Claus Mueller

Before the Spring is an impressive reconstruction of the events leading to the Egyptian Spring by a blogger who lost his eye sight during the revolution. He was part of a small group of young opponents effectively using the social media for the revolt while leading government officials remained totally oblivious to rapidly emerging use and power  of the internet.

The director Ahmed Atef provides a compelling cogent demonstration in his film of the social and political power of the new communication technologies in a well-structured and enacted feature about a small group of six activist bloggers, inspiring without realizing it fully the rise of a mass movement leading to the demise of the Mubarak system and the ruling political party. The film was supported by The Egyptian Ministry of Culture and completed last year. It documents the group’s failed attempts to stimulate overt opposition to the regime with traditional approaches, the futile attempts by the government agencies to control their young opponents, and the interaction between both parties.

Before the Spring provides insights into the security apparatus of Egypt, the prevailing oppression and torture of opponents, systematic censorship of privately owned traditional print and visual media as well as instructive interactions on the ministerial level before Mubarak fell from power. He was forced to resign on February 11, 2011 after 18 days of mass protests which were initially peaceful but towards the end turned violent. Mubarak was arrested on April 13 for failing to prevent the killing of peaceful protesters and subsequently condemned to prison.

Growing opposition was prompted by widespread poverty and rigged elections. When low level security staff informed higher level ministerial officials of the growing political use of the internet, their advice was not taken seriously by them because “the internet was just for the kids playing around” and few people in Egypt use it.  The minister of Interior declared as the state’s priority Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood, but not the internet.  Meanwhile the bloggers, mostly young professionals and students had tried traditional strategies without much success, such as initiating strikes and demonstrations, organizing shop keepers, and           converting individuals to their cause. Among the problems encountered was the social distance between the group’s members and the people they tried to organize. The group of six opponents depicted in the film who turned political bloggers was from upscale social backgrounds. The leader of the group Sameh came from a rich and important family.  One of the protagonists Sara had a father who was a well-educated scientist supporting her because he had gone to prison because as an advocate of workers’ rights. Others had a comfortable life style very distant from Egypt’s deprived masses living in poverty.

  n spite of growing evidence of extensive social media use by political bloggers, identification of the members of the most active group and, their close security service surveillance, no action was taken. After all   “the kids are quiet because they fear security”. Meanwhile the bloggers had realized that twitter, face book and other social communication platforms unite rather than separate the people and that if hundreds of thousands go on the streets their friends and relatives will follow.  The group of six developed a concerted effort to engage social media users to participate in a mass demonstration following the slogan “Bread, Freedom, Dignity and Social Justice”. They provided   instructions where and when to protest and set as a date of protest the 25^th of January, the police day. Ironically, that day was then declared by the President as an official holiday honoring the police because “the police is there to protect the people”. They also requested feedback and to the bloggers great surprise 25 thousand responded positively on face book to their messages which were also relayed via cell phones. They affirmed their participation, frequently with their own photos posted. After a meeting with senior opposition leaders one told two participating bloggers “that traditional parties are dead and the youth has to take over”.  No arrest warrants were issued and the group continued to apply social media to very end urging the demonstrators to engage only in non-violent actions. Massive demonstration against the government calling for the ouster of Mubarak erupted in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and other urban centers in Egypt on January 25, a movement beyond the control of security and police forces. The shutdown of the internet by the government and use of violence against demonstrators by its agencies did not constrain the uprising

It is noteworthy that the bloggers and young security officials were aware of the soft power of new bottom up communication technologies while older senior government officials remained immured in their embrace of traditional top down political measures. One can assume of that the old group depicted none comprehended face book, twitter or the internet in general. Though academics still quarrel about the precise impact of social media in Egypt’s revolution, there is no question that the use of new social communications platforms by Egyptian bloggers accelerated the revolution, an application which  Ahmed Atef depicts in Before the Spring in a most enlightening manner.

Claus Mueller,    filmexchange@gmail.com