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"The revolutionary advance [is] made headway not by its immediate tragic-comic achievements, but ... more "The revolutionary advance [is] made headway not by its immediate tragic-comic achievements, but on the contrary by the creation of a powerful, united counter-revolution, by the creation of an opponent, by the fighting of which the party of revolt first ripened into a real revolutionary party."
Karl Marx
In the past three years masses of Syrians have engaged in undermining the regime's legitimacy, they have done this from physical places— squares, churches, mosques, campuses—and virtual spaces—the countless online agora's facilitated by the Internet. A key issue raised by this paper is what happens when these spaces are no longer the "unique" let alone privileged property of the non-elites? What happens when the state, its institutional forces, and its informal gatekeepers lay claim to the same spaces and mobilize through equivalent virtual zones?
This article analyzes the role of the media in the Egyptian revolution, distinguishing between th... more This article analyzes the role of the media in the Egyptian revolution, distinguishing between the political synchronization of media forms, which was achieved during the 18 Days uprising, and broader processes of media convergence. We locate the key dynamics of media production and consumption by revolutionary activists not in the affordances of the Internet but in the shifting balance of forces between revolution and counterrevolution on the wider political stage. Using various examples, we argue that parts of the popular movement in Egypt have moved away from reliance on old and new capitalist media as simply carriers of their voices and hopes toward media practices seeking to develop media voices and infrastructures of their own.
Keywords: Egypt, revolution, Internet, journalism, political activism
Intifada 3.0? Cyber colonialism and Palestinian resistance. Arab Studies Journal, XXII (1). pp. ... more Intifada 3.0? Cyber colonialism and Palestinian resistance. Arab Studies Journal, XXII (1). pp. 102-133. ISSN 1083-4753
Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research, Jan 1, 2008
Journal Articles by miriyam Aouragh
Abstract Morocco was prompted by the sense of making and witnessing history that began as the bac... more Abstract Morocco was prompted by the sense of making and witnessing history that began as the backdrop to the mass uprisings across the region in 2011 and continued well into 2012. At several moments the country at large burst into a mosaic of rebellion. As expected, the state intervened with media propaganda, smear campaigns and intimidation to pre-empt the growing impact of the activists and as such to erase this revolutionary episode effectively from Morocco’s collective memory. This
article examines the practices and implications of the remediation of past experiences of struggles and brings the memories of past resistance together with experiences of present struggles. This article takes particular interest in the intersection between 20Feb activists’ political projects and the growing array of digital politics and allows us to understand better the impact of digital media in times of revolution.
Key Words: Activism; Digital Mediation; Makhzan; Memory; Remembrance; 20Feb
This article describes the confluence of online activism and street protests in Lebanon. While Ar... more This article describes the confluence of online activism and street protests
in Lebanon. While Arab protesters have systematically been portrayed as
young, urban and wired since the 2011 uprisings, Lebanese activists are
also often regarded as trapped between war and sectarianism. This
article challenges both frameworks and looks closer at the ways preexisting
waves of discontent crystallised into the mobilisation of
thousands of Lebanese onto the streets of Beirut in 2010 and 2011. To
achieve this, the article critiques the over-emphasis on network politics
that accompanies internet-related hypotheses. The fashioning of a new
kind of politics outside the dominant political factions (‘8–14 March’
blocs) was crucial for activists in Lebanon. New independent initiatives
that locate feminist and queer politics within an overall analysis of
imperialism and capitalism, as well as experimentation with digital
technologies, helped forge a unique and non-sectarian camaraderie. By
conveying the circumstances that have shaped political involvement,
this article avoids the projection of non-ideological/networked politics
that dominate concepts of online activism. The internet played a dual
role in Lebanese grassroots politics, as illustrated through the
experiences of the feminist collective Nasawiya.
The Internet has been a counter-public space for Palestinian liberation politics for over a decad... more The Internet has been a counter-public space for Palestinian liberation politics for over a decade, and digital technologies have become an increasingly important tool for solidarity groups
across the world. However, the Israeli state and Zionist supporters worldwide are harnessing the same technologies and platforms to mobilize technology primarily to increase pro-Israel sentiments.
