PROFILES
Five of the Arab Spring's most influential Tweeters on the post 9/11 world
SONIA VERMA
Globe and Mail Update
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Ten years after the 9/11 attacks on America, the Arab Spring signifies an unexpected legacy of the decade of war that pit the West against al-Qaeda. The secular, democratic uprisings were a repudiation of jihadist ideology. But the revolutionaries do not want to refashion the region in America's image, rather, they are seeking to forge a new identity – a modern pan-Arab one.
The revolutions themselves have complex roots, nourished by decades-long grievances ranging from economic stagnation to political repression. But the protests themselves were mobilized by a savvy group of young activists who used Twitter as a tool to both inspire and reflect the Arab street. While none consider themselves to be revolutionary leaders – many balk at the suggestion – their young voices have emerged as prominent fixtures of the uprisings. We asked five for their views on politics, religion and economics in the new Middle East.
The revolutions themselves have complex roots, nourished by decades-long grievances ranging from economic stagnation to political repression. But the protests themselves were mobilized by a savvy group of young activists who used Twitter as a tool to both inspire and reflect the Arab street. While none consider themselves to be revolutionary leaders – many balk at the suggestion – their young voices have emerged as prominent fixtures of the uprisings. We asked five for their views on politics, religion and economics in the new Middle East.
Ahmed Al Omran
Age: 27
Occupation: Blogger, multimedia journalist
Born: Hofuf, Saudi Arabia
Lives: Washington, D.C. and New York
Twitter: @ahmed
Followers: 16,275What kind of political system do you think should replace these dictatorships and should it be an American-style democracy or a European-style democracy?I don’t think it should be an American-style democracy or a European-style democracy. I think we can have our own democracy. Yes, we will look at different models everywhere around the world and see what works for us the best and it doesn’t have to be shaped after any specific model.Before any of this happened, we’ve heard the arguments that, 'Oh, democracy is not compatible with Islam and the Arabs will not have democracy because they always need a strong man, a dictator to rule them' . . . And I always thought that this was just unfair. You can’t say that, you know, a certain group of people are unable to choose their own leaders . . . Why would Arabs be less than any other nation who elects their leaders and governs themselves?What role should religion play in the new Middle East?I think as religious, conservative societies, there’s always a role for religion to play, but personally I would like religion to stay out of politics. Religion should be a personal matter and individuals should be free to choose their religion and the way they want to practice it and the way they want to worship their god.Should the region fully embrace full-market economies?I think they are going that way and I don’t think they have much of a choice here because that’s where the whole world is moving and with the World Trade Organization and the free market agreements that these countries, some of them have already signed it, they’re part of this global economy. So it’s not much of a choice what kind of model they should choose economically.If you were to choose one thing, what would you change first about your society in Saudi Arabia?Choice. I want people to have choices. I want people to be able to choose the way they want to live, choose the leaders they want to have to rule them and just have choices. I think that the lack and absence of choices is really making peoples’ lives difficult and complicated. The more choices you have the more diversity you have, the better world we’re all going to be.Nora Shalaby
Age: 32
Occupation: Archaeologist
Born: Lexington, Kentucky
Lives: Cairo, Egypt
Twitter: @norashalaby
Followers: 18,929What kind of political system do you think should replace the Mubarak dictatorship?I think it should be a democracy. Whether it’s European or American, I mean I don’t know if we should define it that way. It will be decided by, basically, the people and what they vote for and what they want.What role do you think religion should play in the new Middle East? Should your country be totally secular?My personal beliefs, of course, I want a secular state. I want religion to be completely separate from the state and I hope that's what the turnout will be also, but we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.Do you feel your country should fully embrace full-market economy? So, the capitalist system?No, I’m not for the capitalist system. I see that so far all it’s done is increase the gap between the rich and the poor here. Only a very small percentage of really rich businessmen have profited from it and overall people remain very poor in Egypt and the economy’s doing really badly and we can see the affects of it now after the Mubarak dictatorship was toppled.If there was one thing you could change first about your society here in Egypt, what would be the first thing you would change?The education system. I think we should really focus on that in the coming few years. I think that it’s really, really important to get people proper education and invest a lot of money in it and invest less money in things like the military and other sectors.Alya el-Hosseiny
