]]>
There was an overall feeling of positivity in the Frontline Club last night as the panel, chaired by the Observer‘s foreign affairs editor Peter Beaumont, discussed what the future might hold for the Egyptian people after a year of military rule.
Indeed, despite recognising the number of challenges facing the revolutionary movement, each of the speakers expressed optimism for the future.
One of Egypt’s main problems, it was pointed out by a member of the audience, is its State-run media, controlled by the military, which has maintained strong support for the army, and contempt for the revolutionists.
“State media is run as a State of misinformation consistently,” answered Hossam Abdalla, a political activist involved in Egypt’s student movement during the 1970’s. “It is not surprising [that] the army still hold more than 50 per cent of the country’s support, because of continued misinformation.”
He pointed out, though, that not long ago this figure stood at 70 per cent, and that support for the revolution is increasing. “Before 25 January, the revolutionary movement would have got 2-3 per cent approval, but now it is more like 20 per cent, and that will continue to rise.”
Abdel Latif El Menawy who, as the former head of the Egyptian State media, including for a period whilst it was under the control of the military, was in a perfect position to judge whether reform is needed, and whether it is likely to occur.
“It is required. But is it possible or not – that is the real question.” His “dream”, he explained, was for a media station designed for the public, but admitted the government did not have the power to do this. He said: “The challenge for the future is to create a public media, a tax payer public media.”
In spite of wide-spread military control of the State, Egyptian writer Tarek Osman, author of Egypt on the Brink: From Nasser to Mubarak, said that the revolutionary movement will succeed because of the number of young people in the country.
“If you look at Egypt in 1980, we were roughly 45 million people; today we are 80-85 million people,” he said. “So you have roughly 35-40 million people born in this time, two-thirds of them under 20 years old. [Their] grand objective, is trying to reject a generation of failure, to create a whole new State.”
Whether they are equipped to succeed, with a strong military power in place, is debatable but each member of the panel was confident of eventual success.
Ahdaf Soueif, author of Cairo: My City, Our Revolution, said: “I’m totally optimistic. Every time we talk about the revolution we carry thoughts of people who have been killed or injured, but they are actually a reason to be optimistic.
“They are a very powerful reason why nobody is going to back down, why the revolution will continue, and why it will actually achieve the goals which these people made their sacrifices for.”
Watch the event here:
]]>
Egypt’s ‘day of rage’ on Tuesday 25 January 2011 has been enshrined in Egypt’s history after millions of people took to the streets to oppose the tyranny and oppression of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
As we approach the one-year anniversary of that day we will be joined by a panel of Egyptians to discuss their hopes for revolution in Egypt a year later.
Since 11 February, when Hosni Mubarak finally stepped down, Egypt has been governed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. In this time there have been a growing number of military trials, new anti-protest laws and protesters have been detained. In response, protests have continued in Tahrir Square.
With elections underway, we will be discussing how the future looks for the Egyptian people and the challenges that lie ahead.
Chaired by Marwan Bishara, senior political analyst at Al Jazeera.
With:
Hossam Abdalla, a leading Fertility Consultant and a political activist, he was one of the leaders of the student movement in the 70’s in Egypt. He is also father of actor, producer and activist Khalid Abdalla.
Ahdaf Soueif, Egyptian author, political and cultural commentator. Her most recent book is entitled Cairo: My City, Our Revolution;
Tarek Osman, Egyptian writer and author of Egypt on the Brink: From Nasser to Mubarak.
Abdel Latif El Menawy, author and journalist. As head of the news at the Egyptian Radio and Television Union he oversaw all news content, founded Radio Misr, and pioneered documentary broadcasts.
]]>Egypt’s ‘day of rage’ on Tuesday 25 January 2011 has been enshrined in Egypt’s history after millions of people took to the streets to oppose the tyranny and oppression of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
As we approach the one-year anniversary of that day we will be joined by a panel of Egyptians to discuss their hopes for revolution in Egypt a year later.
Since 11 February, when Hosni Mubarak finally stepped down, Egypt has been governed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. In this time there have been a growing number of military trials, new anti-protest laws and protesters have been detained. In response, protests have continued in Tahrir Square.
With elections underway, we will be discussing how the future looks for the Egyptian people and the challenges that lie ahead.
Chaired by Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor at the Observer. He has reported extensively from conflict zones including Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East, and has written widely on human rights issues and the impact of conflict on civilians. The winner of the George Orwell Prize for his reports from Iraq he is the author of The Secret Life of War: Journeys Through Modern Conflict.
With:
Hossam Abdalla, a leading Fertility Consultant and a political activist, he was one of the leaders of the student movement in the 70’s in Egypt. He is also father of actor, producer and activist Khalid Abdalla.
Ahdaf Soueif, Egyptian author, political and cultural commentator. Her most recent book is entitled Cairo: My City, Our Revolution;
Tarek Osman, Egyptian writer and author of Egypt on the Brink: From Nasser to Mubarak.
