Essay: RELIANCE ON MASS MOBILIZATION AND COLLECTIVE ACTION

The Egyptian modern history witnessed several revolutions in 1882, 1919, 1952 and 1977 yet the successful use of mass mobilization in January 2011 came as a surprise for everyone. For so long political life in Egypt was characterized by apathy and political indifference, thus, the outpouring of the tenth of thousands into Tahrir square in Egypt was unprecedented.
Since Sadat came to power in 1970 the only similar act was the 18th and 19th January 1977 “Bread Riots” that were spontaneous demonstrations in protest of the increasing prices due to the termination of state subsidies on basic food supplies. As many as 79 people were killed and over 550 injured in the protests, which ended with the deployment of the army and the re-institution of the subsidies. However this riot was totally unorganized and the police was able to contain it. Protesters at that time used similar mobilization techniques as the ones used by “Kefaya”; nevertheless “Kefaya” took it a step further and used more creative tools and tactics. They were the genesis of the new mobilization tools, albeit they were unable to mobilize more people around them.
Experts and commentators were astonished by the massive number of participants stating that the Egyptian revolution is “one of the largest outpourings of mass civil resistance in human history”. Also it was described to be the second biggest revolution – in terms of size- after the Polish revolution 1989.
For the revolution to succeed it needed a structured vision, strategy and organization; the organizers were able to create a common vision through framing inclusive grievances that encompass the different societal demands and bridge the gap between the youth activists, interested in political change, and the Egyptian masses, mostly concerned with their own socio-economic well-being. As for the strategy the adoption of creative tactics and non-violent resistance techniques were very influential in the revolution\’s path, the organizers accentuated the importance of unification of the social space and achieving harmony among the different participants, they prevent raising parties\’ flags, movements\’ banners, or any religious or ideological slogans. Participants spoke of the 18 days on Tahrir Square in near mythical terms, describing a utopian scene where differences between groups, whether based on political ideology, creed, gender, or class, disappeared. Furthermore the revolution witnessed a very high degree of organization, although it lacked a unified leadership and was composed of a very heterogeneous structure yet the occupation of Tahrir square was very successful to the extent that the organizers were able to turn it to a form of a mini-state providing all the basic necessities that the protestors might need during their stay. The square transformed to be a political, social and artistic hub, people literally moved to live there, they built tents, some provided food and supplies, others were selling it, health services and security were delivered, recycling bins and portable toilets were set up and logistics of daily life were all organized. In brief the square was the biggest spontaneously organized event the country has ever witnessed. People from different social, political and economic background started occupying the square.
The Egyptian revolution was highly influenced by the Colored Revolutions not only in adopting common trainings but also in replicating the same mobilization tools and techniques. Starting with the street occupation that was backed by solidarity movements from domestic and international activists and organizations; moving to the emphasis on using only peaceful resistance techniques, relying on humor and ridicule, utilizing similar logos and slogans, all of these prove that the Egyptian revolution was following the same path as the Colored Revolutions. Since 2011, the Egyptian revolution has been associated with two powerful popular aspects: word and image; The words exemplified in slogans, chants, songs, and poetry, while the image in the pictures, video clips, documentaries, and graffiti art. Owing to its nature as a leaderless revolution the masses feel they are the real actors and they are claiming it to themselves and to the squares. The following discuss in details the mobilization tools and techniques utilized in the course of the revolution.
I. Street Politics
The modern world is witnessing an increasing role of the street in the making of politics. Scholars had different contributions to such role yet all of them are stressing on the importance of the street politics on the modern revolutions. The role of the street changed from occupying just a physical space to be a place for enacting the social and political changes. All the cases of our study witnessed a degree or another of active mass participation in the political life that took the form of street politics; Such street struggles and demonstrations are a direct result to the effects of globalization and a part of the global modernity. The repetition of the same phenomenon is better described by the concept “The Global Street” that came at the hands of Saskia Sassen in her article “The Global Street: Making the Political” Each of our cases provide an example to the development of the masses perception on the street politics, their role in making change and their new tools in achieving it particularly the way they utilized the public space. Such developments indicate the shift in the street politics from signifying the rituals to involve more actions. Every Colored Revolution that was ever accomplished always attributed with persistence, following their steps, in the Egyptian case the protestors had to endure camping in Tahrir square for 18 days and nights going into streets, facing the violent actions and police repression with determination and supplication to fight for freedom and democracy.
