‘Internet played key role during Arab Spring’

Egyptian political commentator Ahdaf Soueif says posts on the web and internet spurred the 2011 revolution in a big way

Ahdaf Soueif

On a pleasant afternoon, a huddle of around 20 people gathered around to hear one woman speak after an event at the Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) 2015, which concluded on Monday.

They were all ears to a story by 64-year-old Ahdaf Soueif, an Egyptian political commentator from Cairo, who watched the revolution depose Hosni Mubarak in 2011, and a year later witnessed a coup by current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

The interaction took place after Ms. Soueif spoke at an event titled ‘Art and Activism’ last Saturday at the HLF 2015.

Answering questions about the present political situation, and about the Arab Spring which took place in Egypt in 2011, she explained in an interview as to why a ‘democratically’ elected president, i.e. Hosni Mubarak, was deposed a year after his swearing-in.

In your own words, what transpired in Egypt during the Arab Spring?

What happened was that people rediscovered their power and ability to change their lives.

It was something dictatorial that they got rid of.

Why did it take almost 30 years to finally protest against Hosni Mubarak? And what are the circumstances that led to President Mohammed Morsi also being deposed a year after the elections?

Mubarak’s rule was running down the economy, and it finally crumbled.

And after elections were held and when Morsi won, the first thing he did was to give himself super-constitutional powers. It was very unpopular and some of the young people started protesting, and finally the military took control.

What do you think President Morsi represented? He was from the Muslim Brotherhood, did he try to Islamise Egypt?

I don’t think Morsi had an Islamic agenda. He promised to have a Christian and a female in his government, but he did not do it.

He acted like he became the new Mubarak.

And what role did the internet play during the revolution?

That is actually interesting because it did play a big role. Everyone was posting everything on the internet, everything is still posted on the web.

Also, during the initial protests against Hosni Mubarak, he shut it down, but suddenly it came back, and we don’t know how.