The People Power Revolution in Egypt

For the past two days, my fingers and eyes have been glued to the internet , in solidarity with the Egyptians. The spotlight is on social media again as Egypt pulled the plug of Egypt’s internet. I poured over Twitter reactions, curated a few tweets to share to the rest of the world. I can empathize having experienced the non-violent People Power Revolution that toppled Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos who held power for 21 years. I know what it feels like to scream “enough is enough” and demand for change. My heart reaches out to the Egyptians who have to deal with violence to bring this change.

It is not enough that Egypt removes a dictator. It is also important to overhaul the system of government and disallow the same people to take over the country. Twenty five years have passed since our People Power revolution, but democracy is still fragile. The same crony capitalists are still lording it over. The same old politicians continue to build dynasties. Though there are a few new ones, the majority are scions, friends, or politicians that have some connections during the dictatorship.

In my own little corner of cyberspace, I am watching Egypt and pray for peaceful change now. With as little as 140 characters, I am in solidarity with the Egyptians.

Brian Solis says it so well:

Freedom of Tweet = the beginning of the end of the era of #commandandcontrol

140 characters is more than enough to convey the stuggles of humanity. With every Tweet and ReTweet, empathy spreads and support strengthens. Until suddenly, we look up to see that the world is watching, compassionate, and reaching out to help.

Twitter co-founder argued that freedom of expression is a human right.

“Some Tweets may facilitate positive change in a repressed country, some make us laugh, some make us think, some downright anger a vast majority of users,” Stone said. “The open exchange of information can have a positive global impact. This is both a practical and ethical belief.”

There are also the Egyptian bloggers who brave police intimidation. So young yet so passionate with their cries for regime change. Their voices may not be the ones heard on the streets of Egypt, but what they’re saying is coming through loud and clear over the Internet, via websites, blogs and social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter.

If you want to follow certain tweets, here is a useful resource on who to follow: Twitter #FollowFriday – #Jan25 Protests in #Egypt . There are moving photos of the People Power.

Here are the voices of the people concerned over the protests in Egypts

Video Coverage

Egypt protests with Jamal El Shayal in Suez
AlJazeeraEnglish, January 28, 2011 at 22:56

Map: Cairo’s ‘day of wrath’
AlJazeeraEnglish, January 28, 2011 at 22:36