Pro Argument by Dylan Proietti

Just over a week ago, President Hosni Mubarak stepped down as the leader of Egypt, following a protest that lasted 17 days.

Though it is clear that the Egyptian people attended a fair amount of physical demonstrations and protests, a significant focus has been placed on the seemingly integral role of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook in this revolution.

Seeing the success the people of Egypt have had, other countries, like Iran, Bahrain and Libya have begun to follow suit, the latter of these experiencing a much more violent uprising.

The logical question then seems to be: Can these digital revolutions sustain the changes they incite?

In truth, Twitter and its hashtags played an integral role in Egypt’s revolution, but in the end, the change occurred because people were willing to take to the streets and defend their beliefs.

The people of Egypt used social networking as a jumping-off point for the revolution. It made the entire revolution cohesive, apparent and unified. The people then took a mindset—one of revolt and a look toward the future, and made their voices heard outside of the Internet.

This, I think, was what made the difference between the success the Egyptian people are enjoying and the potential that this movement had to fail.

Their tenacity and will to persevere is impressive, especially when one considers that Egyptians were denied access to the Internet for several days during the revolution.

Truly, this demonstrates the power of the Internet as well as the power of the people. People have been staging revolutions for centuries, but with the added benefit and amazing organizing power of the Internet, this revolution had to last a minimal 17 days and was, for the most part, a peaceful transition.

Perhaps this is a phenomenon that will be unique to Egypt and the other various protests that are taking place will be nothing more than a forgotten group among the millions on Facebook.

However, if these countries that have followed in the wake of Egypt take this example to heart, I believe they too can see the changes they wish to see. Thanks to Egypt, we may be approaching the era of the digital revolution and I, for one, see both promise and hope on the horizon.

Con Argument by AJ Gunning

Democratic uprisings are precarious, with everyone taking credit for success until the fervor fades, the world loses interest and new tyrants grab our attention.

The uprising in Egypt has since sparked a wave of similar protests in other countries such as Yemen and Iran. Furthermore, a violent rebellion has begun in the country of Libya. All of these demonstrations have benefited from the organizing power of the Internet, specifically Facebook and Twitter, which allows revolutions to seemingly occur overnight.

However, starting a revolution and finishing one are completely different and require different mindsets and tactics.

Where starting a revolution requires a common sentiment of dissatisfaction, an ability to organize and courage. Finishing a revolution requires compromise, intellect and strong, uncorrupted leadership. Further there is the issue of maintaining a revolution which requires, among other things, a willingness to die for the cause, military support and determination.

There is just so much to take into account when deciding if a revolution will be successful or not that it seems foolish to place all of Egypt’s revolutionary eggs in the metaphorical basket that is the Internet.

Twitter and Facebook are wonderful tools for organizing large groups of people, but without military support you might as well organize sheep for the slaughter, as has happened in several countries.

Due to this, many nations won’t manage the maintaining phase of the revolution.

Even if they do, as is the case with Egypt and Tunisia, a more difficult and dangerous road lies ahead as the fervor of the revolution dies and is replaced with internal disputes in nations with little history of democratic compromise.

For nations such as Egypt and Tunisia to become truly Democratic, they will have to reorganize into disparate groups with differing and probably conflicting ideologies with strong central leadership that will have to come to some sort of universal compromise without violence. That is a far more difficult task than creating some revolutionary zeal on a website.