Age: 22
Occupation: Student of French literature at Cairo University
Born: Frankfurt, Germany
Lives: Cairo, Egypt
Twitter: @alya1989262
Followers: 1,551 (She was first to use the #jan25 hashtag)In the new Egypt, what kind of political system do you think should replace the dictatorship? Should it be an American style democracy or a European style democracy?I already have issues with the Republican system. I’m more of an anarchist, I mean, far left kind of person. But I think that a European-style democracy would be a good start until we make up some kind of system that would actually work.What role do you think religion should play in the new Middle East?I think in a country like Egypt, religion is omnipresent. It’s not something that you can ignore. But I think that precisely for that reason it should be diverged from politics, because it’s already pretty much controlling society, so you can just have a secular state, secular laws and the influence of religion should be in society.Do you think the region should fully embrace full-market economies? Should it embrace capitalism?Not at all. I’m not a big fan of capitalism. I don’t advocate classical far left solutions like communism or even full-out socialism, but I think that’s where anarchism comes in, by divorcing, by taking out the state element and still making at least basic services free and available to all citizens. I think that would put us on the right track.In your society, what would you change first?There are so many things, but I guess I would eradicate all forms of prejudice, whether it’s classism or racism or misogyny, whatever.Mohammed Maree
Age: 25
Occupation: Broker, human rights and political activist
Born: Benha, Egypt
Lives: Cairo, Egypt
Twitter: @mar3e
Followers: 9,615What kind of political system do you think should replace the dictatorship. Should it be American-style democracy?No, I think the British political system is good for Egypt after the dictatorship. A parliament system.Do you think your country should fully embrace full-market economies, capitalist economies?For Egypt as a developing country, the capitalism and the politics of privatization is not suitable for the Egyptians’ situation. It should be about social justice, about suitable salaries, about the ingenuity of the Egyptians.What would you change first about your society if you could change one thing right now?I would like to change many things. I would like the people not trusting anyone. Just trust in themselves, in their ideas, expressing opinions without any fearing. Not create another dictatorship. Deal with any authority that works for them. I like Egypt to be a secular state.Sarah Abdurrahman
Age: 28
Occupation: Public radio producer
Born: Seattle, Washington
Lives: New York, New York
Twitter: @feb17voices
Followers: 8,856What kind of political system do you think should replace a lot of these dictatorships?I think everybody defaults to democratic governments, which is not going to be an easy thing. It's going to be a difficult thing, but at least — what is the quote — 'It's not the best system, but it's the best one that we've got.' It's going to be a difficult transition and the reason I say that is not just because it will be hard for people to divy up responsibility in a situation where a select few are used to being in charge, but I think part of it is also the fear that if you elect someone democratically that that person will end up being another dictator.What role do you think religion should play in the state?I don't think that it should play a role in the state. Libya's a little bit different because it is a majority Muslim country. It's not like Egypt or other Arab countries where you have a sizable non-Muslim population. So, by default I think that the way people behave will be dictated by their religion. That being said I don't think it should be written anywhere in the constitution. I don't think it should be on the books at all.What kind of economy do you feel should be the model moving forward?That's a tough one, because I'm not an economist. I mean, my American side says free market. Some sort of combination of free market with some room for social welfare, some room for what is a very oil rich country with a very small population to be able to actually take care of its people. And I don't mean in the way that had been done in the past where bread is subsidized or people get their very basic rations just to get by, but investing in education, investing in infrastructure and training and things like that.If there's one thing that you feel should change first, what do you think it should be?I think the thing that's going to be the hardest to change, but probably one of the most important things to change is that people no longer live in fear, no longer have that paranoia, no longer live in distrust even with members of their own family. I think that's most of what kept these autocratic regimes going. There's only so much that they can control, but aside from what they can control they just let the fear and paranoia take care of everything else. Just having that freedom to express yourself and be open, I think that's going to be one of the most important things that need to change.
