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Monday, April 18, 2011

Egyptian Uprising Was Triggered by a Facebook Page "We Are All Khaled Saeed." Inkwell Signs Him for Book Deal

At the recent London Book Festival New York literary agency Inkwell made waves by signing Wael Ghonim he Egyptian Internet activist and Middle East and North Africa manager of Google.

Inkwell place Ghonim in a conference room in the Right Centre where he made presentations on his life story to some 120 people including the media.

Earlier Ghonim set up the anonymous Facebook page "We Are All Khaled Saeed" on the youth (Khaled Saeed) beaten to death by the police in Alexandria last June. The Facebook page is said to have launched the Egyptian uprising in January 2011.

Ghonim was freed on Feb. 8 after 12 days in prison and became famous after his emotional interview with Dream TV.

So the trend according to this blogger seems to be to become notorious (whatever the cause), appear for an exclusive interview, and then travel to the London Book Fair land a book deal. Hm. Imagine an anonymous Facebook page fomenting an uprising and overthrowing a government! That's the power of social media. As a practitioner I would advise caution and a lot of soul searching. Is this the right way forward?

1 comment:

rinki said...

the govt. authorities are public 'servants' and no 'one' group is responsible for overthrowing any establishment, it is with the "voluntary" voice and support of millions that it happens, revolutions always happen with the 'voluntary' backing of millions who become fed up of the public 'servants' and their unjust ways of serving