Lessons from India: Digital fascism and the new world order

For every Arab Spring, there is a summer, winter and fall of despair, as authoritarian regimes across the world use social media platforms to ensure their dominance and crush dissent.

Usman Azeem Published July 19, 2022

Pakistani Twitter received a rude awakening last month when India banned the accounts of Pakistan’s UN mission, several foreign missions, and Radio Pakistan, for some unknown legal reason.

The move came months after the Narendra Modi government blocked 16 YouTube channels, including six from Pakistan, for spreading “disinformation related to India’s national security, foreign relations, and public order”.

The message from these actions is clear — Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir is OUR Kashmir. Anything else is fake news.

But Pakistan isn’t the victim here, or rather not the only victim. Things are way worse on the digital front within India.

The same day that the Pakistani diplomatic accounts were blocked, fact checker Muhammad Zubair, who was already Enemy No. 1 for calling out the Bharatya Janata Party’s (BJP) falsehoods on Twitter, found himself behind bars for tweets he posted four years ago.

The irony was not lost on observers who noted that the news of the activist’s arrest was reported in papers right next to India’s decision at the G7 to commit to “protect freedom of speech and opinion both online and offline”.

The news story of Muhammad Zubair’s arrest appeared alongside news of India’s decision at the G7 to commit to “protect freedom of speech and opinion both online and offline”. — Image provided by author

Once again, no surprises there.

We are all too familiar with the age-old tactic of using national interest to crack down on dissent. The BJP is just really good at weaponising it. And not just that, it has over the years proven to be excellent at strong arming social media platforms to comply with its demands.

Whether it’s a journalist’s tweet on an attack at a mosque being blocked, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s account being suspended, impunity being provided to threats of rape and murder by right-wing fascists, or majoritarian radicalisation targeting the Muslim community, social media platforms have been largely compliant, given the vicious attacks they have been subjected to by the BJP.

Of late, however, Twitter seems to have had enough and is now seeking a judicial review of these takedown actions that the Indian government seems to be constantly demanding.

But is this really a case of the tide shifting? Or is it just another PR stunt to show that social media platforms are the good guys here?

For the sake of democracy

History would argue clearly in favour of the latter. For every Arab Spring, there is a summer, winter and fall of despair, as authoritarian regimes across the world use social media platforms to ensure their dominance and crush any form of dissent. And social media companies aren’t the blameless victims they would have us believe. They are very much part of the problem.

To be fair, much of this is our fault. We believed the hoopla of the late 90s and the early 2000s that the digital economy was a force for democratisation. After all, these platforms just about allowed anyone and everyone a voice to share, an opinion to express, to any audience they would like. If that isn’t freedom of speech and liberty, what is?

And digital companies just took to it like a fish to water. Google became known for its motto ‘Don’t Be Evil’. Facebook took credit for ending a 40-year-old dictatorship in Egypt through digital activism. Twitter is regularly seen as the face of the anti-fascist movement, even going through the trouble of suspending the account of a sitting President of the United States for instigating violence.

These companies were seen as the global manifestation of the liberal project, a mechanism through which oppressed societies across the world could be democratised through free speech and expression.

In their true hubris, liberal governments across the world, particularly those in Western Europe and the United States, dreamed that eventually, social media would make all authoritarian polarised regimes crack from pressure within and shift towards democratic governments as their societies learned to love liberal values. The Arab Spring was seen as the ideal example of this.

Oh 2010. You were so cute and naïve.

Enter the gurus

While the liberals were busy basking in the rays of their own optimism, the real actors who understood the power dynamics of digital society were learning and taking over.

Far right and extremist actors learned far more quickly that the same methods could be used to do the opposite — crack democratic societies from within using the politics of authoritarian polarisation. They recognised how these divisions could be exploited and created a model for mobilising others, intelligently using disinformation and utilising social divides for political gain via digital tools — a method Acker refers to as digital fascism.

In India, the BJP understood this better than anyone, and used it to get Modi into power. And they weren’t alone. The EU Disinfo Lab’s report showed how the Indian government had created a global digital network to spread disinformation about Pakistan and China, among many others, dating back to 2006 when hardly anyone in Pakistan’s higher echelons even knew what Facebook was.

