Radical click: Rise of virtual warriors

More than the Egyptians themselves, it is India’s armchair revolutionaries, the assorted Lefties and millions of social network users, who got excited about the protests in Cairo and the way President Hosni Mubarak has been forced to leave his office. Without leaving their homes, offices, coffee shops and with a few clicks of the thumb on their smart phones, these warriors lent their vocal support to the cause of freedom and to help their Arab brothers and sisters overthrow a despot.

As the freedom contagion spread to Yemen, Bahrain and now Libya, the Facebook and Twitter accounts of these double-clicking radicals are full of articles, links, comments and cries for solidarity with their oppressed brethren. They are outraged and angry. They find the attitude of the West hypocritical. They think similar public protests should be held to show their own corrupt politicians that the people will not tolerate corruption, cronyism, clamping down on dissent etc. Rise, people rise!
A history lesson is in order. In the 1930s, as Fascism spread in Europe, students and other liberal forces, all over the continent and the world, started protesting in their home countries. The military rebellion by General Franco in Spain against the elected government brought matters to a head; a civil war broke out in the country. On one side were the Nationalists, led by Franco and supported by conservative elements all over the continent and beyond. American and other big corporations with interests in the country supplied goods and services to them and he also got the backing of the Nazis.
The Opposition was made up of the Republicans, mainly socialist and Leftist groups which were divided amongst themselves. They were supplemented by volunteers from all across the world, including many high-profile writers and journalists such as George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway who saw Franco as a key element in rising fascism in Europe. Over 2,000 Americans turned up in Spain to join the International Brigade which at its peak swelled to over 30,000 people. At the end of the war, the Nationalists emerged victorious. Many Republicans, including foreigners, were killed and thousands were sent to concentration camps.
This was hardly the first or last time that “foreigners” joined up for a cause not directly related to their country. George, Lord Byron travelled to Greece to join local revolutionaries who were fighting the Ottoman Empire in the war of Independence in the 1820s. More recently, when the Soviet Union marched into Afghanistan, the mujahideen were composed of jihadists from all over the world — young Muslims wanting to fight the godless Communists.
Support for a cause can take many shapes. Some pack up their bags and plunge into the conflict. Others send in donations. Now the preferred form to show solidarity is to tweet. Find an interesting article and post the link on your Facebook account; or you can press the “Like” button.
Granted that simply dropping everything to rush to march in Tahrir Square or land up in Benghazi may neither be practical nor feasible. You may not get a visa, for one thing. But whatever happened to that good old march in your own home town? All through the 1960s and ’70s Indians — students, workers, activists — came out on the streets to show their support for the underdog or for a righteous cause. The streets of Calcutta (now Kolkata) resonated with the slogan “Amaar naam, tomaar naam, Vietnam, Vietnam”. “Down with Imperialism” was the battle cry of youngsters everywhere, from the US to London to Paris to New Delhi. Is it not ironical that as we proudly speak about the interconnected, global world and declare that Indians too are world citizens, we have receded into our own spaces?
Indeed, even local issues do not excite us enough. After 26/11, Mumbai saw a turnout of thousands of youngsters shouting “Enough is Enough”. It was organic and spontaneous, reflecting the frustration of citizens who felt their political leaders had badly let them down. There was much talk then about how the social media was used by the wired generation and this was how things would be in the future.
And yet, as the country grapples with scandals, corruption, misgovernance and stasis, there is no sign of any public anger, not on the streets at least, unless one counts heated panel discussions on television where politicians hurl charges against each other. And, of course, on Facebook and Twitter. The TV studio has become our public square, the computer screen our window to the world, the mouse our weapon of choice.
The social media just gives us the illusion of engagement. It allows us to participate, but at a safe and sanitised distance. We can then go on with our normal lives while assuring ourselves that we care and that we are part of something big and historical. But we do not want to inconvenience ourselves and marches and street demonstrations are oh-so-old fashioned. Facebook and Twitter is the way to go. Fully realising this apathy, is it any wonder that our ruling classes don’t feel scared or nervous about the wrath of the people?

Sidharth Bhatia is a senior journalist and commentator on current affairs based in Mumbai