Facebook: It’s more than just a platform for Farmville
Oct 26th, 2011 by amanday9
On October 23, 2011 the people of Tunisia did something that we Canadians take for granted. They voted.
Over 90% of registered voters came out to participate in the first democratic election held since the dramatic revolts that ousted dictator Zine El Abedine Ben Ali. (Granted only 4.1 of 7 million eligible voters were registered). These revolts also sparked a political awakenning in the Arab world that is now referred to as the Arab Spring.
I recently had the pleasure of watched a great documentary on CBC’s Passionate Eye on the Arab Spring and the role of Facebook (and other social media) in it. I would HIGHLY recommend watching this documentary as it effectively outlines how this revolution came to be and interviews some of the key activists behind it. I won’t go into great detail in this blog post about the Arab Spring but I will say that these events have a strange personal connection for me.
Last year, boyfriend and I were planning on travelling to Jordan and Egypt in February. We were quite deep into our planning when we caught wind of the political instability in Tunisia. We then started to hear about protests in Egypt. We made a last-minute decision to ditch the trip and go to Hawaii instead. During the 2 weeks we were on our trip we followed every detail about the fall of Mubarak. We kept comparing our original itinerary to what was going on in Egypt. The day of the Camel Battle we would have been in Cairo. We would have also been there for the day Mubarak stepped down.
To know that we were so close, and yet so far, from such profound historic moments definitely sticks with me.
The purpose of this post is to begin to explore the role of social media in social revolutions and how that can impact health. Full disclosure: I’m going to be writing my final paper for SPPH 581H on this subject and am going to use my blog as a tool to do research.
Tunisia is actually a really interesting country to use to begin my exploration. Under the rule of Ben Ali, Tunisia focused heavily on foreign investment and tripled its GDP. Unfortunately that economic growth didn’t translate into wealth or happiness for all of the Tunisian people. Even implementing efforts to reduce poverty did not help as Tunisia suffered from high levels of unemployment, particularly amongst its youth. It was this, along with gross corruption and excessive media control that contributed to the revolts in December 2010/January 2011.
What sparked those revolts? It started with a young man, Mohamed Bouazizi, setting himself on fire on December 17, 2010 to protest the corruption of the police in his small town. Outrage within the town was swift and people took to the streets in a rare display of civil unrest. These demonstrations were met with swift and violent suppression by government forces. Usually such displays would be censored from the media, however, in the world of mobile phones and social media these events were captured on video and broadcast around the world.
Depsite the goverment’s heavy media censorship they didn’t censor social media. They underestimated the power of tools such as Facebook, considering it a platform for socializing and dating – not political revolt. By creating groups criticizing the government and by posting their videos, activists were reaching out to the people of their country, overcoming geographical and political barriers. By January 6 the entire country was in revolt and by January 14 Ben Ali had fled the country.
Social media offered an opportunity for the people of Tunisia to share their dissonance in real time. They were ahead of their government every step of the way, planning strategies and circumventing censorship. By using such accessible and open tools for communication Tunisians not only galvanized their country but they inspired revolutions across their region. Those who scoff at social media, suggesting it is a pointless exercise in vanity, don’t understand its power. It give a voice to those who did not have one before, it provides a platform to broadcast ideas from people who have never been given one, and it has the power to quickly bring people together for a common cause.
As mentioned, one of the factors contributing to these revolts was the inequality within Tunisia. The poor distribution of wealth in a country (aka inequality) has been linked to many negative health outcomes. The connection between inequality and health is well developed and well researched. If you live in a country with a high level of inequality you will live a shorter life, you will be more unhealthy, you will be exposed to more violence, and other such nasty things. You can watch a few videos with Richard Wilkinson if you want to know more. Thus, for the people of Tunisia the inequality and subsequent health/social impacts were finally too much to take and they revolted.
The thing is Tunisia isn’t the most unequal country in the world. The Gini Coefficient, the most commonly used measure of inequality, has been used to rank countries based on their income distribution. According to those rankings Tunisia is 61st. The United States ranked much higher, sitting at spot 39. That means that a country with LESS inequality than the USA experienced a massive social upheaval because of that inequality. That country used tools, like social media, that were underestimated and misunderstood by the ruling government to spread their message and effect change. They also used those tools to inspire others from around the world to support their revolution and start ones of their own. Interesting…
~Amanda
For more information about the Tunisian Revolutions: