At the same time, the dignity of individual citizens is at the forefront of demands during the Egyptian Revolution. At the societal level, the lack of dignity is felt in many areas: lack of education, opportunities, healthcare, social services, and marriage crises. Police brutality intensely affects an individual’s self worth and identity. Tarek Mansour, an Egyptian citizen states that, “Just go on YouTube and you’ll be shocked at the amount of videos and the things that happen while police officers are just laughing” (Ismail 2011, 993). Similarily, Mohamad El Masry, a medical doctor, claims that people are looking for dignity and justice in the revolution (993). In this sense, people desire the freedom of speech without state suppression.
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Poverty remains one of Egypt’s key issues. Today’s poor in Egypt feel their poverty intensely because Egyptian and Western ideas of what is vital to live a ‘fulfilled life’ is changing, largely due to an increase in mass media that encourages consumption. Unemployment rates are around 20 %, with higher rates for women and youth (Amin 2011, 67). Thus, civilians want reform in issues related to poverty, unemployment, and gaps between the rich and poor (65). Many opposition groups under Mubarak’s regime also demand for major reforms through the removal of emergency law, liberalization of media, and amendments to the constitutions that would end the ruling party’s control (70). Overall, the objective of Egypt’s social revolution is to get rid of Mubarak so that issues of poverty for example will be …show more content…
Media helps spread information to the world in regards to violence, brutality, etc. Thus, media shows the violence that Mubarak uses against civilians which helps in broadening political activism to overthrow Mubarak. In this context the concept of “Framing” can be applied; it refers to the interactive, collective ways that actors assign meanings to their activities in the conduct of social movement activism (Orum and Dale 2009, 276). In the context of social movements, the construction of grievances amongst civilians in regards to the violence etc. used by the state against civilians is referred to as “Framing”. Thus, “Social media technologies- via the internet- are used especially in the organizing and implementing collective activities, promoting a sense of community and collective identity among marginalized group members, creating less confined political space, establishing connections with other social movements, and publicizing causes to gain support from the global community”(Mabon 2013, 1852) In general, the resource mobilization theory is particularly useful in explain the usefulness and impact of social media technologies in social movements because of its emphasis on social, historical, and political contexts of collective actions, as well as on the utility and interplay of available resources (Eltantawy and Wiest 2011, 1209). This theory is based on the notion that
Poverty remains one of Egypt’s key issues. Today’s poor in Egypt feel their poverty intensely because Egyptian and Western ideas of what is vital to live a ‘fulfilled life’ is changing, largely due to an increase in mass media that encourages consumption. Unemployment rates are around 20 %, with higher rates for women and youth (Amin 2011, 67). Thus, civilians want reform in issues related to poverty, unemployment, and gaps between the rich and poor (65). Many opposition groups under Mubarak’s regime also demand for major reforms through the removal of emergency law, liberalization of media, and amendments to the constitutions that would end the ruling party’s control (70). Overall, the objective of Egypt’s social revolution is to get rid of Mubarak so that issues of poverty for example will be …show more content…
Media helps spread information to the world in regards to violence, brutality, etc. Thus, media shows the violence that Mubarak uses against civilians which helps in broadening political activism to overthrow Mubarak. In this context the concept of “Framing” can be applied; it refers to the interactive, collective ways that actors assign meanings to their activities in the conduct of social movement activism (Orum and Dale 2009, 276). In the context of social movements, the construction of grievances amongst civilians in regards to the violence etc. used by the state against civilians is referred to as “Framing”. Thus, “Social media technologies- via the internet- are used especially in the organizing and implementing collective activities, promoting a sense of community and collective identity among marginalized group members, creating less confined political space, establishing connections with other social movements, and publicizing causes to gain support from the global community”(Mabon 2013, 1852) In general, the resource mobilization theory is particularly useful in explain the usefulness and impact of social media technologies in social movements because of its emphasis on social, historical, and political contexts of collective actions, as well as on the utility and interplay of available resources (Eltantawy and Wiest 2011, 1209). This theory is based on the notion that