Violence and Activism in Egypt Center Class Discussion at Sonoma State

How is the political upheaval in Egypt, making global headlines right now, impacting your life?

That was the topic of discussion in  Professor Jeff Baldwin’s Geopolitics class yesterday. As the protests surge and recede in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the class of about 40 grappled with what the social and political unrest means to them.

The discussion in the class was ignited with newspaper articles students were required to bring in about what’s going on in Egypt. Baldwin did an ad-hoc class poll: how many of you brought in an article from the New York Times? A slew of hands shot up. How about Al Jazerra? Three hands went up. How many of you found your articles through Facebook and Twitter? The majority of the class raised their hands. How many of you actually read a paper newspaper? One person raised his hand.

Students were grouped in huddles of three or four to start the dialogue.

Matthew Stratton, 22, of Cotati, brought in an article from The Guardian, based in the United Kingdom.

“Google and Twitter launch service enabling Egyptians to tweet by phone,” the headline read. “Voice-to-tweet software allows citizens to send news from Egypt despite Internet blackout.”

“I think it’s pretty cool that Google and Twitter paired up to give a voice to the Egyptians,” Stratton said. “They’re using Facebook and Twitter to protest more efficiently and to get [Hosni] Mubarak ousted.”

The article, published Feb. 1, detailed how protesters were using Google Voice to leave messages that were subsequently transcribed and published on Twitter — a signal of how the social media giants are being used as an effective reporting tool.

“The new service, which has been created by coordination between two Internet companies … provides an online voicemail service and tweets a link to each message, which is sent out on Twitter with the '#egypt' hashtag,” the article stated.

“Google listed three numbers for people to call and use the service. They are +16504194196; +390662207294; and +97316199855,” it reported.

“It’s what’s called the keypad revolution,” Baldwin said.

After a few minutes, the small discussion groups extended their conversations to the entire class.

“So how has this impacted your lives?” Baldwin said.

Some students murmured OPEC, or the Organization of the Oil Exporting Countries.

“Yes,” Baldwin said. “And it’s impacting you through the gas prices, because oil gets to the United States through the Suez Canal and it was shut down last week, right?”

“And what about our standing in the Arab world … And do any of you have family members in the military?” he said. “If you look you can see the ripple effects of this.”

Claire DeNike, 22, raised her hand. DeNike lives in Richmond and drives to about 40 miles to Sonoma State for her classes.

“I’m constantly aware about how much I’m driving and I have a moral conflict with it, but I have to drive to get here,” she said. “I have to do it to get an education.”

Then the conversation steered towards the politics of mobility.

“How many of you drive here?” Baldwin asked. “Does the price of gas matter to you?”

Almost the entire class raised their hands and shook their heads yes.

“We’re aware of how much gas is because we have to drive,” said Blake Bordisso, 24, of Santa Rosa. “I don’t want to drive, but if I took the bus from my house it would take from an hour to an hour and a half to get to campus.”