During this revolutionary fervour tearing throughout the Middle East, Western governments have chosen their words very carefully when commenting, fearful for being accused of diktats from abroad, a stark contrast to Iran’s so called “Green Revolution” of 2009.
It turns out that behind the scenes, the US state department and the British government have long been engaged with youth groups from Iran, Egypt and elsewhere, coaching them in how to make the best of online tools – how to effectively harness the social networks to mobilise mass support for a cause.
There’s no doubt that the Egyptian revolution is testament to grass roots activism, but any suggestions that it is entirely leaderless, like has been generally reported, is well wide of the mark, as events have been driven by a key group of activists.
The leaders of the movement were highlighted in detail, in Al Jazeera’s documentary “Egypt Seeds of Change”
It shows how these young activists used mobile phones, twitter and facebook to call for support.
The “April 6th” movement were the first Egyptian activist group to organise a strike in a textile mill via their own facebook page.
Six months after the strike, one of the leaders of the April 6th movement was invited to attend a workshop in New York, run by The Alliance for Youth Movements.
There he joined a network of international activists, who gathered to discuss ways in which to support non-violent demonstrations against authoritarian regimes across the world.
That meeting was funded by the US state department as part of their programme titled “Public Diplomacy 2.0″.
“I believe that God has planted in every human heart the desire to live in freedom. And even when that desire is crushed by tyranny for decades, it will rise again.”George W. Bush, State of the Union, 2004
Exporting democratic values was central to the Bush administrations ideology, Iraq was meant to be part of that, but there was also more subtle work going on.
The man responsible for this?
James K Glassman was under secretary of state under George Bush.
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