Russia went with the ‘Garasimov doctrine’ — now commonly known as ‘Fifth generation warfare’ — as a key instrument of transnational influencer and regime change by targeting American voters through Facebook to vote in favour of Trump. Digital campaigning was a key element of the 2015 Brexit movement.

It’s all about the money!

Welcome to 2016. The reality check no one was expecting.

The myth of the liberal project has been completely shattered. The fascists have now made their way from the corners of the chat room to the corridors of power, effectively using social divides to grab authority by the neck. And the ripples are still being felt everywhere — from Brexit in the UK, to QAnon and Trump in the US, Modi in India, Bolsonaro in Brazil, Orban in Hungary to Duterte (and now Marcos Jr) in the Philippines.

But social media companies had nothing to do with that! I mean they’re not the ones to blame if their platform is misused by other people? After all, guns don’t kill people. People kill people!

Wrong.

Digital platforms aren’t just part of the problem. They are the problem.

Facebook whistleblower Francis Haugen blew the lid on Facebook’s role in stoking social divisions through machine learning models that maximise engagement that also favour controversy, misinformation, and extremism. To put it simply, people just like outrageous stuff. Facebook knew this for years, but it didn’t care.

Because what digital platforms really care about isn’t freedom or democracy. It’s capitalism.

Somewhere along the line, people have just forgotten that these companies are multi-trillion-dollar corporate Goliaths, to whom profit and the pursuit of it is the only concern. And when push comes to shove, they will always side with their bottom line. Even if that means aligning with fascists.

So is it a surprise that Apple kicked out a popular Quran app from its App store after pressure from Chinese authorities? If you don’t know why, just Google “Xinjiang Muslim Genocide”. Unless you’re reading this in China, in which case those words are actually blocked by the Chinese internet firewall and replaced with state propaganda.

So much for ‘Don’t Be Evil’.

Appeasing the powers that be

Censoring content in the name of “local laws and customs” is a common theme. It explains Amazon’s recent decision to ban LGBTQ content in the UAE, where homosexuality is criminalised. While many would see it as fair, others would see it as being a tool of an oppressive state.

Facebook and YouTube, despite not being allowed in China, have removed content critical of the Chinese Communist Party. I wonder if it has anything to do with gaining access to a market of nearly two billion potential users?

Then there’s the double standards — banning certain kinds of content, while letting others slide.

Twitter has led the global crackdown on hateful content, yet extremist groups and individuals can flex their muscles, spew hatred and issue calls for violence against individuals or groups, with little action against them. Why are tweets and posts inciting such hostility against persecuted religious groups, human rights activists, and journalists in Pakistan not being deemed potentially harmful or suspended?

Which brings us once again, full circle to India.

The BJP has been actively hostile towards anyone criticising its leaders and supporters. Anyone found doing so has invoked the full wrath of the government.

In fact, when independent watchdog Freedom House criticised India for its poor record on internet freedoms, the Indian government demanded that Twitter take down tweets criticising its poor record on internet freedoms.

And so far, Twitter has buckled under the pressure. But is it really pressure, or is it just the cost of doing business? With an economy of 1.2 billion people, and billions in potential revenue, it’s not easy to just say no.

One might be optimistic and believe that Twitter’s decision to appeal the government’s censorship edicts is the first step towards correcting these mistakes and preventing potential atrocities in the future.

Then again, the future owner of Twitter could be an amoral tech multi-billionaire who openly admitted to helping orchestrate a coup in a foreign country so he could make cheaper lithium batteries. And he’s thinking of bringing back Trump. Are we really going to argue principles here?

This is the New World Order, ladies and gentlemen. One where fascism has run rampant across the world, powered by the very tools that were the hope against it.

In this order, might is right, the strong prevail over the weak, and morality is just a nice excuse to censor and oppress people. And let’s be real, the rude awakening Pakistan’s diplomatic missions received won’t be the last time this happens.

And what of the social media platforms? The great misunderstanding is that they let it happen because they were too weak to stop it. They didn’t let it happen. They made it happen.

Saudi women DJs go from hobbyists to headliners


AFP

After resistance from their families and the general public, the female DJs are turning their pastime into a career.


Photo: AFP

Standing behind her control tower with headphones around her neck, Saudi DJ Leen Naif segues smoothly between pop hits and club tracks for a crowd of business school graduates noshing on sushi.

