[JWZ]⇒ Download Revolution 20 Wael Ghonim 9780007454365 Books

Revolution 20 Wael Ghonim 9780007454365 Books

Download As PDF : Revolution 20 Wael Ghonim 9780007454365 Books

Revolution 20 Wael Ghonim 9780007454365 Books

On a visit to Cairo this week, I was particularly excited to speak with people about the role of Facebook and Twitter in the Revolution the culminated on January 25, 2011. On the plane over, I read Wael Ghonim's excellent memoir Revolution 2.0: The power of the people is greater than the people in power. It was the perfect book for a long flight - fast paced, interesting, and timely.

I arrived wondering if social media was used more in business in Egypt in other places now that the power of these tools was obvious to all. But I learned an important fact as I was talking to people about social media. Many people I spoke with told me how the country is suffering because tourists are scared to come because of what they read and see in the media. People think Egypt is dangerous for foreigners. Tourism is a very important industry and a critical source of foreign currency investment and the numbers of visitors is way down.

Indeed, many people questioned my wisdom in traveling there. But I was safe the entire time.

Wael Ghonim's memoir tells the fascinating story of how he became the anonymous admin of a Facebook page called Kullena Khaled Said, which turned into a critical social media communication point for political change.

Khaled Said, a 28-year-old Egyptian, was tortured to death by the police. He became the symbol for many Egyptians who wanted to see an end to the Mubarak regime that perpetrated such violence, conducted under the 30-year-old long emergency martial law.

Ghonim was an ordinary middle class Egyptian citizen who was living in Dubai and working for Google. Many of his Facebook posts (which because they were done under the "admin" role were anonymous) captured the sentiments of young people eager for change. When the Tunisian government fell under similar circumstances, the time was right. "I feel that very soon we will turn the page, claim our pen, and begin writing our future with our own hands," Ghonim wrote on the page. (6,317 Likes 2,077 Comments 1,244,267 Views).

Ghonim was eventually arrested and spent more than a week in prison. His book reads like a spy novel as he describes the ways he hid his identity and had people help him with the page even when he was unable to.

The culmination was the massive protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square and central locations in many other cities. "Message to the regime: The people on the streets raise the level of their demands with every passing hour. The current demand that needs to be fulfilled as fast as possible is for the president to step down and leave Egypt." (5,514 Likes 5,030 Comments 1,013,841 Views).

Ghonim doesn't claim credit for the revolution nor did anybody I spoke with say that he should. He says there are other more outspoken and more courageous people than him. But there is no doubt that his social networking and marketing skills led to a new "Revolution 2.0" model for political change.

The lessons can be applied to any communications. Let's hope social media can help bring the tourists back to Egypt.


Tags : Revolution 2.0 [Wael Ghonim] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.,Wael Ghonim,Revolution 2.0,Fourth Estate,0007454368,General,Political Ideologies - Democracy,Politics Current Events

Revolution 20 Wael Ghonim 9780007454365 Books Reviews

Wael Ghonim has become an iconic figure of the Egyptian revolution since he anonymously started the Facebook Page, "We are All Khalid Said," criticizing police brutality in Egypt after young activist Khalid Said was beaten to death in broad daylight by the police in Alexandria for posting a video on police corruption on the internet. In the first few days of the revolution, Ghonim was kidnapped by plainclothes policeman but released later. He appeared on a talk show at a time when the protests were reaching a dead end. Instead of delivering a fiery speech full of revolutionary fervor as expected, he wept and apologized publicly to the parents of protesters who were killed during the protests, saying "don't blame us, blame those who are power hungry." His tearful words ignited the protests again.

This book is more than a personal account of Wael Ghoneim's role in the revolution. It is a reflection of his generation's unexpected involvement in their country's political fate. Long viewed as spoiled Westernized brats, liberal middle class Egyptian youths proved to be much more than affluent fast car driving beach kids with an identity crisis. Revolution 2.O delves deep into the mindset of a generation that surprised even itself. While the world expected, and almost wished, any upheaval in the Middle East to come from the radical right wing, the roaring voices of pro-democracy and liberal human rights activists drowned the stereotyping of the Middle East. It is sad how world politics, working with Arab regimes and military, are trying desperately to push the right wing to the foreground of the new Middle East at the expense of the young activists who initiated the rebellion no one dared even talk about. It is important to read Revolution 2.0 not only with the events of the revolution as the backdrop of the narrative and analysis but with the book itself as a testimony and an account of the true origins of the Egyptian revolution.