The aims of this article are to examine hasbara [Israeli public diplomacy] through an exploration of similar diplomacy programmes; to illustrate how social media have affected the basic algorithms of hasbara; and to probe the assertions of hasbara in the light of pro-Palestinian solidarity. Through
a study of public diplomacy, this article critically analyzes hasbara as a site of contestation and a method that is hampered by contradictions. On the one hand, there has been a massive growth in hasbara in recent years—indicated by the increase in funding for it and by its professionalized and centralized character; and on the other hand, hasbara has attracted sharp critiques in Israel for
its reputed failures. To understand this contradiction, hasbara must be placed within the context of Israel’s settler-colonialism, which sets the state apart from other ‘post-conflict’ states. This article reviews the methods utilized in hasbara, as well as their readjustment in the context of recent wars. Events in 2014 illustrate that hasbara actually destabilizes Israel’s diplomacy. Online journalism and the suppression of solidarity for Palestine together stimulate more criticism and, in turn, help to shift
public opinion. Paradoxically, therefore, adjustments (‘hasbara 2.0’) have underlined the image of Israel as a colonial power engaged in violent occupation.
KEY WORDS: BDS; Gaza; Internet; Israel; Palestinian Liberation; Propaganda; Public diplomacy; Zionism
During particular historical junctures, characterised by crisis, deepening exploitation and popul... more During particular historical junctures, characterised by crisis, deepening exploitation and popular revolt, hegemonic hierarchies are simultaneously challenged and reinvented, and in the process of their reconfiguration in due course subtly reproduced. It is towards such 'sneaky moments' in which the ongoing divide between those engaged in struggles of social justice and those struggling for just technologies have been reshaped that we want to lend our attention. The paradoxical consequences of the divide between these communities in the context of the Internet have been baffling: (radical) activists organise and sustain themselves using 'free' technical services provided by Fortune 500 companies. While alternative technology practices, like those used among the Free Software Community, are designed, maintained, and actively used by a select few. We argue that even when there is a great... issue 26: Entanglements-Activism and Technology
The Arab Uprisings of 2011 can be seen as a turning point for media and information studies schol... more The Arab Uprisings of 2011 can be seen as a turning point for media and information studies scholars, many of whom newly discovered the region as a site for theories of digital media and social transformation. This work has argued that digital media technologies fuel or transform political change through new networked publics, new forms of connective action cultivating liberal democratic values. These works have, surprisingly, little to say about the United States and other Western colonial powers' legacy of occupation, ongoing violence and strategic interests in the region. It is as if the Arab Spring was a vindication for the universal appeal of Western liberal democracy delivered through the gift of the Internet, social media as manifestation of the 'technologies of freedom' long promised by Cold War. We propose an alternate trajectory in terms of reorienting discussions of media and information infrastructures as embedded within the resurgence of idealized liberal democratic norms in the wake of the end of the Cold War. We look at the demise of the media and empire debates and 'the rise of the BRICS' (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) as modes of intra-imperial competition that complicate earlier Eurocentric narratives media and empire. We then outline the individual contributions for the special collection of essays.
This is a review, written by Dr. Miriyam Aouragh, of the book 'The Ideal Refugees: Gender, Islam ... more This is a review, written by Dr. Miriyam Aouragh, of the book 'The Ideal Refugees: Gender, Islam and the Sahrawi Politics of Survival' (2014, Syracuse University Press).
Fibreculture Journal by miriyam Aouragh
Editors: Svitlana Matviyenko, Nandita Biswas Mellamphy, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Alison Hearn. Articl... more Editors: Svitlana Matviyenko, Nandita Biswas Mellamphy, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Alison Hearn.
Articles:
FCJ-179 On Governance, Blackboxing, Measure, Body, Affect and Apps:
A conversation with Patricia Ticineto Clough and Alexander R. Galloway— Svitlana Matviyenko, Patricia Ticineto Clough, Alexander R. Galloway
FCJ-180 ‘Spotify Has Added an Event to Your Past’: (Re)writing the Self through Facebook’s Autoposting Apps—Tanya Kant
FCJ-181 There’s a History for That: Apps and Mundane Software as Commodity—Jeremy Wade Morris and Evan Elkins
FCJ-182 Middlebroware—Frédérik Lesage
FCJ-183 iHootenanny: A Folk Archeology of Social Media—Henry Adam Svec
FCJ-184 Interpassive User: Complicity and the Returns of Cybernetics—Svitlana Matviyenko
FCJ-185 An Algorithmic Agartha: Post-App Approaches to Synarchic Regulation—Dan Mellamphy and Nandita Biswas Mellamphy
FCJ-186 Hack for good: Speculative labour, app development and the burden of austerity—Melissa Gregg
FCJ-187 The Droning of Experience—Mark Andrejevic
"The revolutionary advance [is] made headway not by its immediate tragic-comic achievements, but ... more "The revolutionary advance [is] made headway not by its immediate tragic-comic achievements, but on the contrary by the creation of a powerful, united counter-revolution, by the creation of an opponent, by the fighting of which the party of revolt first ripened into a real revolutionary party."
