Dr. Oweidat’s second book, A Million Clicks to Freedom: The Virtual Battlefield of Ideas in the Arab World, explores the virtual and digital spaces being utilized by creative voices of reform in the Arab world and highlight their potential for offering solutions to seemingly intransigent problems related to MENA governance and politics. It explores the hypothesis that positive and constructive voices of change who already exist within these societies have until now received too little attention, yet their efforts could make a significant difference in the outcomes of the region. While it is well known that authoritarian regimes as well as extremist groups have been successful in drawing tens of thousands of recruits from around the world to their ranks, much less is known about Arabic speakers who are using the virtual space to do the opposite, namely to challenge extremist and authoritarian ideas and offer non-violent alternatives.
This project combines engagement with the MENA region at the level of ideas and policies with a focus on emerging technologies and their use by activists, authoritarian regimes and American tech firms who host these platforms. It also examines the role of American leadership in the 21st century in mediating the use of these technologies as carriers of certain ideas. The creation of a successful global middle class is one of the outcomes of informed policies on this topic.
Dr. Oweidat’s work on A Million Clicks to Freedom was previously supported by a Smith Richardson Foundation grant ($150,000) through a Fellowship at New America Foundation in 2016. Research took Dr. Oweidat to Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates in 2016 and 2017, where she met creators of virtual initiatives from these countries and throughout the Arab world and examined the impact of their work first-hand. In addition to distilling, synthesizing and making generally accessible the most relevant available data, studies, and academic literature concerning online and social media use by Arabic speakers, this research will provide qualitative and quantitative analysis of the digital content. It will also include specific case studies from across the region of platforms and influencers who have attracted a large number of followers. Given increasing digital surveillance in the region, Dr. Oweidat’s research examines the mounting pressure that these activists are placing on oppressive political and social norms, as well as gauges the concrete effects they are having on these structures.
Having conducted research on violent extremism for many years, Dr. Oweidat has firsthand knowledge of the influence of counter-narratives emerging from activists in the Arab world, with which she is deeply familiar. Yet these voices are consistently missing from proposed solutions, which her book project brings to the fore. On a more practical level, her research gives voice to activists in sharing their challenges as well as the role, if any, institutions like tech firms, NGOs, or even state actors may play in helping them counter authoritarian and extremist ideas in the MENA region. Because American tech firms are hosting and at times moderating the virtual space, I have conducted conversations with tech executives at Facebook and at Google that illustrate the complexity of the issue. This research will bring together various stakeholders to devise innovative solutions to global challenges.