The subdued scene is a far cry from the high-profile stages — a Formula 1 Grand Prix in Jeddah, Expo 2020 in Dubai — that have helped the 26-year-old, known as DJ Leen, make a name for herself on the Saudi music circuit.

Yet it captures an important milestone: Women DJs, an unthinkable phenomenon just a few years ago in the traditionally ultraconservative kingdom, are becoming a relatively common sight in its main cities. These days they turn few heads as, gig after gig, they go about making a living from what once was merely a pastime.

“A lot of female DJs have been coming up,” Naif told AFP, adding that this has, over time, made audiences “more comfortable” seeing them on stage. “It’s easier now than it has been.”

Naif and her peers embody two major reforms championed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler: new opportunities for women and expanding entertainment options — notably music, which was once discouraged under Wahabism, a rigid Sunni version of Islam.

The possibility that DJs would be welcomed at public events, let alone that many would be women, is something “we didn’t expect” until recently, said Mohammed Nassar, a Saudi DJ known as Vinyl Mode. “You are seeing now more female artists coming out,” he said. Before “it was just a hobby to express themselves in their bedrooms”. “Now we have platforms, and you know they could even have careers. So it’s really amazing,” he added.

Winning over sceptics

Naif was first introduced to electronic music as a teenager by one of her uncles, and she almost instantly started wondering whether DJ’ing was a viable job. While her friends dreamed of careers as doctors and teachers, she knew she didn’t have the patience for the schooling those paths required. “I’m a work person, not a studying person,” she said.

Unlike other women DJs, she had the immediate support of her parents and siblings. Other Saudis, however, required some winning over. Several years ago, a man came up to her mid-performance, declaring she was “not allowed” and demanding “Why are you doing this?”

His complaints got Naif’s set shut down, but she doubts the scene would play out the same way today. “Now I bet that same guy, if he sees me, he’s going to stand first in line just to watch.”

Naif has benefited from official attempts to trumpet Saudi Arabia’s new entertainment-friendly image, which is often criticised by human rights groups as a distraction from abuses. Her nomination to play at the Saudi pavilion of Expo Dubai 2020 gave her an international audience for the first time. But it’s the work at home that supports her day-to-day, earning her 1000 Saudi riyals (around $260) per hour.

Here to stay

Other women DJs have encountered more resistance. Lujain Albishi, who performs under the name “Biirdperson”, started experimenting on DJ decks during the pandemic. Her family disapproved when she started talking about DJ’ing professionally, preferring she strive to become a doctor. She stuck with it anyway, developing her skills at private parties.

Her big break came last year when she was invited to perform at MDLBeast Soundstorm, a festival in the Saudi capital Riyadh that drew more than 700,000 revellers for performances including a set by superstar French DJ David Guetta. The experience left her “really proud”. “My family came to Soundstorm, saw me on stage. They were dancing, they were happy,” she said.

Both Naif and Albishi say they believe women DJs will remain fixtures in the kingdom, though their reasoning varies. For Naif, women DJs succeed because they are better than men at “reading people” and playing what they want to hear. Albishi, for her part, thinks there is no difference between men and women once they put their headphones on, and that’s why women DJs belong. “My music is not for females or for males,” she said. “It’s for music-lovers.”

PAKISTAN

Deus ex machina?

Ashraf Jehangir Qazi 

WHAT is happening to Pakistan? Anyone interested in the question knows the answer. Who is to blame? Opinions differ.

However, there is broad agreement on the cast of culprits: political leaders; political parties; political institutions; non-political institutions; the security and intelligence establishment and its institutions; the civil services; comprehensive corruption; the dysfunctional state of the economy caught in a permanent debt trap and outrageous inequality; complete external dependency and a consequent lack of policy independence; a general lack of education and a scientific outlook; the media contributing to an uninformed, partially informed and misinformed public opinion; the deliberate misuse of religious fervour to obscure the true teachings of our faith; an obsolete social structure preserved by a voracious and unaccountable power structure; a judiciary that demands but does not command universal respect; uncontrollable population growth; irreversible climate change; a forever threat of nuclear annihilation, a security environment that challenges rational resource allocations; palliatives presented as solutions, etc.