It is a must read. This account will become even more important as such true origins are overshadowed by world governments' deals with the right wing and the military in the Middle East to hijack the revolutions sparked by pro-democracy and liberal activists.
Wael Ghonim's name was first revealed to me, as it was to Egyptians and the world, in February 2011, during the tensest time of the Revolution, before the fall of Mubarak. Before that the world had been in the dark about the identity of the administrator of the 'We are all Khalid Said' web page that helped launch the revolution. I was in Egypt at the time and lived through these events day by day. Along with the rest of Egypt, I watched this unknown young man, Wael Ghonim, appear on a talk show called 'Ten PM' with Mona El Shazly, upon his release from 12 days detention by Mubarak's security services. Tearful, haggard, unkempt, he related his ordeal and begged for forgiveness from the parents of the young martyrs who had died in Tahrir for the revolution Ghonim was instrumental in calling for and organizing.
Most of all Ghonim was desperate to refute charges of treason or of foreign collusion. This is a case he makes persuasively in his book. He details the path of a successful young Google executive leading an exceptionally comfortable life in Dubai who chooses to come back to Egypt to take part in the revolution and gets arrested and psychologically tortured.
Most interesting is the behind the scenes, keystroke by keystroke depiction of the role Face Book and social media played in propagating and organizing dissent into the first 'internet revolution'.
Samia Serageldin
On a visit to Cairo this week, I was particularly excited to speak with people about the role of Facebook and Twitter in the Revolution the culminated on January 25, 2011. On the plane over, I read Wael Ghonim's excellent memoir Revolution 2.0 The power of the people is greater than the people in power. It was the perfect book for a long flight - fast paced, interesting, and timely.

I arrived wondering if social media was used more in business in Egypt in other places now that the power of these tools was obvious to all. But I learned an important fact as I was talking to people about social media. Many people I spoke with told me how the country is suffering because tourists are scared to come because of what they read and see in the media. People think Egypt is dangerous for foreigners. Tourism is a very important industry and a critical source of foreign currency investment and the numbers of visitors is way down.

Indeed, many people questioned my wisdom in traveling there. But I was safe the entire time.

Wael Ghonim's memoir tells the fascinating story of how he became the anonymous admin of a Facebook page called Kullena Khaled Said, which turned into a critical social media communication point for political change.

Khaled Said, a 28-year-old Egyptian, was tortured to death by the police. He became the symbol for many Egyptians who wanted to see an end to the Mubarak regime that perpetrated such violence, conducted under the 30-year-old long emergency martial law.

Ghonim was an ordinary middle class Egyptian citizen who was living in Dubai and working for Google. Many of his Facebook posts (which because they were done under the "admin" role were anonymous) captured the sentiments of young people eager for change. When the Tunisian government fell under similar circumstances, the time was right. "I feel that very soon we will turn the page, claim our pen, and begin writing our future with our own hands," Ghonim wrote on the page. (6,317 Likes 2,077 Comments 1,244,267 Views).

Ghonim was eventually arrested and spent more than a week in prison. His book reads like a spy novel as he describes the ways he hid his identity and had people help him with the page even when he was unable to.

The culmination was the massive protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square and central locations in many other cities. "Message to the regime The people on the streets raise the level of their demands with every passing hour. The current demand that needs to be fulfilled as fast as possible is for the president to step down and leave Egypt." (5,514 Likes 5,030 Comments 1,013,841 Views).

Ghonim doesn't claim credit for the revolution nor did anybody I spoke with say that he should. He says there are other more outspoken and more courageous people than him. But there is no doubt that his social networking and marketing skills led to a new "Revolution 2.0" model for political change.

The lessons can be applied to any communications. Let's hope social media can help bring the tourists back to Egypt.