Injy El-Kashef searches for reason in the midst of the online frenzy surrounding the Egypt-Algeria debacle Days after the death of pop icon Michael Jackson clips purporting to having captured the celebrity's ghost wandering around his Neverland mansion flooded YouTube. They were among thousands of engineered media files posted online by Jackson's fans, adversaries, and by the growing band of cyber- geeks whose sole raison d'être is to upload content on the Internet so as to solicit comments from other users. The more inciting, disconcerting or exclusive the content, the greater the number of comments received. What is posted on the Internet is not all as harmless as "evidence" of talking animals, mutating humans and the ghosts of pop stars. Before the 14 November World Cup qualifying match held in Cairo between Egypt and Algeria, an online frenzy transgressing established lines of decency and sporting spirit had already afflicted supporters of both teams. In reaction to the mounting tension, Egyptian-Algerian actor and singer Ahmed Mekki posted his song Fou'o (Wake Up) online, stating his sentiments on the militant brand of support displayed by both parties in anticipation of the match. "If you had done half of what you are doing to each other when America invaded Iraq it would not have been able to raid this precious land\If you unite your voices, they will become deafening\I read the newspapers, watched YouTube and was disheartened... posted on YouTube is not support, it is war\Don't you allow fanaticism to deface your nation, the Arab nation, your nation and mine... you are two brothers, WAKE UP!" run the lyrics. Following Egypt's 2-0 victory over Algeria the rumours, fanned by the mass circulation Algerian-based Ech-Chorouk newspaper, began to spread of an Egyptian attack on the Algerian team allegedly resulting in several casualties. They were denied by the Algerian ambassador in Cairo, but the damage had already been done. Following last week's play-off at Sudan's Om Durman Stadium, in which the Algerians scored the only goal, thereby qualifying for the 2010 World Cup and leaving Egyptian hopes dashed, an avalanche of YouTube clips posted by Algerian fans aimed to demonstrate the "massacre of the Algerian football team by Egyptian fanatics", though the team and fans assaulted in Om Durman hailed from Egypt, not Algeria. Much less disseminated yet equally disturbing is the online documentation of the destruction of Egyptian commercial outlets in Algeria by hard-core fans, prior to the 18 November play-off. Comments on such clips range from highly abusive anti-Egyptian sentiments in support of the vandals who, in one, completely ransack the Djezzy Orascom store, to pleas condemning the fanaticism that had unleashed such unbridled rage. In the meantime, Ech-Chorouk ran a story this week claiming that "despite a widespread campaign of defamation launched by the Egyptian media [...] against the Algerian people, their voices fell on deaf ears in comparison with Ech-Chorouk 's moderate and objective intervention". Ech-Chorouk 's online edition claimed that when "defenceless [Algerian] students sought help from the Egyptian security forces... they were told 'We can protect you from death but not from insults and attacks'." Another story reads: " Ech-Chorouk received on Sunday a number of phone calls from Algerians residing in Egypt who have been trapped by barbarous Egyptians." Petitions requesting FIFA disqualify Algeria from the 2010 World Cup are being forwarded by e-mail and on cell phones in Egypt, while on Facebook Egyptian users have been updating their status with highly emotional pleas for vengeance and statements in solidarity with their compatriots who were assaulted in Om Durman. New groups rallying support are being formed every day: "Together Against Algeria" (2,440 members); "Disqualify Algeria" (35,519 members); "Urgent Action" (1,300 members pleading "if any one [has] videos about what was done in Sudan by Algerians... forward them to all your friends"). Among the 74 links posted on this last group is singer Wadie El-Safi's Azeema Ya Masr (Grand You Are, Egypt) -- the kind of song regularly played on TV to stir patriotic sentiments, on National Days and during the annual commemoration of the 6 October War. Speaking Fou'o 's last words, Mekki's voice is heard as if streaming from a live television broadcast, alluding to the frenzy consuming both countries: "A message to every celebrity and media person, in Egypt and in Algeria, who fuels the rift between the two nations to increase his popularity at home: I have no respect for you."
