Page 91 - Cyberculture and New Media

82 On the Way to the Cyber-Arab-Culture
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television screens, posters, and e-mail messages urging fans to vote for each
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national representative.
Dynamics of hegemony and resistance generally operate not in
crude dichotomies, but in complex social fields replete with contradictions,
ambiguities, and paradoxes. It is particularly interesting when music that is
considered “rebellious” ultimately legitimizes Arab regimes. Shaaban Abdel-
Rahim’s music is one such example. This Egyptian shaabi (popular) singer
took the musical and political worlds by storm with his unusual lyrics, which,
in an earthy colloquial language, discusses matters such as cigarettes, the
news, fictional television characters, the state of Arabic music and, most
importantly, politics. After spending 20 years as a laundry man and part-time
singer at Egyptian weddings, the illiterate villager became a phenomenon in
2001 with his infamous song, “I Hate Israel.” Abdel-Rahim appears to have
earned street credibility by singing things that no one else dares express.
Looking at the politics behind the production of this song, however,
complicates this image. When the song was first released two years before,
the lyrics said, “I Hate Israel and Love Amr Mussa” (the leader of the Arab
League). Soon after, the song was altered to include, “I love Hosni Mubarak”
(the President of Egypt). Thus, while his song is a reflection of the role of
Arabic pop as an arena for dissent and protest against Israeli and U.S. policy,
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it also serves as a legitimating force for the Egyptian regime.

6. Arabization: Technology and the Arabic Language
It has been evident throughout the last decade that the Arabization of
computer software and hardware has contributed to the digitalization of Arab
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communications. Arabic is the official language of the twenty-two Arab
countries. Each of these nations has a pressing need to adapt Arabic to the
demands of modern science and technology. Although language planning in
the Arab world purportedly enjoys support from government, education, and
business, this professed support is often no more substantial than the
ephemeral political unions of various Arab countries. Language planning is
an issue of contemporary concern around the globe. Every sovereign nation
wishes to preserve its national tongue and maintain its status as a preferred
medium of communication. However, the phenomenon of globalization,
coupled with the increasing hegemony of English, has motivated many
nations to revisit their language planning policies with a view to ensuring and
strengthening the preeminence of their own languages. The Arabic-speaking
countries, while recalling with pride their historical dominance in the
medieval scientific arena, are now struggling to protect their language from
an inundation of foreign, modern terminology. The main goals of the official
agencies of language planning in the Arab world have always been the
regeneration of Arabic as an effective communication medium for modern
science and technology, as well as the preservation of the purity of the