Before the revolution youth suffered from apathy, frustration, deteriorating socioeconomic conditions, repression and above all unresponsive government that ignores the needs and demands of a large sector of the society. This led the youth to create a space of their own away from these condition, the internet provided them with such platform. Although the first calls for the revolution started from the web, yet the organizers were aware of the importance and influence of the streets. Street politics was one of the main factors that took the revolution from the virtual space to the real one. The revolution changed the dynamics of the street, it became an active public sphere providing the people with the chance to exercise politics, to criticize the regime, raise their political demands and to be part of the ongoing change in the country.
Even though the social networks and the internet played a major role in calling for the revolution, the organizers relied on the traditional mobilization techniques and created new innovative ones that helped in enduring the collective identity and action of the masses. The organizers documented having face-to-face meetings before and during the protests to set their action plan. Such meetings continued during the revolution, it were held in the evening and usually covered the blueprint for the next day, including the routes, slogans, involved actors, etc. The highlights of the meetings would then be distributed the next day via SMS, email, and social media networks to other members and significant personnel. The main aim of these meetings was the planning, organization and to make sure they have a probably well-established course of action for the protests. the activists used to hold their meetings at one of the member\’s home to keep it discreet, the few days leading up to the 25th they used to change their places a lot for the fear of being detained.
In employing the street politics, organizers innovated a new mobilization technique that proved to be very successful which is indirectly using the taxi drivers to spread information about the protests. They picked this group as they are large in numbers and easy to spread the word without being tracked by the government, in the same time they are eye witnessing the streets all the time so their talk is credible. The organizers didn\’t initiate arguments or debates with the drivers about the events in order not to scare them, they let them overhear a supposedly “secretive” telephone conversation that covered details of the first day and were most likely bound to repeat it to others, including their customers. The plan was a success; the message went viral and spread in Cairo on busses, in cafes, shops, mosques, universities, etc. Egyptians were aware that something big would happen in Tahrir Square on January 25.
Beside depending on the word of mouth, the organizers started to circulate pamphlets and flyers with the slogan “Long Live Egypt”, others including details about the protests that will be held, instructions on how to confront and defend against riot police, methods to protect each other, recommendation that banners and posters should be hung from apartment and office balconies, suggestion on specific slogans to chant during the protests, what to wear, what to carry and where to be. In addition, it stated that Egyptians should maximize redistribution of the leaflets through photocopies , the same were uploaded online to convince the masses about having a well-planned and organized event.
During the first three days of the revolution; participants were spending hours, chanting the revolution\’s special songs, raising only the Egyptian flags, spreading the slogans of the revolution across the square and its neighboring areas. Those early participants were a factor of success as they were connecting the square with the public, they took the burden of conveying the right image of what is really happening in the square, they refuted the false image disseminated by the official media. It wasn\’t until the third day when the signs of success started to show as the security forces ran out of ammunition, they were really exhausted and started to withdraw from the streets in a disorderly manner which showed weakness from their side, the numbers were increasing tremendously giving confidence in the revolution\’s success and protesters started setting up their tents to make the square their new address, it was a proof to the change in the balance of power between the state and society in the protesters favor.
The organizers knew that the revolution\’s strength was directly related to the number of participants, thus they focused on changing the attitude of the masses from just visiting the square to actually occupying it, they equipped the squares to enable this, the masses responded to the calls and started the occupation movements that were done on purpose to achieve the over-arching goals of toppling down the regime and gaining international support to the protests through driving the attention to the peacefulness of the protests and the legitimacy of its demands.
It is worth mentioning that occupying the square wasn\’t an easy job, especially during the first week, protesters faced a lot of problems to convince the masses to join in, moreover the security forces were trying to prevent the expansion of the protests by all means; so they faced some violent acts, they were trying to protect themselves from the different attacks by the thugs, tear gas, Molotov and even rocks. The occupation of the square itself was a battle, and one that was difficult to maintain. While the primary concern of protest, from January 25-28, was to form field hospitals to help injured protesters, the priority shifted after February 2 to the protection of protesters. Throughout this period, protesters were also putting more and more tents in place, and began to think about survival in the square. More experienced activists and volunteers helped to bring in tents and food.
