Revolution 2.0
The Power of the People Is Greater Than the People in Power, A Memoir
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The former Google executive and political activist tells the story of the Egyptian revolution he helped ignite through the power of social media.
In the summer of 2010, thirty-year-old Google executive Wael Ghonim anonymously launched a Facebook page to protest the death of an Egyptian man at the hands of security forces. The page's following expanded quickly and moved from online protests to a nonconfrontational movement. On January 25, 2011, Tahrir Square resounded with calls for change. Yet just as the revolution began in earnest, Ghonim was captured and held for twelve days of brutal interrogation.
After he was released, he gave a tearful speech on national television, and the protests grew more intense. Four days later, the president of Egypt was gone. In this riveting story, Ghonim takes us inside the movement and shares the keys to unleashing the power of crowds in the age of social networking.
"A gripping chronicle of how a fear-frozen society finally topples its oppressors with the help of social media." —San Francisco Chronicle
"Revolution 2.0 excels in chronicling the roiling tension in the months before the uprising, the careful organization required and the momentum it unleashed." —NPR.org
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ghonim's name made headlines in early 2011 when, during the Egyptian revolution, the 30-year-old Google executive was abducted by Egypt's State Security and detained for eleven days. Ghonim's role in the revolution began well before that. Ghonim narrates his own story in this clear, matter-of-fact book, beginning with his days as an idealistic young man most comfortable online. Even after he marries, finishes graduate school, and is hired by Google, Ghonim retains a youthful romantic passion for social change; he explains that after seeing the movie V for Vendetta, he had "fallen in love with the idea of the mysterious warrior fighting against evil." This is exactly the role Ghonim takes when he begins agitating for change in Egypt anonymously, but online. The engagement of the online community gives him confidence (the Facebook page he creates in honor of a young Egyptian killed by the police quickly gains 300,000 users), and recognizing "the possible connection between the virtual world and physical reality," Ghonim begins organizing protests. The movement soon takes on a life of its own. Then, in the midst of Egypt's youth uprising, Ghonim is arrested and held in secrecy. This is a bold, moving story of the interconnectedness of the modern world, and the hope, courage, and fearlessness it takes to start a revolution.
