The Catalyst
Egypt's government allows non-state-run media, but the press is far from free. A dozen journalists were prosecuted in 2007 for specious charges such as “putting out false news harming the reputation and interests of the country," according to Reporters Without Borders, and four editors were each sentenced to a year of hard labor and 20,000 Egyptian pound fines for crimes such as reporting that the president's health was ailing.
"Though journalists increasingly cross the 'red lines' that previously constrained the media," writes Freedomhouse.org, "press freedom continues to suffer from repressive laws and extralegal intimidation of journalists. The Emergency Law, the Press Law, and provisions of the penal code regulate the press, despite constitutional guarantees of press freedom."
But where the opposition press is stifled, criticism of the government by bloggers has mushroomed. More than 1,500 Egyptian blogs have surfaced, and a number have gained international readership. Blogs such as Arabawy have actually become sources for journalists and are often quoted in newspapers. With access to information and the ability to hold protests limited, disgruntled Egyptians go online and vent their frustrations there. Many of the bloggers are journalists, reporting news of civil unrest, rising prices, labor disputes, police brutality and torture that the government would rather keep quiet.
From the Web to the Streets
Though certainly a minority of Egyptians have regular access to the internet and fewer read blogs, the shockwaves created by the leftist revolutionaries blogging Egypt's social ills do reach the streets. Increasingly bloggers like Kareem el-Beheiry have surfaced, who are both activists and workers in the factories they write about. El-Beheiry, an employee at the Misr Spinning and Weaving in Mahalla at which workers went on strike several times in recent years, organized the call for the now-infamous April 6th, 2008 strike that set off a rash of riots and strikes around the country. The April 6th riots were the worst seen in the country since 1977, when rising bread prices sent waves of angry protesters to the streets.
Again in 2008 prices have skyrocketed, and again some Egyptians have risen up against the government. Bloggers and Facebook activists have stoked the flames, calling for protests, and using text messages and micro-blogging services like Twitter to spread the message in the streets.