One of the main causes behind the ability to survive and occupy the main streets is the civil society. The role of the civil society in Egypt increased since the 90s, yet it reached its peak and became widely accepted by late 2000. The civil society played a major role in shifting the Egyptian society, starting with embedding new ideas and spreading awareness, passing by acquainting them with the previous experiences of other countries and getting them in touch with different civil society groups across the globe. The active civil society is an important base to the mass participation and involvement, but for its role the masses won\’t be able to mobilize, organize or actualize their plan. More concretely, the strong civil society – that could be described as independent- acted as a ‘third sector’ that created alternative ways of linking the social with the political. It was the main tool in empowering people and driving their attention to their supremacy and ability to implement the change in the society. Furthermore, it acted as a main communication channel that took the burden of conveying the real image of what was really going on in the square, either domestically or to the international community.
There was an ongoing battle between the protesters and the regime, each trying to claim its supremacy and control. The regime tried to portray a bad image about the protesters either by claiming that they were foreign agents, spies, traitors and defaming them for having sexual relations in the tents. On the other hand protesters created an ideal alternative society with a democratic system, clean streets, absence of sexual harassment and freedom of speech you could present your opinion just by writing it on a placard and tour the square , participants debated freely over the different political issues, they also participated in the decision making process. while the ‘radio station’ and the ‘newspaper’ that emerged in the square guaranteed balanced representation of different political views, such spirit transcended any sectarian, provincial, or even ideological inclinations. Protesters were able to project that they were fighting for a good cause and they are able to implement a democratic vision for their country.
After February 4, with the fast evolving events, the square was gaining more weight and significance, not only in Egypt but internationally, the occupation of the square was the main tool to fight the regime, even after the stepping down of Mubarak there were different calls to end the occupation, the lack of trust in the regime and the awareness of the protesters of the importance of the occupation as a pressure tool made them insist on continuing. The square became the heart of the revolution and its planning center. The composition of the square resembled mini-Egypt with its different categories; tents were filled with students, workers, middle-class professionals, and even business owners. It witnessed a high degree of diversity which delivered a message that all the different sectors of the society are rejecting the status quo and wanting the change only through peaceful means that took the form of chanting and waving flags but somehow ends up reverberating far and wide.
The square was a model representing what is really happening in Egypt, protesters started joining from different governorates, and those who weren\’t able to join started simulating the square and ended up having different Tahrir squares across the country. Such as Qaid Ibrahim Square in Alexandria, it was filled with hundreds of thousands of protesters occupying the space in the city that witnessed the death of Khaled Said, the icon and motivator of the revolution. Another example is the Arba\’een square in Suez that was considered a key engine of the revolution, the protesters in Suez were so stubborn, and the first martyr of the revolution was killed there. On 28 January – known as the “day of rage” – protesters burned down the tarnished Arba\’een police station. They motivated the rest of the country to keep on fighting the brutality of the regime.
Bringing the masses to the streets, the ability to mobilize and organize them is the main reason behind the success of the protests. Street politics was a key factor in this mobilization, the organizers were aware of such importance, they worked on keeping the street active and the masses involved all the time. This gave the street more significance and tied the people up to the protests which led eventually to the success in toppling down the regime. The second factor that led to the success of mobilization is adopting non-violent resistance techniques as discussed below
II. Primacy of Peaceful Means
The protestors in Egypt were following CANVAS trainings by the book especially in the emphasis on adopting non-violent resistance techniques to fulfill a twofold purpose; the first is to give more confidence in the protests course of action and make it more amiable, in turn the mobilization will increase. Secondly, non-violence will expedite wearing down the police in the same time reduces their violence.
The past experiences in Egypt proved that violence will only lead to more violence; hence from the very start the organizers were keen on instructing the people on the importance of peacefulness. During the training they studied the Police strategies and mechanisms to develop counter techniques and devise new tactics that proved decisive in confronting the security forces and ultimately bringing down the regime, for instance, previously protesters used to gather in one location at the main streets whereby the police forces were able to disperse, corner or arrest them after some aggressive confrontations, this led to containing the protests since its very start. Protesters embraced different technique in January 25 they were keen on being creative this time at least to be able to mobilize more people to get the ball rolling. They used the most popular and least expected places to gather the people from; mosques, side streets in shanty areas and poor districts, they focused on mobilizing the youth yet paid attention to the desperate who suffered the most and relatively got nothing to lose, they organized marches to the main squares to rally people around them during these marches. People responded to these calls and joined the marches or at least supported them from home; they ended up with massive numbers reaching the main squares.
