After the success of social media to gather the youth and to gather the people to be in the streets and the squares and ask for their freedom and democracy, the government tried to destroy this story. And on 25 January, they tried to kill this movement by violence, by the police, tear gas and so on. And they couldn’t. On 28 of January we called anger Friday or the Friday of anger as we decided to go to the streets in millions to ask for our freedom.
They decided to cut the Internet because they believed that this youth collect each other through Twitter and Facebook and social media and the Internet – if we cut the Internet, they must be not go to the streets. And it was very stupid decision in my opinion, because when they cut the Internet, we have no option, even we can go to the streets. That’s makes people one of the most important things – made people go to streets on 28 until the end of the revolution, the decision of cut the Internet. They’re trying to hack our account. Maybe my account hacked at 27 of January because I tried to make an event on Facebook gathering people to make a march and to invite people to – collect going on this event. My account on Facebook was hacked by the – we know by the security police.
But the very funny thing about cutting the Internet, as we hadn’t something collect other and we hadn’t something to know the news in the street, so all the people and all the youth using this social media as a viewers, as a just listeners for what happening, decided to go to the streets and participate in the revolution. So their tactics, maybe it’s very hard because I have a very personal story about it, because my mother, they cut the Internet and they cut the cellphones. And my mother tried to get me and she couldn’t, and she tried to. And I can’t communicate with her. She tried to come in the street and search for me. And she had a lot of bad things in the streets because we have very violence in the streets. And she came back to the home without knowing anything about me till the – at the end of the day and the Internet and cellphone come back, I tried to get here.
And a lot of people died at this day, and their parents, their families didn’t know anything about it because they just cut the Internet and cut the cellphones. And maybe someone, his brother or his friend died and be killed by the police, and they just searched for them and tried to call him and to have – it’s a very funny thing they did, but it’s a very, very hard thing to have your friend or your brother died and you just hope that cellphone came back to be sure that he is OK. So it’s not effective, but it made a lot of dramatic stories, actually.
Namees Arnous is a well-known television reporter and civil society activist in Egypt. During the Egyptian Revolution, Namees was asked to spread inaccurate stories by El Mehwar Television, her employer. When Namees used social media to publicize the channel’s stance against the Revolution, she was characterized as being a foreign agent and receiving money from foreign governments. She resigned from El Mehwar.
Namees then founded a new media production company which includes television, radio and social media outlets. She aims to promote human rights and democratic principles by training individuals in new media. She is currently working on a project to produce a new television program aimed at Egyptian women, focusing on issues of concern to them.
Namees has worked on a number of civil society campaigns. These include the Change Your Life Campaign, which aims to encourage women to be independent and the Be Free Campaign, which addresses young Muslim women extremists.
She worked on a civic journalism campaign to cover youth participation in elections in their respective regions. The campaign was broadcast on her NGO’s radio station and website.
Namees was among the inaugural group of the George W. Bush Institute’s Women’s Initiative Fellowship Program in 2012, a leadership program designed to empower and equip women to catalyze change.
Namees has her Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication with a focus on Television and Radio.
With a history dating back to the 10th millennium B.C., Egypt has long played a central role in the Middle East. Egypt is the largest Arab nation and has an influential voice in Arabic and Middle Eastern culture. Egypt has a diverse economy, but has struggled to create sustained economic growth and opportunities for its population of 84 million people.
The country has little experience with representative democracy. From 1956 to 1970, President Gamal Abdel Nasser ruled Egypt with a strong hand, nationalizing the Suez Canal and taking the country into conflict with the new state of Israel. Upon his death, Anwar al-Sadat became president. Together with other Arab nations, Sadat launched the October War against Israel in 1973. In 1979, Sadat signed a groundbreaking peace treaty with Israel.
From Sadat’s assassination in 1981 until the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, Egypt was governed by President Hosni Mubarak. For all of Mubarak’s time in office, and for much of the time since his resignation, Egypt has been under “Emergency Law,” which allows the government to suspend constitutional rights, including limiting political activity and restricting free speech. Emergency Law also allows the government to use summary arrests against political opponents.
For four successive terms, Mubarak was reelected in referenda without an opponent. In 2005, under domestic and international pressure, Mubarak proposed a constitutional amendment to allow Egypt’s first multicandidate presidential elections. Because the amendment would have imposed severe restrictions on the eligibility of opposition candidates, opposition groups boycotted the vote. Mubarak claimed to have won the September 2005 presidential election with an official 88 percent of the vote, amid widespread allegations of fraud and vote rigging. The main opposition leader, Ayman Nour, was subsequently prosecuted by the government for forging signatures on petitions and was sentenced to five years in prison, provoking protests from the United States and other democratic countries.
Following the example of the Tunisian Revolution, large protests swept Egypt in early 2011. The military, led by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), withdrew its support of Mubarak. On February 11, 2011, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had resigned. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) headed by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi then assumed power in Egypt. SCAF dissolved the parliament and suspended the constitution.
In November 2011, Egypt held parliamentary elections that were reportedly fair and democratic. In June 2012, Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi was elected President, in part because liberal and secular forces failed to coalesce around a single candidate. Morsi’s popularity declined as he declared his orders immune from challenge, removed judicial review processes, and was accused of taking steps towards the implementation of Islamist policies. Conflict arose between those supporting Islamist policies and those seeking a more liberal and secular government. Protests occurred throughout his presidency until Morsi was ousted by the military in July 2013. Muslim Brotherhood leaders were arrested and their camps and offices raided. Until new elections are held, a SCAF-installed provisional government led by acting President Adly Mansour is in control.
In its most recent report, the independent watchdog group Freedom House classifies Egypt as “partly free.” On its scale where 1 is the most free and 7is the least free, Egypt earned scores of 5 in both the civil liberties and political rights categories.
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