The African Record

Tunisia: A revolution in less than 140 characters?

Tunisia’s government has collapsed.  President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is reported to have fled the country, after several days of  riots that led to dozens of deaths.  But what I’ve seen in the media seems to suggest that the Internet’s  social media — specifically Twitter — played a role equal to that of the blood of Tunisians in toppling one of Africa’s longest-ruling dictators.

“Tweeting Tyrants Out of Tunisia: Global Internet at Its Best,” a Wired headline proclaimed.

“Could Tunisia Be The Next Twitter Revolution?” the Atlantic wondered.  ABC reported that “Social Media Plays Role in Toppling Tunisian President.” The BBC gave the “cyber war” as much credit as it did the riots. (No body count from the online war, though). And the openly-liberal Huffington Post tried to be cute with, “Tunisia’s Revolution Was Twitterized.”

Apparently, Africa, a continent where most dictators either die in office, or are removed through bloody civil wars, it’s unimaginable for citizens armed with nothing more than sticks and stones to force to drive a one out of office. I guess they don’t think our resolve, and desire to live in a free society is strong enough.

The media’s heavy credits to the Internet do more than just report on the power of the Internet: They validate that age-old condescending attitude that people in the developing world aren’t capable of instituting change in their political systems with out the help of “Western democracies.”

Journalists invented the “Twitter Revolution” in 2009, because they couldn’t stomach the possibility of change happening in Iran without their presence. But as it turned out, there was not revolution. This time, in Tunisia, they waited until the dictator had fled to announce that a successful Twitter Revolution had occurred.

What is the message from all these headlines?  If social media– a Western invention — hadn’t existed, those people of Tunisia wouldn’t have had successful revolution.

Never mind that the same media have been reporting that the Internet is heavily censured in the North African country, it is because of Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and several other social media invented in “democratic societies” that information was able to get out of Tunisia. I guess once Ben Ali realized that powerful Western media had started publishing stories about what a horrible human being he was, he fled.

Long live the Twitter Revolution.

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