We are taught that one should neither hate nor act in anger. This is true as far as persons are concerned. But actions that deliberately undermine the welfare of a whole people can and must be hated. When they threaten the survival of a nation and render its dreams and aspirations impossible they must be confronted by the elemental force of rejection.

Read: Cohesion is needed to fight challenges

If, instead, political observers and commentators couch their opinions in euphemistic and safely coded language they become complicit in the perpetration of a national crime. They convey a pathetic message of resignation, surrender and betrayal. There comes a time when Faiz Ahmad Faiz has to give way to Habib Jalib. Either Quaid-i-Azam was much mistaken or we are all complicit in insulting his memory and murdering his legacy. We prefer, however, to slander the father of our country instead of becoming the citizens it required.

We are today, accordingly, reduced to being spectators of a daily goon or puppet show in the guise of a morality play — without any wit, humour or goodwill. There are no good guys in the unfolding drama of our national tragedy.

The Baloch are killed. Their killers are martyred. When one political character attributes unspeakable and unforgiveable crimes and misdemeanors to his rival we know he speaks the truth. When his rival returns the charges redoubled we know he too speaks the truth. They are of course transparent partners in a single, massive and lethal crime against the people and the country.

So what else is new? What should be new is the realisation that we who are aware and do nothing are just as guilty. If one can live with this realisation so be it. If not, we need to do what we can and without delay. The chances are we won’t. The chances are we have already lost our country. Unless…

Another wasted year of political posturing by rupee multibillionaires representing their victims beckons. While the US contemplates a climate emergency, Pakistan is beset by an existential emergency that commands no contemplation. All the challenges confronting Pakistan will be ignored. Technocratic servants of the elite will continue to spin fairy tales about stabilisation and progress invisible to the eye of the uninitiated. They will be well compensated for dressing their employers in the finery of their analyses and assessments. Other servants or experts will do much the same in their own spheres. The people must learn to eliminate the word ‘sarkar’ from their political dictionary if they are to stand any chance against the forces arrayed against them.

We are today reduced to being spectators of a daily puppet show in the guise of a morality play.

When a country’s ‘leadership’ fails to address fundamental existential issues at home it can have no external policy to speak of. The rest of the world sees this and refuses to take its foreign policy seriously, however well articulated and reasoned it may be. Pakistan has itself become a major stumbling block to the success of its principal foreign policy issue: a principled, peaceful and lasting settlement of the Kashmir dispute with India that is primarily and ascertainably acceptable to the Kashmiri people.

Editorial: New PM’s challenge

The Kashmiri people cannot defeat India although they have so far heroically denied it the victory it strives for. Pakistan cannot defeat India although its nuclear deterrence capability limits India’s military options. A diplomatic stalemate maximises the suffering of the Kashmiri people. The world is aware of India’s perfidy in Kashmir but is simply not inclined to back a failed or failing Pakistan against the gigantic market and strategic value of what will soon be the world’s most populous country. China, for obvious reasons will continue to back Pakistan against India, while increasingly worried about Pakistan’s inability to learn anything from the amazing experience of its most reliable friend.

The US sees Pakistan as a resentful puppet ruled by dependent elites who will do its bidding even it undermines the confidence of China in Pakistan’s resilience and strategic value.

In Afghanistan, Pakistan backs the Taliban which backs the TTP which perpetrated the massacre of schoolchildren and teachers in the Army Public School on Dec 16, 2014. The army today engages with the TTP, which is essentially a Pakistani branch party of the Afghan Taliban, while refusing to engage with the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement of Manzoor Pashteen which is a Pakistani movement because of its protests against the bombing of Waziristan.

Pakistan has practically no support among the Afghan political intelligentsia, particularly the educated youth who are the future of the country. India has the field to itself.

These absurdities are the direct result of the state of the state in Pakistan. Unless this state of affairs is addressed, foreign policy, indeed all other aspects of national policy, will not be able to develop coherence and credibility. This is all too clear to political observers in Pakistan. But they are by and large easily resigned to the prospect that this state of affairs will not be addressed — and that they will themselves be complicit in this dereliction of duty, citizenship and patriotism. Unless we await a deus ex machina.

The writer is a former ambassador to the US, India and China and head of UN missions in Iraq and Sudan.
ashrafjqazi@gmail.com
www.ashrafjqazi.com

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2022