The Arab world is upset over an anti-Islam video appearing on YouTube titled the "Innocence of Muslims." The film -- a bigoted portrayal of Islam that goes so far as to depict the Prophet Mohammed as a womanizer and fool -- appears designed to incite conflict and rage. While anger is understandable, the reaction has been overblown. Equally concerning talks of censorship are entering the national discussion. This is a mistake that plays into the hands of those who wish to undermine democracy in the middle east. The Arab world should tread lightly.
On January 27, 2011, then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak shut of the internet to 80M Egyptians in an attempt curb the rising protests that were sweeping the Arab world1. The Mubarak regime was particularly aggressive in cubing access to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube – the social media technologies being used by protesters to organize – but he was only partially successful2. At the same time, state run media outlets went into overtime to marginalize the protests while focusing on staged pro-Mubarak marches. Similar attempts at information suppression and control were seen in Libya, Yemen, Syria, and Tunisia.
Media suppression is page one in the standard dictator’s playbook for good reason. If enough people are upset, the press, and the flow of information can quickly turn small pockets of outrage into a national revolution. But when the government controls the information a small pocket of outrage remains just that, and easily crushed. It was with this in mind that America’s founding fathers guaranteed every citizen the right to assemble, the right to free speech, and freedom of the press; civil liberties intended and highly effective as a vaccination against tyranny. The flip side is also true: there has never been an oppressive government that has tolerated free press for the simple reason that no oppressive government would survive long with it.
It’s no surprise then that when the protests started Hosni Mubarak, Ben Ali, Muammar Gaddafi and Ali Abdullah Saleh each moved quickly to stem the flow of information and ensure the state run media was in full counter spin mode. This was not the first time pockets of unrest had sprung up in the Middle East, but what made the Arab spring different is that the dictators were unable to control the message. Social media – in particular Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube – became a platform for protesters to communicate and organize. The resulting free flow of information was tantamount to granting free press to the whole Arab world, and the four dictators found themselves facing an organized and angry population with no tools to control the information. Their regimes collapsed in quick order.
Today, YouTube again finds itself at the core of protests throughout the Arab world, this time in a much less flattering light. A video on YouTube titled “The Innocence of Muslims” – purportedly a preview of a longer film of the same name – has been spreading rapidly throughout the Arab world. The film is a bigoted portrayal of Islam, going so far as to depict the Prophet Mohammed as a womanizer and fool. The intent of such a film can only be to incite rage and conflict, and on this count it is highly successful.
Businesses have been destroyed and innocent people who had nothing to do with this film are dead, a tragedy that reflects poorly on the new post Arab Spring governments. Equally concerning is that the protests expose a bigger question that has implications for the whole of democracy in the Middle East: whether or not to allow the free flow of information. If a video from someone as irrelevant as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula – a convicted felon with no credibility – can destabilize the entire region, severe restrictions on the flow of information will follow quickly. This plays into the hands of those who would suppress democracy and return the Middle East to tightly controlled dictatorships.
Democracy is beautiful at best and still better than the alternative at worst; but it can also be inconvenient, messy, and offensive. If you guarantee everyone the right to vote and speak their mind, a lot of things will be voted on that you don’t agree with and a lot of things will be said that you find offensive. This is the price of democracy. But the alternative – oppression, tyranny, and the dissolution of democratic institutions – is worse. Choose wisely.
References
1.Analysis of Country Wide Internet Outages caused by Censorship., Dainotti et all., 2011.
2.How Social Media is Keeping the Egyptian Revolution Alive, Tanja Aitamurto, PBS, 9/13/2011