The internet has certainly played a role in bringing Egypt to this moment. It started years ago – something I documented in my book The Blogging Revolution – and hasn’t just appeared in the last two weeks. Instant Facebook Revolution, indeed. I like this: As one secularist blogger put it in commenting on the protocols…
Showing all posts tagged blogging
A little taste of what kind of democracy Egypt deserves
My following analysis appears on ABC Unleashed/The Drum today: An Egyptian blogger displayed characteristic humour when news broke overnight that president Hosni Mubarak would not be stepping down: Mubarak (n.): a psychotic ex-girlfriend who fails 2 understand it’s over. If Mubarak and his new deputy Omar Suleiman thought their speeches would placate the protesters, they…
Habib: my torture at hands of Egypt’s new de facto leader
My following article appears in today’s edition of Crikey: According to Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian ambassador to the US, Hosni Mubarak has now transferred all powers to his recently appointed Vice-President Omar Suleiman. Despite a barrage of speculation that Mubarak was going to step down overnight”‰—”‰including comments from head of the CIA, which makes one…
Portrait of an Egyptian hero
He’s just one fine man. I met and spent time with Hossam elHamalawy in Cairo during the research for my book The Blogging Revolution. Thinking about this over the last week, I’m proud to have documented the then small but growing movement of web dissent in the US and Israeli-backed dictatorship. It was those seeds…
Journalists, don’t be afraid to rely on Arabs to tell you Egyptian truth
Here’s an idea for a Western newspaper trying to report in Egypt. Rather than sending your own correspondent who doesn’t get anywhere near the action – or know any of the important writers, bloggers, Tweeters etc – you actually rely on other, perhaps indigenous sources, who are seeing the real action on the streets. Not…
Wikileaks shows that Egypt/US cuddling achieved little positive
Wikileaks cables released this week show the real relationship between Washington and Cairo, a toxic brew of money, slight pressure, fear of Islamism and reliability. Who needed whom more? US diplomats and their masters never imagined a different Egypt because they never wanted it to happen. It suited America just fine. The real rights of…
Google opens its heart a little in the Islamic Republic
During research for my book The Blogging Revolution, a great deal of time was spent examining just what companies such as Google actually do in Iran. The company has posted the latest information: During the protests that erupted in Iran following the disputed Presidential election in June 2009, the central government in Tehran deported all…
A litany of Wikileaks evidence that US behaves like rogue state
The Wikileaks stories keep on coming. One: The Drug Enforcement Administration has been transformed into a global intelligence organization with a reach that extends far beyond narcotics, and an eavesdropping operation so expansive it has to fend off foreign politicians who want to use it against their political enemies, according to secret diplomatic cables. In…
Israel supporters using Wikileaks to promote attack on Iran are ignoring Arab public opinion
My following article appears on US website Mondoweiss: Sever Plocker, a columnist for… Yediot Aharonot,… recently wrote with pride and some sadness that, “At least on the Iranian issue — and apparently on more than a few other matters — the leaders of the world, including the Arab world, think as we do [the Israelis], but are…