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Mamfakinch

Links: http://moroccansforchange.com/2011/04/03/mamfakinch/ http://globalvoicesonline.org/author/hisham/ https://tahriricn.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/morocco-rise-and-fall-of-feb20-protest-movement/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MAMFAKINCH.Official Tumblr review: http://alhakika.tumblr.com/post/4630176986/mamfakinch-com-nominated-for-the-bobs-best-arabic

Means no concession / not giving in Started before the Feb 20 protests in Morocco Co-founder: Hisham Khribchi

Hacking Incident: The website was temporarily shut down on July 13th, 2012 due to a surveillance malware unknowingly downloaded via email. An anonymous source sent a document supposedly containing scandalous information about a Moroccan politician. The document instead tracked emails, Skype conversations, and documents downloaded to all the workers' computers. The shut-down lead to a drop in employees from 35 to 5. Fear of further retaliation and compromise of safety caused a lack of sources for the group.. No group has taken responsibility for the hacking, but it was most likely done by Hacking Team, a well-known government supplier. The particular piece of malware used costs around half a million dollars and is used by governments in crime investigation. The malware was tracked to the country's capital city, Rabat. (ENCYCLOPEDIA CITATION)

Mamfakinch

Type of site	Citizen Media
Available in	English, Arabic
Founded	February 2011
Headquarters	Morocco
Founder(s)	Hisham Almiraat (co-founder) others unknown
URL	mamfakinch.com
Current status	Active

Mamfakinch, which means "no concession" or "not giving in", is a Moroccan citizen media website co-founded by Hisham Almiraat, among others. It was founded during the Arab Spring movement in the Middle East in February 2011, shortly after the January 25th uprisings that ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. It launched shortly before the Feburary 20th protests that took place in Morocco as a way to disseminate information about the protests.

History

Mamfakinch was started during the youth-led movement of February 20th, 2011 with intentions to reform the Makzhen class under King Mohammed VI’s leadership. The original work was published in 2011. Its main purpose is to provide additional or underreported information to Moroccan citizens with the hopes of giving alternative information to the people not directly covered by newspapers or media outlets. <ref> Harvey, K. (2014). Mamfakinch. In Encyclopedia of social media and politics (Vol. 1, pp. 787-789). SAGE Publications.

Contributors

The media portal does not hire professionally trained journalists, but instead claims that the writers view themselves as insiders of the latest news. The contributions of the journalists have not been previously researched as to whether or not they have made a serious impact in the news media world <ref>Harvey, K. (2014). Mamfakinch. In Encyclopedia of social media and politics (Vol. 1, pp. 787-789). SAGE Publications.

Impact

Acting under the firm belief that democracy and freedom of expression cannot exist without each other, Mamfakinch do not seek to create good citizens as the state defines them but want to redefine citizenship and reshape he state through the establishment of democracy. To start this revolution, Mamfakinch attempts to provide the public with information that would otherwise be unavailable.

Mamfakinch supports a number of domestic causes including reform, anticorruption, transparency, democratization, and the rights of women, as well as international causes like Palestinian statehood, while always keeping the organizations theme in the forefront- that all recent changes by the Moroccan government are nothing more than cosmetic.

While no empirical statements can be made about the true impact of Mamfakinch, many critics have argued that the website’s novel approach to citizen journalism has created lasted change in four important ways. First, it has empowered its members and transformed them into engaged citizens though the process of learning to create and manage its significant volunteer network. Also, the website has shifted the narrative away from mainstream media, opening up new spaces for public discourse. In addition, the website is believed to have influenced the Moroccan elite and public as well as impacted policy processes to bring about systematic change in the country.

Though critics question whether or not these impacts are truly significant in a country that has seen very little real change since the Arab Spring, there is widespread fear among government officials about the website’s incredible exposure and the ability of new digital networking tools have to further social justice causes in oppressive regimes. <ref>Harvey, K. (2014). Mamfakinch. In Encyclopedia of social media and politics (Vol. 1, pp. 787-789). SAGE Publications.