Wael Ghonim used social media as a weapon in the uprising in Egypt. He believes his country now must use such technology not as a medium but to automate business
ONE OF the star attractions at the Dublin Web Summit today is the Egyptian revolutionary Wael Ghonim who rose to global prominence following his role in the Egyptian revolution that resulted in Hosni Mubarak stepping down after a 30-year reign.
Speaking to The Irish Times last night on the eve of his appearance at the Web Summit, he reflected on the technology “eco-system” in Egypt and his hopes for Egypt going forward, politically and with reference to its ever-growing technology and entrepreneurship sectors.
“In Egypt, the eco-system is not there, due to huge infrastructural issues and in particular challenges on how companies can monetise,” he said.
“The real challenge now is to develop an infrastructure policy framework on how to use the technology and how to protect the rights of those who are using it and those who are working in the industry. Finally, affordability needs to be an issue to expand the numbers of users of the different technologies.”
Ghonim has been partially credited with demonstrating to the world the power of social media in pursuing social and political change in an environment where no hope in government existed. In the case of Tunisia and then Egypt, tools such as Twitter and Facebook played an invaluable role in bringing down repressive dictatorships.
In 2010, Ghonim was one of the founders of the FB page, “We are All Khalid Said”, named after the death of a young Egyptian following a brutal beating by police in Alexandria.
On January 14th, 2011, Ghonim suggested people take to the streets of Egypt, like in Tunisia, on January 25th. Two hours later he published an event entitled: “Revolution against Torture, Corruption, Unemployment and Injustice”. This sparked other initiatives and campaigns.
Ghonim came to Egypt, having persuaded his employers at Google to allow him to go home, citing “personal problems”, but his main aim was to partake in the protests and continue mobilising with other activists.
On January 27th, Ghonim was kidnapped by Egyptian security and detained for 11 days until February 7th when, following calls from groups such as Amnesty International, he was released after stating: “We will not abandon our demand and that is the departure of the regime.”
However it was not until he gave an interview with local broadcaster Dream TV and broke down after seeing picture of fellow activists who had been killed by regime forces that local Egyptians en masse started to feel “that enough is enough” and join the others on Tahrir Square in central Cairo.
On February 9th, Ghonim addressed the crowds in Tahrir: “This is not the time for individuals or parties or movements. It’s a time for all of us to say just one thing ‘Egypt above all’.” Ghonims experience proved a major catalyst in the ultimate forcing out of Mubarak.
Ghonim’s life has since changed beyond recognition. In April 2011 he began a leave of absence from his position as Middle East and North Africa head of marketing for Google to start a technology-focused NGO to help fight poverty and foster education in Egypt.
Called Nabadat and based in Dubai, it is primarily funded from the proceeds of Ghonim’s book Revolution 2.0. Published in late 2011, it focused on the technical steps and processes related to running a social media campaign via the establishment of the “We are All Khaled Said” page.
Ghonim has been awarded a number of peace awards and topped Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2011. He has made high-profile appearances on US shows such as 60 Minutes.
In Dublin, he says the democratic transition in Egypt has been tough “but once we have a stable government they will be interested in making long-term strategic decisions”.
“In Egypt, the government has not been helping the tech industry enough in the past, especially since Egypt has huge potential to be a ‘silicon valley’ in the region and huge resources, prefect location, educated and talented Egyptians and a huge population so you have a large pool of qualified engineers.”
He voices his optimism that once the government is stable, innovation in the IT industry will be made a prerogative. There will be pressure on rebuilding those sectors of the economy from which growth can be attained relatively quickly.The ICT industry may become as important as tourism for Egypt.
He see himself, along with others, as having a role in advising the government in this area. However he still sees the public sector’s use of technology as superficial in that they see it as a media tool as supposed to technology that can be used to automate . They need to be able to see technology less as a way to create a media platform and more as an enabler for industry. Egypt has “a lot of entrepreneurs but not a lot of start-ups”.
