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Lebanon

Clubhouse: Why This Social Platform Scares Arab Regimes

Glittering virtual lounges are popping up, inviting people to participate, solely by audio, in debates on all subjects. And, in the Middle East, the powers that be disapprove of the elites' infatuation with a trendy new app.

In Egypt, the government has started to interfere in Clubhouse.
In Egypt, the government has started to interfere in Clubhouse.
Benjamin Barthe

RIYADH — A month ago, the up-and-coming app Clubhouse took the Middle East by storm. In just a few days, the latest gem from Silicon Valley had already earned its place in the crowded market of Arab social networks. Since this audio chat platform only runs on iOS for the moment, its use is restricted to iPhone owners, i.e. the relatively wealthy classes.

But in these circles, especially in Egypt and among the ultra-connected youth of the wealthy Gulf States, followers for this new app started to grow rapidly. By mid-February, Clubhouse was the most downloaded social media app in the Saudi Arabian App Store.

In France, this discussion forum still has a very strong "tech" image, which means that many digital professionals use it. But in the Middle East, its followers come from a much wider range of backgrounds.

It's for a simple reason: in these countries where social pressure and official censorship stifle dissenting voices and non-conforming opinions, Clubhouse provides a unique breathing space. In these virtual rooms, where anyone can initiate a discussion on a topic of their choice, or join an ongoing conversation, Arabs are rediscovering a taste for free speech.

Most of the topics discussed on the network are not controversial. Members talk about psychology, music, travel, cooking, start-ups, literature, etc. They talk about everything and nothing, in anything from a gossipy to academic manner.

"In the last few days, I listened to a discussion with people from the Gulf, who were talking about the person who has impacted them the most in their lives; there were 400 participants," says a foreign resident of the United Arab Emirates. "And I also followed a debate on Aristotle that was high-brow, with only 10 people."

But of course, a big part of Clubhouse's appeal in the Arab world is the opportunity to discuss all the subjects that are banned from the pages of newspapers, radio stations and television studios. As the powers that be have not yet found a way to lock down this new network, the three great taboos of the region (sex, politics and religion) are openly discussed.

For example, the highly sensitive issue of normalization with Israel — a step that the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco took in 2020 — is often discussed.

The three great taboos of the region are openly discussed.

"I attended a conversation on this topic with several hundred people from the Gulf," says Dima Khatib, a Palestinian journalist for Al-Jazeera, based in Qatar. "All of them were against the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel, except for one dissenting voice. This shows that the pro-normalization climate fostered on Twitter does not correspond to reality."

In a group called "I am queer and I am Arab" held last week, participants came out in public, a statement that is often difficult to make even in Western countries and that the conservatism of Arab societies renders more complicated.

The Egyptian Clubhouse is filled with many exiles, often members or sympathizers of the Muslim Brotherhood (Islamist movement banned on the banks of the Nile), who do not hesitate to criticize President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

Another explosive topic discussed in another virtual room with Saudis and Emiratis is the stranglehold of the Gulf regimes on the Friday sermon. The text is provided ready-made to the imams of the mosques, for the great weekly prayer, with a ban on deviating from it.

By mid-February, Clubhouse was the most downloaded social media app in the Saudi Arabian App Store — Photo: Erin Kwon

"We are not farm animals who only eat and drink. It is our right to think and to form opposition as in any other country," says a Saudi woman in a conversation about the lack of civil rights in the kingdom.

"It's simple: There is a freedom of expression on Clubhouse that doesn't exist anywhere else," says Khatib.

But for how much longer? In a sign that the application scares autocrats, the Sultanate of Oman announced on Sunday that the country had blocked Clubhouse, following the footsteps of China, who blocked it in February. In the Emirates, discussions have not been accessible for several days, which is interpreted locally as an act of censorship without saying so openly. Fans of the platform can bypass the jamming with a VPN, but in doing so, they risk breaking the law: The use of such software is strictly codified in the UAE.

In Egypt, the government has started to interfere in Clubhouse. One of the most followed chat rooms in the country, "Open Mic Egypt," with tens of thousands of subscribers and initially devoted to personal development issues, now sees ministers and pro-Sisi deputies parade around.

"The room is being transformed into a state radio; the moderators receive instructions from the government," says an Egyptian journalist, on the condition of anonymity. The "fake news' machine has also been set in motion. Ahmed Moussa, a talk-show host famous for his connections with the intelligence services, claimed to have uncovered a "terrorist" network within the site.

Speakers threatened to report the participants to the authorities.

In Saudi Arabia, the authorities seem to want to repeat the way they handled Twitter with Clubhouse: saturate the network with trolls and informants to sow fear among users and ultimately rid the exchanges of any subversive element. This is what happened to a discussion on racism in Arabia, organized by Amani Al-Ahmadi, an exiled opponent of the regime in the United States. No sooner had it started than Twitter was flooded with screenshots and videos revealing the identity and thinking of the participants.

Another debate on Loujain Al-Hathloul, the feminist activist recently released from prison, ended similarly after speakers threatened to report the participants to the authorities.

"In the absence of any organization or ethical constraints, the acrimony these discussions can generate could harm society," says Salman Al-Dossary, a columnist for the daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. For the Arab regimes, Clubhouse is a parenthesis that must be closed soon.

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Ideas

The Unifying Power Of Art In A World Divided By Religion And Morality

Political battle lines are becoming increasingly entrenched, and opposing views are being pushed towards ever greater extremes. Language has become a battlefield. If morality pushes us apart, and religion does not help in the process, we may find a solution in our sense of humanity, writes German psychiatrist Manfred Lütz in Die Welt.

The Unifying Power Of Art In A World Divided By Religion And Morality

Eugène Delacroix - La liberté guidant le peuple (1830). Commemorates the French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution.

Manfred Lütz

-Essay-

BERLIN — In the Middle Ages, people didn’t read texts about the meaning of life. Most of them couldn’t read at all, and they saw the meaning of life in the images in their churches. Academics have recently started speaking about the “iconic turn”, the return of images, and it is true that the Instagram generation prefers to communicate visually. Could pictures offer a way for our deeply divided society to come together once again?

For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.

Both in terms of foreign and domestic policy, political views are becoming increasingly entrenched, and on both sides of the debate, opposing views are being pushed towards ever greater extremes. In the world of today, many people are cut off from any contact with those who think differently, living in echo chambers, surrounded by people who confirm their worldview. When those who disagree with their position condemn them from a moral perspective, this only serves to vitalize the group under attack.

The public pillorying that dominates social media can be a cause of great anxiety for individuals. But for those who feel they are part of a community, their fear often transforms into an aggressive form of self-defense. The topic itself isn’t as important as the sense of being attacked.

That is a possible psychological explanation for a strange phenomenon, whereby attacks on groups such as the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and some of their individual members have strengthened the sense of community within these groups and brought together a surprising mix of people, from radical free marketeers to nationalists, conspiracy theorists, pro-lifers, COVID deniers, right-wing extremists, conservative Christians and racists.

They are united by a single experience, that of being excluded. Conversations within these groups are reminiscent of chats around a pub table: the more harshly someone criticizes “those in power”, “the lefties”, “right-wingers” or even, “the others”, the more likes they get.

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