Originally written and published by Sarah Teague for The Standard on May 2, 2017. Click here to be directed to the original posting. Featured photo courtesy of freeimages.com/ahmedali
A rapid downfall of the Egyptian economy, a growing population and mysterious connectivity problems have renewed memories from past uprisings in Egypt and are impacting international students at Missouri State.
Online censorship, blocked social media accounts and struggles connecting with loved ones through apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are nothing new for students from Egypt. However, these aspects of life in Egypt are prevalent in the lives of students attending Missouri State with family and friends back home in the Middle East.
Nashwa Ghoniem is a global studies graduate student and has lived in the United States for around a year and a half. She is originally from Alexandria and contacts her parents, especially her mother, every day through different apps like Viber, Facebook Messenger and FaceTime; sometimes this is harder than it sounds.
According to Ghoniem, several of the apps she uses to contact her family shut down last week, something that has happened in the past, especially during times of political turmoil. She said it happened a couple days last week when her family tried to call her from Alexandria. The calls simply wouldn’t connect.
Moamen Almaz, a geospatial sciences graduate student, is originally from Shobak Basta, a small village east of Cairo. He has several siblings, his parents and a large extended family back home, so to communicate he uses Facebook Messenger, and, not long ago, he opened a Skype account.
“I had trouble, just for two days (recently). I was calling my brother, but I couldn’t use (Facebook) Messenger so I started my Skype account so I (could) call him,” Almaz said. “After that, I easily could contact him.”
Yet another student originally from Alexandria, Mariam Mohamed, was attempting to contact her mother when several programs failed, and she had to use an alternative app so her family could speak with her.
“Maybe a week ago, I tried to call (family) on Facebook, and I couldn’t,” Mohamed, a freshman cell and molecular biology student said. “(I tried) on FaceTime, and I couldn’t. The only thing (that) worked was (the app) imo. And then, we kept (using imo) for a week, and (the other programs) started to work again.”
The reasons for the connectivity problems have been speculated back in Egypt, as all three believe the government and its ties to the major telecommunication companies are too close. Ghoniem said that many in Egypt, before and following uprisings after a 30-year rule of former President Hosni Mubarak, are concerned and looking for solutions surrounding issues sewn into Egypt’s history.
Ghoniem explained the major players in phone network coverage are Vodafone, Orange and Etisalat. These companies are not the only ones providing network coverage in Egypt, however. The three students agreed that these telecommunication companies are part of an elite level of businesses that sweep in revenue and have influence over where the money is in Egypt, a vessel of power in the plummeting economy.
“Cell phones now are very important in Egypt,” Ghoniem said. “Telecommunication companies, in theory, are having big influences on the government. Most (likely) you have politicians that are shareholders and are somehow connected with these businesses.”
These theories started to arise indefinitely following the Egyptian revolution of 2011, where on Jan. 28, 2011, almost all communication with the outside world and across Egypt was cut off in an attempt to quell protesters’ plans to reform the country, according to a report by the New York Times on this day in 2011.
The students remember that day and trying to reach family through the chaos.
“The revolution started on Jan. 25, (2011), and on Jan. 28, (the government) shut down all of the communication—cell phones did not work,” Mohamed said. “The only thing that worked (were) the landlines.”
Ghoniem was traveling back from her college in Cairo at the start of the revolution and remembers her family worrying about her safety as they could not reach her.
On Friday, Jan. 28, Ghoniem boarded a train to Alexandria. She remembers the protests delaying transportation in this part of the country. She eventually had to find another ride the closer she got to Alexandria, causing an interesting journey home.
“The train would stop moving for a couple of hours, and my family was (thinking) ‘she’s dead,’” Ghoniem said. “I (saw) some of the action, (and) I wish I was more involved, but I was just a sophomore (in) college and my dad was very protective.”
The revolution came at a time of unrest among the Egyptian people as they demanded progression to free elections and the end of Mubarak’s rule.
Dr. Djene Bajalan, assistant professor of history, explained the activity of the revolution and the unstable climate following it.
“The revolution that occurred brought together a variety of different social groups ranging from conservative Islamists to liberals and communists,” Bajalan said. “These groups were united by a common antipathy towards the corrupt and dictatorial regime of Mubarak.”
Bajalan went on to explain Egypt under President Mohamed Morsi and the renewed protests that followed, leading to the present-day president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s rule. Sisi has had trouble addressing “fundamental problems facing Egypt,” as Bajalan put it, because of opposition.
“He has had to rely on repression and police measures to deal with opposition,” Bajalan said. “This has included cracking down on social media.”
Mohamed said the revolution ousted Mubarak, but in her view, there are more issues that sustained in Egypt when it comes to the economy, unemployment, poverty and censorship since before the 2011 revolution.
“I’ve been (in the states) for nine months, and during those nine months we had serious economical issues (in Egypt). Before I (left) the (U.S.) dollar was equal to, maybe, eight Egyptian pounds, (but) now, it’s 18 Egyptian pounds.”
Almaz agreed, saying the value of the Egyptian pound has collapsed, and that the relations between the people and the government has not improved much.
“(The government) is trying to control social media because it … is another stream to tell your opinions,” Almaz said. “We don’t watch the official TV (channels) because it has (the government’s) own perspectives, their own opinions. So that’s why we use social media to tell (the Egyptian people) the other side, to tell them the truth.”
Dr. David Romano, professor of political science, explained what capitalism looks like under a rocky Egyptian political climate and how this might affect network coverage.
“Let’s look at how the system works in Egypt: you have an authoritarian state and crony capitalism,” Romano said. “The big companies (and) the rich people in Egypt are all politically linked. You have to be if you’re going to make it.”
Romano explained if these telephone services face competition, they could ask the government to make some changes.
“Obviously they don’t like (competition), and they have the political links to go to politicians in Egypt and ask them to make whatever changes in the internet service provision and so forth that could effectively disable their competition—this is how crony capitalism works,” Romano said.
However, Romano also wanted to address the fact that these connectivity problems may be just that—technical problems—and that many citizens of Egypt are paranoid, and rightly so, after unrest for many decades.
“Sometimes there (are) innocent problems that are occurring in a state that has been in transition, and … it could just be that,” Romano said. “Egyptians love conspiracy theories, I don’t blame them; sometimes they’re true.”
Ghoniem echoed this, stating the apps may just be malfunctioning.
“(The blocked apps) might be nothing at all,” Ghoniem said. “There is some disturbance in the internet, and of course, internet communication is not as good in Egypt as it is here. But it was a weird coincidence. And we Egyptians like conspiracy theories behind everything.”
For the future outlook in Egypt? Romano believes another uprising is not likely because of the violence they’re witnessing in Syria and Yemen, for example.
“People are tired from the (revolution), (and) the regime is not likely to make some of the mistakes that the Mubarak regime made when he was forced to step down,” Romano said.
“I don’t think there’s … going to be another sustained effort to destroy (the regime) like we saw in 2011.”
