Days after six members of an online satirical group, Atfal al-Shawarea (Arabic for ”street children”), were arrested over allegations of inciting protests and publishing material deemed insulting, a social media campaign kicked off in solidarity with ‘the street children’. Egyptian social media users and celebrities have been sharing photographs of themselves with a mobile phone in front of their eyes. All captions read “the phone camera scares/shakes you” (كاميرا التليفون بتهزك), in reference to the arrests. The satirical group’s videos all appear to be shot on a mobile phone that is held like a selfie. The caption is aimed at challenging President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, asking whether such videos really threaten his power or ‘scare’ him. كاميرا التليفون بتهزك! #الحرية_لأطفال_الشوارع #sisi is detaining youth artists with phone cameras singing against Tyranny A photo posted by Khaled Abol Naga خالد أبوالنجا (@kalnaga) on May 11, 2016 at 8:29am PDT The hashtag ‘Freedom for the Street Children’ #الحرية_لأطفال_الشوارع quickly trended on Twitter and Facebook, being used more than 30,000 times. The campaign was also promoted by influential figures, such as political satirist Bassem Youssef and actors Amr Waked and Khaled Abol…
‘The Phone Camera Scares You’: Viral Campaign in Egypt to Support ‘The Street Children’
May 12, 2016
