Face Book Spider Net

The January 25^th Revolution will usher in a new period in Egypt’s modern history. There are many factors that fueled the political volcano that exploded on the 25^th of January 2011. The forces that played a significant role were the absence of democracy, corruption, high unemployment rates, poverty, high cost of living and the political suppression of the public by the authoritarian regime. All these factors that have been building up during the past four decades impacted the majority of the Egyptian population in many negative ways. Another factor that should not be ignored is the fraudulent election of the Egypt parliament in November 2010 under the leadership of Ahmad Ezz . He ignored the Egyptian public’s views and prepared the candidate list mainly from the government ruling party (NDP). Nearly 95% of the elected members were from the NDP list, which Ahmad Ezz prepared.

The vast majority of people didn’t participate in the election, as usual. However, the fraudulent election was a slap in the face of the public and enhanced the suppressed rage against the Mubarak regime.

The spark that ignited the explosion, in my view, is attributed to the following reasons. First, the killing of Khalid Said by the police during his investigation, which occurred in Alexandria on June 6, 2010. This was the first signal reflection the inhumane brutality of the Egyptian security. Khalid Said’s crime was his revealing a video of the corruption in Alexandria’s security forces, such as selling confiscated drugs back to drug dealers. The content of the video spread through the Internet and exposed the filth of the security forces in Egypt. Khalid Said took that chance and ended up losing his life. There are more than 3 million Facebook activists in Egypt. Many of them became aware of Khalid Said’s torture and death. Many Facebook activists began to form small groups and began to call for the punishment of those responsible for Khalid Said’s death. Some bloggers posted “Khalid Said’s Rage” on the Internet. It was reported that as soon as the page was posted many thousands of young people joined to protest the brutalities of the regime. The number of people that have joined the Facebook group reached more than 300,000 in 6 months. They identified themselves as, “We are all Khalid Said”. Through that page a spider web was formed of planners and communicators who set the date of the 25^th of January as the day of “rage”. The meeting place was Tahrir Square. Through Facebook and other networks millions of messages were sent urging people to join the protestors’ movement – not only in Tahrir but in all Egyptian cities.

The young people’s revolution succeeded and by February 11, 2011 the Mubarak regime began to crumble and the president submitted his resignation.

There are other small organized political groups that were active and joined the protestors’ movements all over Egypt. The following reflects those groups that participated in the Revolutionary movements:

1) The Popular Movement for Change was organized in August 2010

2) The April 6^th Movement was organized April 8, 2008

3) The Free Movement for Peaceful Change was organized in mid 2010

4) The Youth Movement for Freedom and Justice was organized in 2010

5) The Socialist Trend For Social and Public Change was organized September 25, 2010

6) The Socialist Study Center Group

7) The Al-Baradei Independent Movement for Change was organized in February 2010

8) The Hamdi Sabahi Movement for President in 2011 was organized in 2010

9) The Kifayah Movement, which is the oldest organized group, as well as the most active and influential. It was created in 2004. They have organized protest movements in Tahrir Square since 2004 and many of their leaders were arrested by security forces.

All of these organized political groups have joined the protestors’ movements and played an active supportive role in the revolution, which lead to the collapse of the Mubarak regime.