Whew!  Watch Wael Ghonim’s interview.  [click cc, lower right, to get English subtitles)

(

Part 2

)
In a tearful, riveting live television interview only two hours after his release from an Egyptian prison, the Google executive Wael Ghonim acknowledged Monday that he was one of the people behind the anonymous Facebook and YouTube campaign that helped galvanize the protest that has shaken Egypt for the last two weeks.

Since he disappeared on Jan. 28, Mr. Ghonim, 30, has emerged as a symbol for the protest movement’s young, digital-savvy organizers. During the interview on a popular television show, he said he had been kidnapped and held blindfolded by Egyptian authorities.

Afterward, hundreds of Egyptians took to Twitter and the Internet, calling on him to become one of their new leaders.

Kirkpatrick: NY Times

(

Part 3

)

Juan Cole’s link and commentary, here.

AND

Several thousand demonstrators marched on the Egyptian Parliament for the first time and masses crammed into Tahrir Square on Tuesday to demand the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in a revolt buoyed by the broadcast of an emotional television interview with a young Google executive conducted hours after his release from secret detention.

On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Ghonim galvanized Tahrir Square, briefly joining the tens of thousands of chanting protesters there. “We will not abandon our demand, and that is the departure of the regime,” he told the crowd, which roared its agreement, The Associated Press reported.

Kirkpatrick: NY Times

Print PDF