Abdel Latif El Menawy, author and journalist. As head of the news at the Egyptian Radio and Television Union he oversaw all news content, founded Radio Misr, and pioneered documentary broadcasts. Author of Tahrir: The Last 18 Days of Mubarak.
]]>
British-Egyptian actor and producer Khalid Abdalla flew from London to Egypt soon after it became clear that the protests of 25 January were gathering momentum and was there for the Friday ‘Day of anger’ on 28 January.
The Kite Runner star, whose other credits include Green Zone and In the Last Days of the City, was memorably interviewed from Tahrir Square by Channel 4 News’ Jon Snow while his father Hossam Abdalla was in the studio.
The co-founder of Zero Production, a film and documentary production house based in Cairo is currently setting up a non-profit media centre called Mossireen (Adamant) to support filmmakers and citizen journalists through the revolution.
Like everyone in Egypt I did not expect anything to happen like in Tunisia
Tunisia, it felt to me, had massively rejuvenated the narrative of popular protest in the Middle East, but having filmed almost every protest in Cairo over the last two years as part of an independent film called ‘In the Last Days of the City’, I thought Egypt’s watershed moment was a while away.
I discovered I was completely wrong at about 5pm, on a phone call to a Lebanese friend who asked me if I’d seen the images of Tahrir. It wasn’t until the following afternoon that I felt the full force of what was coming.
The images of Tahrir being dispersed and news of my friends continuing their protest through to 6am in Shubra was heartening. It was the shock of protests continuing the following day that made clear to me that this time was different. I’d seen plenty of demonstrations in Cairo and faced a minor arrest once. I’d never seen demonstrators take on the authorities no matter what, directly in the line of fire.
I booked my plane knowing that Friday would make or break the movement
From that moment I became a protester and an activist. Prior to that I was neither a blogger, nor a political activist, I had no Facebook account, and I dreaded the idea of Twitter. I had on the other hand been a filmmaker and actor working in the alternative scene in Cairo. Which is to say that the fight for a new Egypt, in my opinion, is not and was not just a political one.
It is a movement spearheaded by everyone who was willing to make a personal sacrifice of whatever kind to create their own version of Egypt, against and despite Mubarak’s regime as it was, and sadly, still remains.
Prior to 25 January I couldn’t bear the idea of new media in my life
Being ‘followed’, or sought as a ‘friend’ was not something I wanted because my privacy was important to me, not to mention the fact that even with a smartphone addiction, I suffered from a regular email backlog that made me guilty enough.
When the revolution came, it became clear that social media was a way for me to join the dots. It took a while because within hours of my arrival in Cairo, all forms of communication had been cut.
Social media helped manage the balance of access to truth
The need to bear witness and share opinions in a political context in which the voice of the majority is opposed by the lies of state media at worst, and the economic interests of commercial media at best, means free social media is essential.
Without the myriad of bloggers and individuals using Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, fighting alongside high quality reporting made by respectable journalists across all forms of media, the media war in this revolution would have been lost.
I joined Twitter and Facebook because it became clear to me that they were the best tools I had as an individual to access and benefit from as many people as possible. It was also an opportunity to do my bit in trying to convince others to protest or at least let them share in my thoughts.
In my opinion, the power of new media has been both over and under-estimated in its importance to what happened in Egypt. Under-estimated as a source, over-estimated as a mobilising force.
The Facebook generation did not create what happened in Egypt
A second and third generation of political activists used social media as an important tool in a heavily weighted fight that was only counterbalanced when consensus on the street about an unjust regime became fearless. Tunisia broke the back. Social media helped the frenzy build in the run up to 25 January and fought as best it could against the state media afterwards.
But it was the spirit of generations of activists, demonstrators, workers and unions fighting as a shunned minority, under the most difficult circumstances, that meant a flame remained to light the fire when the time came. Mubarak’s idiocy, alongside that of his regime’s, was a big help too.
As we look forwards, the current situation puts into context both the power and limitations of new media. Despite the many gains won by the 25 January movement, the regime still stands, for the moment.
New media has temporarily lost the power of its audience
Consensus doesn’t exist anymore about anything – strategy, parties, the army, even torture. With the movement having lost the power of consensus, Facebook has lost its ability to draw primetime audiences, if you like. Meanwhile, the state remains in the hands of the regime and its interests (at home, and abroad), and most people are worrying about how to feed their families.
It is the army that hangs in the balance
From the very beginning they have had to choose between the millions that rose up, and the regime and its interests. Whenever they have chosen to be an obstacle to people’s demands for social justice, civil liberties and democracy, they have been met with an outcry that has forced them to give ground, and threatened to turn them into a target.
If they continue as they are, torturing, putting civilians on trial in military courts, banning protest and not bringing heads of the former regime to justice, I’m convinced that revolution stage two will come. An unstoppable force was unleashed on 25 January, in a just cause.
The present challenge is to organise ourselves
That is starting to happen. The losses our movement has incurred have been on account of our inability post-February 11th to act in unison, with clarity of purpose. Once we have achieved that, finishing this will be a matter of months, if not days.
]]>