As deadly protests engulf Iran and a mass pro-democracy movement seems the path forward in the US, here’s my 2012 conversation with WAEL GHONIM about his book, REVOLUTION 2.0. Ghonim, a 30-year-old Google manager, unwilling to publicly criticize the Egyptian regime, anonymously launched a Facebook campaign to protest one killing by security forces. How did the Egyptian people finally find their voice and reject 30 years of oppression?} Two reasons I chose this episode: 1) Iran, taking a lesson from the Arab Spring, has cut off the nation’s internet. 2) Though the later Muslim Brotherhood coup was tragic, Egypt’s nonviolent revolution succeeded in toppling an authoritarian dictator and regime. What did it take? How did it build? What can we learn?
FF_Ghonim 2012_transcript
Free Forum with Terrence McNally