The organizers were keen on including all the different categories of the society, hence they moved away from the luxurious neighborhoods and targeted the slums of Cairo where people had little to no access to the new media and the calls over the internet didn\’t reach them, most of the people there were unaware of the event that the rest of the country is anticipating, and the only way to conquer them was through the direct action and word of mouth. The organizers set these areas as meeting points and they started to inform them about the protests through chanting, raising anti-regime banners and slogans that motivated the masses and they started joining them. Their chants created a sense of collectiveness that encouraged and increased Egyptians to march towards Tahrir Square. The collective struggle was so heart felt that it inspired other Egyptians in different cities (Alexandria, Suez, Ismailia, and Gharbeya) in Egypt to do the same.
The successful mobilization was surprising to the organizers and the security forces as well who weren\’t well prepared to face such new tactics. The Ministry of Interior placed its antiriot forces on full alert forty-eight hours prior to that day. Taking no chances, it also deployed all its forces to control and decisively crack down on the demonstrations, leaving no back-ups available. Aware of this tactical error, the protesters managed to keep the antiriot police engaged and deployed for relatively long periods of time. The peaceful demonstrators confronted the police for days and on January 28—the third day of the demonstrations—the security forces ran out of ammunition, succumbed to exhaustion, and collapsed. They withdrew in a disorderly manner, and, according to many participants, it was clear that the revolution had been won. The same scenario repeated in the different cities such as Alexandria, Suez, Mahalla among others, all proved to be successful which gave confidence in the revolution and increased the international support as well. It confirmed that all the people across the country were sharing the same target and agreed on toppling down the regime.
Adopting peaceful resistance tools was a key factor that contributed to the success of the revolution; either in the mobilization or implementation phase. One protestor explained the rationale behind this approach stating that ‘‘we wanted to project a positive image to the people at home, to maintain a positive spirit. If the people saw us clashing with the police they would be scared. But when we did not attack the police, we conveyed a sense of calm, and sent a message that we were not afraid”. Such techniques were so beneficial in defeating the regime\’s violence and increasing the sympathy of the masses. The guidelines of the protests that spread all over the internet days before the revolution and the training that was provided to the activists all were urging the masses to use peaceful tools. They advocated for peace and encouraged demanding their rights while protecting the others. They emphasized on preventing any violent or illegal acts, to respond peacefully to the security forces and not to provoke them or to respond to any provocation from their side. The peaceful protesters dreaded that the police would portray the protesters as saboteurs and hence they can contain their protests by the law and they would end up losing the mobilization, sympathy of people and their act would fail. The organizers informed the participants on the importance of protecting the properties of others, to prevent any damage to the public or private properties, to refrain from any illegal actions, to prevent blocking the streets or disrupting the traffic, urging the masses to join them through giving them confidence in their acts . In short they tried to ensure renouncing from any action that could jeopardize the safety of the participants or the people and in the same time not to violate the law.
Combining the non-violent resistance techniques with the call for basic socioeconomic and political demands facilitated mobilizing many supporters and followers to the revolution, adding to this using simple logos and slogans was really helpful in rallying a lot of people as shown in the following section.
III. Symbols and Logos
Representation and symbolization played a major role in mobilizing the masses; Just like the Colored Revolutions, the Egyptian one was dubbed “Lotus Revolution” after the famous Egyptian flower which represented the resurrection, life and the sun of ancient Egypt, the term was commonly utilized by various Western news channels in referring to the Egyptian Revolution. This flower was used to symbolize taking the country from the darkness of corruption and bad governance to transparent democratic regime. Besides, picking up the police national holiday reflects the rejection to the violence and repression of the police and it was a holiday so people could join the protests easily. Furthermore choosing Tahrir “Liberation” square symbolized the new dream the Egyptians are trying to achieve.
In seeking to extend popular mobilization, the organizers drew upon this socio-cultural master frame to develop the collective action frame of the event, they were aware that political message only would not motivate the marginalized masses. Three primary slogans came to symbolize the Egyptian revolution:” aish, horreya, adala egtema’eya” (bread, freedom, social justice); “al-shaab yurid isqat al-nizam” (the people want the overthrow of the regime); and” irhal “(get out). These should not be understood merely as catch phrases chanted by protestors but rather as representing collective action frames that served a specific mobilization purpose. Examining these three dominant slogans shows a mixture of strategic, deliberate efforts that mirrors both the planned and un-planned nature of the Egyptian revolution.
