Facebook is the third-most visited Web site in Egypt, after Google and Yahoo. David Wolman (in WIRED) writes about how pro-democracy activists are exploiting that fact in organizing against their undemocratic government which has governed since 1981 and is –surprise, surprise — a valuable US ally (Egypt receives nearly $2 billion in US aid every year, second only to Israel):
At first glance, this form of online activism might seem ineffectual, even frivolous — a brand of sacrifice-free protest sometimes derided as “slactivism.” After all, the Facebook group Bring Back Arrested Development has, at last count, 15,889 members, the group FREE TIBET! has 120,126, and [an Egyptian pro-democracy group] has 70,000. Big deal. But in places like Egypt, these virtual gatherings are a big deal. Although freedom of speech and freedom of religion may be democracy’s headliners, it’s the less sexy-sounding freedom of assembly that, when prohibited, can effectively asphyxiate political organization. Uniting 70,000 people is no easy feat in a country where collective action is so risky. Social networking has changed that. In turn, it is changing the dynamics of political dissent.