Karl Marx
In the past three years masses of Syrians have engaged in undermining the regime's legitimacy, they have done this from physical places— squares, churches, mosques, campuses—and virtual spaces—the countless online agora's facilitated by the Internet. A key issue raised by this paper is what happens when these spaces are no longer the "unique" let alone privileged property of the non-elites? What happens when the state, its institutional forces, and its informal gatekeepers lay claim to the same spaces and mobilize through equivalent virtual zones?
This article analyzes the role of the media in the Egyptian revolution, distinguishing between th... more This article analyzes the role of the media in the Egyptian revolution, distinguishing between the political synchronization of media forms, which was achieved during the 18 Days uprising, and broader processes of media convergence. We locate the key dynamics of media production and consumption by revolutionary activists not in the affordances of the Internet but in the shifting balance of forces between revolution and counterrevolution on the wider political stage. Using various examples, we argue that parts of the popular movement in Egypt have moved away from reliance on old and new capitalist media as simply carriers of their voices and hopes toward media practices seeking to develop media voices and infrastructures of their own.
Keywords: Egypt, revolution, Internet, journalism, political activism
Intifada 3.0? Cyber colonialism and Palestinian resistance. Arab Studies Journal, XXII (1). pp. ... more Intifada 3.0? Cyber colonialism and Palestinian resistance. Arab Studies Journal, XXII (1). pp. 102-133. ISSN 1083-4753
Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research, Jan 1, 2008
Abstract Morocco was prompted by the sense of making and witnessing history that began as the bac... more Abstract Morocco was prompted by the sense of making and witnessing history that began as the backdrop to the mass uprisings across the region in 2011 and continued well into 2012. At several moments the country at large burst into a mosaic of rebellion. As expected, the state intervened with media propaganda, smear campaigns and intimidation to pre-empt the growing impact of the activists and as such to erase this revolutionary episode effectively from Morocco’s collective memory. This
article examines the practices and implications of the remediation of past experiences of struggles and brings the memories of past resistance together with experiences of present struggles. This article takes particular interest in the intersection between 20Feb activists’ political projects and the growing array of digital politics and allows us to understand better the impact of digital media in times of revolution.
Key Words: Activism; Digital Mediation; Makhzan; Memory; Remembrance; 20Feb
This article describes the confluence of online activism and street protests in Lebanon. While Ar... more This article describes the confluence of online activism and street protests
in Lebanon. While Arab protesters have systematically been portrayed as
young, urban and wired since the 2011 uprisings, Lebanese activists are
also often regarded as trapped between war and sectarianism. This
article challenges both frameworks and looks closer at the ways preexisting
waves of discontent crystallised into the mobilisation of
thousands of Lebanese onto the streets of Beirut in 2010 and 2011. To
achieve this, the article critiques the over-emphasis on network politics
that accompanies internet-related hypotheses. The fashioning of a new
kind of politics outside the dominant political factions (‘8–14 March’
blocs) was crucial for activists in Lebanon. New independent initiatives
that locate feminist and queer politics within an overall analysis of
imperialism and capitalism, as well as experimentation with digital
technologies, helped forge a unique and non-sectarian camaraderie. By
conveying the circumstances that have shaped political involvement,
this article avoids the projection of non-ideological/networked politics
that dominate concepts of online activism. The internet played a dual
role in Lebanese grassroots politics, as illustrated through the
experiences of the feminist collective Nasawiya.
The Internet has been a counter-public space for Palestinian liberation politics for over a decad... more The Internet has been a counter-public space for Palestinian liberation politics for over a decade, and digital technologies have become an increasingly important tool for solidarity groups
across the world. However, the Israeli state and Zionist supporters worldwide are harnessing the same technologies and platforms to mobilize technology primarily to increase pro-Israel sentiments.
