Anger Day

What is happening in Egypt is big. Though it was expected, no one knew when or how it was going to happen. A few days after what happened in Tunisia, I found an invitation on Facebook sent to me by one of my Egyptian friends and named “Anger Friday.” I ignored it and didn’t even bother to see what the event was. I thought it was one of the silly, pointless invitations that people send on Facebook to invite you to attend a meaningless reunion. It wasn’t until I knew that the internet was cut-off from Egypt, that I decided to go into the event’s page and find out what this “Anger Day" was. 

This Facebook page was the start of the Egyptian conflict. I never imagined that through a social networking site people could organize and commit to a real, important event. Such a social network consisting of individuals connected through a variety of relationships was ironically the reason for this protesting movement to have thousands at the beginning and could’ve been millions, if it wasn’t for the cut of the internet. 

Moreover, the facebook was not the only engine for this revolution;  Ghonim's twitter page was another way for people to instantaneously follow what is happening in Egypt.

 



source: CNN





As Grazian mentioned, “Social networks and their connectors provide the structure machinery for the spread of popular fads, fashion," and in this case revolution. The inspiration of this revolution and the creator of the Facebook page was a person named Wael Ghonim who was "well-connected" i.e., enjoys a large number of network ties. These social networking ties enabled him to gather tens of thousands of people in Egypt united by one demand.



source: Al-Jazeera

 

Source: CNN



However, the invitation did not target a specific gender, age or social class otherwise, no one would've showed up because according to the interactional approach of popular culture,  the people that have the strongest personal ties are very similar to each other and therefore have access to the same information. Ghonim's power as a connector didn't depend on how many people he knew; it was how many different kinds of people he knew. Those weak social ties are more effective than the strong ones because they serve as a bridge spanning to separate social worlds.

The revolution's effectiveness came from the verity of people who were protesting. From every class, age group and different cities in the Egyptian society and who had different reasons to protest.

CUltural Effervecence in Egypt and Beyond

United, in one place, at one time, people in Tahrir Square screamed their lungs out for justice and fairness against the Mubarak regime. Approximately half a million people turned up on Friday, people from all ages and class categories showed up holding hands, after the Muslim Friday prayers.
A week later, Qatar’s ministry of interior gave approval for Egyptian protestors living in Qatar to conduct a peaceful march and protest near the Egyptian embassy located on the Diplomatic street next to the Sheraton, Doha.
On Tuesday the 1st of February, more than 500 people came together in Doha for one cause, for one purpose, which is to be heard by the Egyptian government, and tried to voice their concerns peacefully. Even though, there were Qatari police forces on alert for any riots or violent disturbances in the protest.
It was expected that riots would take place where more than 500 angry human beings are calling out for their oppressed rights. It’s only logical that the Qatari government was trying to secure the area, the protestors and the embassy as well.
But what many did not notice is that there are many other ways to voice concerns and problems effectively other than protesting. One underground Egyptian rapper, Yousif Khalil, made a song about the Egyptian people’s struggle with authority and how he tries to fight the oppressing regime through his voice and his words. This demonstartion is the perfect example of the cultural effervescence.
Now, popular culture plays a crucial role into shaping many of today’s youth’s ideologies and changes how they take action through their verbal skills. Voicing your anger and your concerns through strong lyrical songs is the path this generation chose.
He adapted the western method, that is originally African based, into his own style and culture to broadcast his feelings about what is going on in Egypt.