Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Text Message from Armed Forces

I received two text messages from the Armed Forces today. The first was at 11:15 a.m. and the second was at 2:20. Here is the translation provided by my office manager. We do not know what these text messages are referring to, although they are clearly meant to intimidate.

"From the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces: the dignified civilians must be responsible and prevent the actions of irresponsible people and organizations"

"The Armed Forces will not allow any illegitimate action due to its risk in the time being for our country. We will take the necessary legal action to stop it."

Feb 25

My Egyptian friend pointed out that she does not believe these messages are supposed to be intimidating. She thinks the texts are a way of reaching out to the Egyptian Youth. She also believes the texts are supposed to promote beneficial behaviors. She mentioned that the Armed Forces has created a facebook page. I must look for that.

Feb 25 12:39 p.m.

Here is some more information on the facebook page of the Egyptian Armed Forces. Here is a link to the official page. http://www.facebook.com/Egyptian.Armed.Forces. I commend the Egyptian Armed Forces for reaching out to the youth.

References:
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8231193-egyptian-armed-forces-create-facebook-page-to-reach-out-to-youth





18 comments:

  1. It is smart of the Armed Forces to use text messages to convey their messages to the Egyptian public.

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  2. I respect the military institution and i do believe that Egyptians were right when they were asking for them to go to the streets during the revolution. they have showed courage and wisdom that should be taught all over the world.

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  3. Dear Mustafa: I agree that it is very innovative and modern for the armed forces to use this new technology.

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  4. Dear Yasmine, it seems that the Egyptian people really admire the military.

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  5. This is the first time in Egypt that a ruling organization interact with citizens. I believe that they have a clever communication strategy and understand what is crisis management is about.

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  6. I agree with you that this a new way to communicate with the public through SMSes and even through the military wall on Facebook. But haven't you noticed that the Police is also trying to immitate the military force by sending SMSes too.

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  7. I love their interaction with us, like Ramona said for the first time.
    I believe in them more now, respect them, and love their care for Egypt :)

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  8. I can have the same comment, we as the Egyptian society have very good feelings toward the military institution, they are part of us and the way they were raised up in resembles many of the good values and moral ethics which are mostly lacked from the police institution! I do believed they are left with a cumbersome responsibility to handle any chaos left behind the recent events but still quite optimistic that they can bring the country peacefully to a new democratic era .. ALLAH willings ..

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  9. I LIKE the new way of interaction that the the Armed Forces used.

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  10. @aya, can you give me more detail in your posts?

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  11. I believe the text messages being sent by the armed forces are counterproductive. Even if it does not explicitly try to dissuade the protesters from continuing their protests the message is clear. I would feel much better if the armed forces used their communication skills to keep us better informed about the transitional period and what steps they are taking including the time frames for each step rather than sending messages which have no real value and does not serve any purposes other than antagonizing the protesters. I truly believe that the honey moon between the people and the army could come to an end very quickly if they continue the same modus operandi which was used by the old regime and if the violence used on friday is repeated the army could easily find itself isolated from the whole population.

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  12. What people need at this juncture is real information rather than the big brother messages being sent.. The format might be nice and hip for the army but what about the content. I would personally like the army to tell us in clear and unambiguous language what they plan for each and every step of the transitional period. I would also be very interested to know why they decided to keep key men of Mubarak's regime in their positions?. why is the Ministers of foreign affairs and Justice still in their positions. Why are the chief editors of all national newspapers who played a big role in abusing the protesters and lying to the population still in their positions?.. those are some of the most hated figures and people have a right to know why the army is taking actions which go against their will, particularly since this is a people's revolution and not a military coup.

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  13. @tawfik, this is a very important and informative post. Perhaps the army could use their facebook page to keep people informed about the transitional period.

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  14. I am not trying to be a conspiracy theorist but from a 14 month experience serving in different army units (Medical, presidential guards, supplies, etc..) I believe the army is playing games with the revolts. The army is using the current "honey moon " status(thanks Tawfik), diffusing the hard to reestablish momentum of the revolution, negotiating with the key figures of the old regime (while keeping the censorship rights) and at the same time communicating nonesense to the people through their preferred way (FB and SMS). I can seen it from an angle were by time they are gaining popularity and dividing the revolts line, which will be a nightmare if this social movement has to revolt again .

    I believe they will implement most of the legislative side of the revolts requests but will not accept to prosecute the secret keepers of the old regime including Mubrak himself and his family whom I strongly assume were part of the (stepping Down) deal.

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  15. @Mohamed, your insights are so valuable and on point.

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  16. I love this way of communicating with people. I think if I have a boyfriend I would have received a text from him everyday like the Army do. It's very smart of them. Besides using the facebook which no one from the government did it before

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  17. @dahlia, I find text messages unromantic, but then, I am much older than you . .. also, has the armed forces actually used their facebook page to communicate with anyone?

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  18. they are using the facebook to communicate their messages in general but not individually. They post a message on the page almost everyday. They are the first governmental organization to use facebook

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