The initial slogan used over Facebook was “Revolution against Torture, Poverty, Corruption, and Unemployment” later it was shortened to the simpler “bread, freedom, social justice” which served several purposes. An insight to this slogan shows that the Egyptians were suffering from deprivation, inequality and injustice on different levels; The inclusion of the world “bread” symbolized the basic needs that most of them were unable to attain due to the deteriorating economic conditions, it also drew a direct link to 1970s “Bread Riots” which indicated the call for popular mobilization, furthermore it directed the attention to March 2008 where people were suffering in the extensive bread lines and that led to the death of a dozen of people. Political emphasis was also important in mobilizing a wide category of activists and that was represented by the call for “Freedom” the term was left deliberately simple so as not to reduce the movement to a dialogue amongst elites. it also reflected the suffering from high degrees of suppression on different aspects, violations of human rights and general repression especially from the police forces. Last yet the most important one was the inclusion of “social justice” the gap between the different levels in the society was widening day by day, people were suffering from inequality, nepotism and corruption, such inclusion not only referred to breaking the social contract between the masses and the regime but also it was reminiscent to the different opposition sectors and those who don’t not suffer economically. One of the protesters stated that: “The revolutions, of course, are about more than just bread. we want basic human rights, dignity, and a chance at a decent future – good jobs at livable wages. But when a government puts those things out of reach for the majority of its citizens, using handouts or subsidies as a substitute for democratic or economic reforms, bread becomes a powerful symbol of all they cannot have.”
The other most popular two slogans “the people want the overthrow of the regime” and “get out” both weren\’t originated in Egypt. Actually they are evidence of diffusion as they were copied from the Tunisian Revolution.
Under morale building the organizers paid due attention to the importance of patriotism as a basic factor in driving the masses into action. Large segment of the protestors, especially the youth, were convinced that sacrificing their lives for the sake of their countries is the only mean to achieve the change, this was translated into actions that resulted in a big number of Martyrs. Patriotism has been the key driving factor in the Tunisian revolution the death of Boazizi sparked the revolution there; Boazizi brought the case of Khaled Said to the surface and “I am Khaled Said” logos spread all over Egypt, the facebook page “we are all Khaled Said” along with “April 6” were the lead motivators.
Developing the logos and slogans was directly related to the development in the path of the revolution. The protestors articulates their demands in the form of new slogans that spread among the protestors, it encouraged them to take a step forward in addressing their key objectives. This was obvious in the developments of the different calls and the changes in the slogans to reflect the changes in the path of the revolution. The first couple of days the logos and slogans addressed the martyrs, following the course of development several others were displayed; they were characterized by humor, ridicule, peacefulness and high degree of patriotism and national pride among these are “Hold your head up, Egyptian” was a slogan seen on many walls across the country, “Change, Change, leave, leave” which was purposely meant to disgrace the government for their incompetence in ruling. “Selmeya” or “Peaceful” which was regularly used to remind the protestors of maintaining the peaceful nature of the protests, in the same time to curb any violent from the police forces.
\’O, Jamal tell your father that Egyptian people hate you.\’ was a slogan that most Egyptians used to express their resentment towards Mubarak’s governance and refusal to power inheritance. Many individuals expressed their hatred and anger over their subjection to political and socioeconomic problems by the regime’s poor governance, they were filled with the spirit of denial and disapproval to the regime arrogant and brutal actions towards the civilians. Another common slogan which was commonly used by the revolution organizers in mobilizing the multitudes into persistence was “we will not leave. He should leave.” And “Eiad Wahda” or “We are united” which indicated the unity of the different groups and their persistence on achieving their goal. Even when the chants in Egypt aren’t quotations from poems, there’s something distinctly poetic about them. There were rhyming couplets with rhythms from classical Arabic poetry others were from the traditional sayings, like the chant, ” Idrab idrab yâ Habîb, mahma tadrab mish hansîb!” “Hit us, beat us, O Habib [as-Adly, the former minister of the interior] hit all you want—we\’re not going to leave!”, others were really humors in responding to the regime\’s violence “ Darb al-habib zayy akl al-zabib” “The beloved\’s fist is as sweet as raisins”. They also sang two famous verses: “The brave men are brave-The cowards are cowardly-Come with the brave-Together to the Square”. Another slogan was ” Erhal yani emshy! Yemken mabyef-hamshy?!” “Leave means go, maybe he doesn\’t get it!!” this slogan was very sarcastic and it showed that the respect and legitimacy of Mubarak couldn\’t be restored.
