janie Leatherman & Julie A. Webber, New York: MacMillan Palgrave, 2005, pp. 175 - 194.
112. See also Yanuar Nugroho, "Adopting Technology, Transforming Society: The Internet and the Reshaping ofCivil Society Activism in Indonesia", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2008, pp. 77-105.
113. These provide only asmall cross-section of the scholarship that has arisen over the past decade related to social movements, civil society, and the Internet in the Arab-and, more broadly, theMuslim-world.
114. Q. Wiktorowicz, "Introduction", op. cit., p. 14.
115. Wiktorowicz explains that "political opportunity structures" is too narrow a term, since a movement's opportunity is also ruled by cultural, social, and economic factors (pp. 13-14).
116. R. Putnam, Bowling Alone, op. cit., p. 173.
117. C. Tilly, Social Movements, op. cit., p. 11.