Will the free-Alaa campaign work?
Sid, David and many prominent Egyptian bloggers have recently popularised the free-Alaa campaign, started in honour of the popular pro-democracy blogger recently imprisoned by Egyptian authorities because he questioned the legitimacy of recent government elections.
Now, Judy has taken up the call to Google-bomb ‘Egypt’ with a link to the campaign. She’s done a great job, but I’m not sure if it will work.
I’m not convinced the Google-bomb will work for two reasons. Firstly, the top rated websites for ‘Egypt’ are quite popular and Google-ranked 6 or 7 (according to my toolbar).
For a quick explanation, Google ranks pages on two factors: how many people link to that website, and how popular those websites are themselves.
Comment is free for example doesn’t have that many links to it (only 409) but is still ranked 7 because the Guardian front page (rank 9) links to it prominently. In contrast Harry’s Place recently went from Google rank 6 to 7 after amassing 13,500 links mostly from the link pages of other blogs.
I could be wrong here, but my thinking is that a Google-bomb for the word Egypt to bring up the free-Alaa campaign would need something around 5,000 links using the word Egypt to bring it to the top of Google rankings when someone searches for that word. The second-ranked website currently, TourEgypt.net is ranked 7 and has 3,880 links for example. That needs to be topped.
But even then, I doubt all this will make much difference. Egypt’s biggest supporters are the British and American government, who send plenty of aid every year. They are the ones with real influence on the ground.
And for that to happen the free-Alaa campaign needs to become more prominent with mentions in the national papers. But surprise surprise the press has largely ignored the story despite their love for democracy and free speech (or so they tell us).
My suggestion is: organise or join a demonstration outside the Egyptian embassy or send emails to your newspaper or broadcaster of choice and ask why haven’t they yet written about this story. That is the only way to get the brother out of jail.
| Post to del.icio.us |
Filed in: Civil liberties,Current affairs,Middle East
Sunny,
I would like someone to make a list of all the prominent peoples who have spent time in Egyptian jails, including its most famous Ibn Taymiyah. That is one incarcerating place.
I think one of the main reasons this story hasn’t recieved much press is the fact that although the mass media in western democracies likes to think of itself as forerunners of free speech and all things progressive, it is in effect no different to press in authoritarian regimes – controlled and with agenda.
The Fourth Estate idea is merely a myth. See Chomxky, Media Control (2002), which explains a lot of this.
All across the world bloggers/journalists are imprisoned and “silenced” in many ways. (I have written an essay on this if anyone is interested).
The case of Alaa doesn’t get press because it does not constitute a story of particluar significance – it is simply one case among many.
However, if, like you said, we the people are more proactive then it generates publicity not only for Alaa, but for other courageous people who are willing to challenge their governments, and puts pressures on our government(s) to make efforts to free these people whose only crime is to express their right of free speech.
Amnesty Amnesty Amnesty
The hard work that you had put in in building this website has really paid.
Wonderful place to get information.