Furthermore, there have been different logos raised in the square such as “Leave already! I want to go home and shower” ;”Leave! My wife is giving birth, and the boy does not want to see you” ; (From a little girl) “Leave already! My arm hurts, I am 10 years old and I hate you”; (From a man with wild hair) “One way or another you’re leaving, leave now so I can get a haircut”; “The carpenters’ union of Egypt ask the boss Mubarak: What kind of glue are you using?” ; and a sign of the Tunisian and Kyrgyz effect some raised banners asking him to flee from the country , “Saudi Arabia is waiting for you; If you don’t like Jeddah, you can go to Riyadh … or China … China is nice” ; “No, no, please stay Mubarak, we are only joking; OK, you stay, we leave”. Also there have been Signboards in English that were addressed to an international public were no less clear, ranging from “Antique dictator for sale” to “Mubarak: go to hell”. Some signboards also showed Mubarak walking towards an ‘EXIT’ sign, or into a ‘Recycle bin’. One of the most explicit and perhaps most effective of symbols, which documented the earnestness of the stand-off between the regime and the Square, was a Mubarak dummy hanging by the neck from a street lantern, or some sort of traffic installation. All these shows that protestors utilized the principle taught by CANVAS to use simple slogans that are easy to learn and repeat. They emphasized that it should also be in the slang language away from any political terminologies so as to be comprehended and repeated by the masses.
After the Police withdrawal and the stepping in of the army, the organizers created some slogans to address the army such as \’No no, no, oh army, stay out and don’t be reckless, Hosny Mubarak will not live.\’ It was a common slogan used to urge the army not to involve themselves in defending Mubarak. The organizers knew that in any occasion that the army gets involved in struggles to cease the protests everything would turn against them, bearing in mind that Egyptian army is among the most credited armies with very amplified and sophisticated tactics in dealing with any form of security cases. Therefore, the protestors prioritized seeking support from the army in the form of maintaining their neutrality and not to adhere to the influence of the government to combat the protests. The Egyptians finally got to understand the genuine course of the protests and eventually got to support the activists in their protests by not siding with any party, but rather ensure security and order in streets against all forms of attacks mostly planned by the government through the use hired goons to destruct the protests.
With the increasing mobilization some activists, especially from the Muslim Brotherhood group, started to embed cultural basis in formulating the logos and slogans through making references from the Quran verses and Prophet Mohammed sayings contained in Hadiths as a source of encouragement towards fighting for their rights. \’Avoid cruelty and injustice, for on The Day of Judgment, the same will return into several dark nesses\’. This was one of the most religious slogans that the young men and women activist used to refer to Mubarak
The above are among many other logos and slogans that were utilized in the course of the Revolution, similar ones were adopted in all the Colored Revolutions. Such tool proved to be very influential in transforming the individual grievances into collective demands and put it in a frame of injustice and sufferings from the regime which aided in delegitimizing it. Furthermore it was a very successful mobilization tool as they unified the masses, framed their demands in a very simple form and created seemingly common achievable targets which took the protests from the informative phase to the implementation one. The creation of these logos and slogans showed the organizers creativity in their fight, this was also shown in using a lot of humor and ridicule in delivering their message. Furthermore using art and music was really responsive to the vibrant nature of the society as shown in the following.
IV. Art and Songs
The state of suppression that prevailed before the revolution limited the creativity of youth, however, with the burst of the revolution there was an extensive use of art with its different forms. The streets were full of Graffiti, songs, street theater plays among others. Such tools were very influential in mobilizing people as well as documenting the revolution.
The use of art was a multipurpose tool that worked on different levels; expression, mobilization, publication and documentation. As an expression tool it was used to register political dissidence, express social alienation, propagating anti-regime ideas; as for the mobilization it was a sign of reclaiming public space from the regime, claim agency, asserting identity, raising awareness, build community and solidarity among people; and for the publication it was used to disperse the updates of the events and finally it was used to document the revolution, create its historical narratives. and establish an alternative collective memory. nevertheless it could also be viewed as a barometer of public opinion.