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What is the value of art?

Geeks of the galaxy unite (via Facebook), you have nothing to lose but your brains!

We are the Facebook generation. Since 2004, this social network keeps getting bigger.

Have you seen the film The social network by David Fincher? It traces the true story of the founder, Mark Zuckerberg, a young man who starts from nothing and gets to the top.

Mark Zuckerberg was born in Dobbs Ferry, a suburb of New-York, on May 14th 1984. His father was a dentist and his mother a psychiatrist. Passionate about computers and knowledgeable about psychology, he studied at the prestigious Harvard University. He was the stereotype of the “nerd”, someone who is obsessed with computer technology, who forgets real life to spend all day writing programs. He was ignored by other scholars. That is why, on October 28th 2003, after a failed date with a girl, Mark Zuckerberg, created a website called “Facemash”, a real feat because in four hours, the young student “cracked” the computer system of the University to get photos of students and allowed visitors to compare girls to animals. His joke was appreciated and earned him an article in the Crimson, the Harvard journal. The twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss were also at Harvard University; they realized the potential of Mark and invited him to develop a partnership called “Connect U”, another website for linking up students. But, instead of working on the twin’s project, he asked for money from his best friend at that time, Edouardo Saverin, to create “TheFacebook” which will become “Facebook” in 2005. First, he opened his site to other Universities like Princeton and Yale, but soon the entire Internet as early as 2006. He left Harvard without a diploma to open his website like Bill Gates 30 years before. In 2008, the Winklevoss twin sued Zuckerberg and got 65 million dollars in compensation.

Facebook is the second website visited by Internet users worldwide, after Google. It is worth an estimated 15 billion dollars. This success is incredible. Facebook is not just a fad, but a true social phenomenon. But, beyond the buzz, issues of politics, music rights or the narcissism of the users arise.

The Facebook revolution:

140 million: the number of Facebook users in December 2008.

Between 600.000 and 700.000 new accounts are created each day on Facebook.

200 million: the number of members on Facebook in March 2009

400 million: the number of members on Facebook on its sixth anniversary

4 million: the number of Facebook users in France

13 million: the number of members that update their profile at least once a day

700 million: the number of pictures that are published each month by members of Facebook

4 million: the number of videos that are published each month on Facebook

15 million: the number of items (articles, links, photos, etc.) that are shared each month between members

2 million: the number of events created each month on Facebook

19 million: the number of active groups on Facebook

Article by Camille L.

Go out!

Who is asking? Who has to "go out"? Why?

Throwing light on the Jasmine Revolution…

In the USA from 1775 to 1783, in Geneva in 1782, in the United-Provinces from 1783 to 1787, in the Austrian Netherlands in 1789, the revolutions of the 18^th century were always independence wars against the empires and the colonial powers. Even during the French Revolution from 1789 to 1799, the attacks against the monarchy were a rejection of foreigners, embodied by Marie-Antoinette and the attempted escape of the King in June 1791, which was considered as a betrayal. Is today’s Tunisian revolution, called the ‘Jasmine Revolution’, an heir to those revolutions? Is it the start of a series of revolutions in North African? These are not easy questions. After all, the context is a bit different…

Tunisians, after all, are not oppressed by any foreign power, but by their own government. Ben Ali is a kind of dictator. Anyone who disapproves of the regime is imprisoned or even killed. Ben Ali is extremely rich because he owns most of the big industries in the country.

Tunisia was under a French protectorate from 1881 to 1956. The only two presidents of Tunisia have been Bourguiba and Ben Ali. During their “reigns”, they instituted State terror in order to undermine French influence. It was a kind of forced decolonization. That’s why there are a lot of similarities between the Jasmine Revolution and the French revolution of the 18^th century.

We are in the 21^st century, and plenty of new parameters have appeared. The most important is the media. In Tunisia, everything is under Government control, even Internet. The media have been used for propaganda to make people proud of their country, and to hide the real intentions of the Government… And I think that’s the biggest difference between the Revolution in Tunisia and the revolutions of the 18^th century; without this media control, a revolution would have taken place twenty years ago or it would never even have taken place.

But if the context is globally different, the facts can be compared to the old revolutions. Therefore, we can say that the Jasmine Revolution is indeed like the revolutions of the Enlightenment. And, if the revolution which is taking place right now in Egypt, the 21^st century is going to become a century of political dislocation in North Africa.

Article by Thibault Prat