The aims of this article are to examine hasbara [Israeli public diplomacy] through an exploration of similar diplomacy programmes; to illustrate how social media have affected the basic algorithms of hasbara; and to probe the assertions of hasbara in the light of pro-Palestinian solidarity. Through
a study of public diplomacy, this article critically analyzes hasbara as a site of contestation and a method that is hampered by contradictions. On the one hand, there has been a massive growth in hasbara in recent years—indicated by the increase in funding for it and by its professionalized and centralized character; and on the other hand, hasbara has attracted sharp critiques in Israel for
its reputed failures. To understand this contradiction, hasbara must be placed within the context of Israel’s settler-colonialism, which sets the state apart from other ‘post-conflict’ states. This article reviews the methods utilized in hasbara, as well as their readjustment in the context of recent wars. Events in 2014 illustrate that hasbara actually destabilizes Israel’s diplomacy. Online journalism and the suppression of solidarity for Palestine together stimulate more criticism and, in turn, help to shift
public opinion. Paradoxically, therefore, adjustments (‘hasbara 2.0’) have underlined the image of Israel as a colonial power engaged in violent occupation.
KEY WORDS: BDS; Gaza; Internet; Israel; Palestinian Liberation; Propaganda; Public diplomacy; Zionism
During particular historical junctures, characterised by crisis, deepening exploitation and popul... more During particular historical junctures, characterised by crisis, deepening exploitation and popular revolt, hegemonic hierarchies are simultaneously challenged and reinvented, and in the process of their reconfiguration in due course subtly reproduced. It is towards such 'sneaky moments' in which the ongoing divide between those engaged in struggles of social justice and those struggling for just technologies have been reshaped that we want to lend our attention. The paradoxical consequences of the divide between these communities in the context of the Internet have been baffling: (radical) activists organise and sustain themselves using 'free' technical services provided by Fortune 500 companies. While alternative technology practices, like those used among the Free Software Community, are designed, maintained, and actively used by a select few. We argue that even when there is a great... issue 26: Entanglements-Activism and Technology
The Arab Uprisings of 2011 can be seen as a turning point for media and information studies schol... more The Arab Uprisings of 2011 can be seen as a turning point for media and information studies scholars, many of whom newly discovered the region as a site for theories of digital media and social transformation. This work has argued that digital media technologies fuel or transform political change through new networked publics, new forms of connective action cultivating liberal democratic values. These works have, surprisingly, little to say about the United States and other Western colonial powers' legacy of occupation, ongoing violence and strategic interests in the region. It is as if the Arab Spring was a vindication for the universal appeal of Western liberal democracy delivered through the gift of the Internet, social media as manifestation of the 'technologies of freedom' long promised by Cold War. We propose an alternate trajectory in terms of reorienting discussions of media and information infrastructures as embedded within the resurgence of idealized liberal democratic norms in the wake of the end of the Cold War. We look at the demise of the media and empire debates and 'the rise of the BRICS' (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) as modes of intra-imperial competition that complicate earlier Eurocentric narratives media and empire. We then outline the individual contributions for the special collection of essays.
This is a review, written by Dr. Miriyam Aouragh, of the book 'The Ideal Refugees: Gender, Islam ... more This is a review, written by Dr. Miriyam Aouragh, of the book 'The Ideal Refugees: Gender, Islam and the Sahrawi Politics of Survival' (2014, Syracuse University Press).
Editors: Svitlana Matviyenko, Nandita Biswas Mellamphy, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Alison Hearn. Articl... more Editors: Svitlana Matviyenko, Nandita Biswas Mellamphy, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Alison Hearn.
Articles:
FCJ-179 On Governance, Blackboxing, Measure, Body, Affect and Apps:
A conversation with Patricia Ticineto Clough and Alexander R. Galloway— Svitlana Matviyenko, Patricia Ticineto Clough, Alexander R. Galloway
FCJ-180 ‘Spotify Has Added an Event to Your Past’: (Re)writing the Self through Facebook’s Autoposting Apps—Tanya Kant
FCJ-181 There’s a History for That: Apps and Mundane Software as Commodity—Jeremy Wade Morris and Evan Elkins
FCJ-182 Middlebroware—Frédérik Lesage
FCJ-183 iHootenanny: A Folk Archeology of Social Media—Henry Adam Svec
FCJ-184 Interpassive User: Complicity and the Returns of Cybernetics—Svitlana Matviyenko
FCJ-185 An Algorithmic Agartha: Post-App Approaches to Synarchic Regulation—Dan Mellamphy and Nandita Biswas Mellamphy
FCJ-186 Hack for good: Speculative labour, app development and the burden of austerity—Melissa Gregg
FCJ-187 The Droning of Experience—Mark Andrejevic