The current generation of young Arabs around the
world has recently been, for the first time, united together with true devotion
in harnessing social media as a weapon to fight a digital war from their very
homes.
اضافة اعلان
It all began with the hashtag
“#SaveSheikhJarrah”, which ignited what we can call the first “Arab digital
revolt”, with heaps of knowledge going viral for the purpose of educating the
world about the ongoing occupation of Palestine by the apartheid state, Israel.
This young generation, with its variety of
thought and ideology, has had each of its members play a significant role;
especially through digital content creators who aggregate information into
text, audio, and video, backed by an army of sharers and distributors of this
content, carrying Palestinians’ voice and showing the world not only what is
currently happening, but what has been happening in Palestine since 1948.
Many others have played a crucial role as they
took the risk to document current events, going out to the horror of the
unequal and continuous war raging in Palestine and the Middle East.
For years, faith in the younger generation was
questioned due to their complete indulgence in social media. All we had seen
before the recent events is their desperate need for attention; a like and a
follow. However, the world has changed now as these young digital creators,
influencers, and followers have become an unstoppable army that is fighting an
online war. Social media is no longer a place to hang out and share immature
content — it is now a new battlefield.
The “Great Arab Digital Revolt” started with one
hashtag accompanied by despair, anger, and resistance; when families of the
Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood stood against the Israeli settlers who stole their
homes and forcibly displaced them. One can only imagine how it must feel to
have someone show up at your house and take it from you by force, supported by
the whole world. To be able to kill you without consequence.
Yet things do not stop at that. Israeli
occupation forces assaulted innocent people praying at a mosque, wounded a lot
of protesters, and killed so many in violation of every human rights agreement
and convention.
Today, social media tycoons are trying to
silence Arabs by manipulating their algorithms, censoring their content, and
denying them freedom of speech; they want to stop the truth from getting out.
It is as if the whole world is either controlled by Israel or perhaps held
hostage to the Zionists.
Many Arabs are facing daily threats of having
their accounts blocked, their posts deleted and/or temporarily banned from
using certain features. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter have entered
this war on behalf of Israel, and they declared war upon the Arabs and their
voices. There are 3.484 billion social media users around the world, of whom
136.1 million users are in the Arab world, according to a 2019 annual report
for from the global platform Hoot Suite. Therefore, with this many users, it is frustrating for us to see the
whole world trying to cover for Israel’s war crimes and its constant hostility
towards Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular.
This digital war started with a request from
Israel itself, with a claim that Arabs are using social media to spread false
news and hate speech to tarnish its image as
“the most democratic country” in the Middle
East. Arabs did not stop. They are fighting the algorithm on daily basis,
trying hard to spread the news and show the world the awfulness of Israel’s
practices. However, they end up finding themselves the victims of racial
discrimination, with no right to speak up, to voice out their thoughts, or to
spread their message with dignity and equality.
It is a tremendous feeling to see our youth
united together, taking control, and trying to win this war. This new
generation is in control now, and they are planning protests and marching
towards borders, making a stand, and still fighting an online war to expose
Israel and its illegal practices. This new turning point of events is changing
everything, and Israel is under fire from all sides.
Who rules the world? Zionists or social media
tycoons; those narcissist billionaires that gave themselves the right to
control who can speak and who cannot. When social media first came to be, it
was a liberation from controlled and paid media, it gave the people hope to
speak up and fight for their beliefs. For example, social media sites were a
vital instrument that showed the whole world what happened in Egypt in early
2011 when the January 25 revolution succeeded in toppling former president
Mohammad Hosni Mubark as a result of the Arab Spring uprising. This raises the
question of why social media would try to stifle Arabs now.
It is important to state that Arabs are fighting
Zionism and Israel’s unfair occupation of Palestine. Arabs are not fighting
Judaism — it has never been a religious conflict. Yet this is what Israel is
trying, and has always been trying, to convince the world of: That Arabs are
fighting Judaism and rousing anti-Semitic sentiment instead of fighting for
their very simple right to a decent and honorable life free from oppression.
The impact of our digital war has reached the
whole world. Protests formed, and continue to form, in Europe, South America,
North America, and Africa. The world is witnessing, listening, and believing.
People are raising their voices in solidarity with the Palestinians. Moreover,
the impact of this digital war has reached the point where many celebrities
from all around the world have shown empathy and solidarity with the
Palestinians by sharing the viral content that Arabs and non-Arabs have shared
and are sharing on social media.
What is happening now in the
Gaza Strip is a
brute attempt to annihilate an entire city, along with its people. Gazans have
suffered for more than a decade now; this unequal war has to stop.
Israel is not only trying to control social
media but is also trying to silence the international press by bombing
buildings that encompass offices of press agencies that are trying to cover all
the war crimes that Israel is committing.
We must continue this digital war against
oppression, we must show the world that we have a voice, and we want to be
heard. This is the rise of the new world order and we must gather ourselves as
a new army that is ready to fight a novel kind of war.
Israel is committing genocide and war crimes
against the
Palestinians while playing the victim and seeking empathy and
support from the international community. Israel is an apartheid state that was
built on the ashes and the blood of the Palestinians and just like the phoenix
of legends, a free Palestine shall rise again from those ashes.
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