Twitter In Saudi Arabia

King Abdullah ibn Abdul Aziz in 2002 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As someone who would like to see an Egypt style uprising also in Saudi Arabia - I could live with a constitutional monarchy there - I read this with great interest.

Twitter Gives Saudi Arabia a Revolution of Its Own

Open criticism of this country’s royal family, once unheard-of, has become commonplace in recent months. Prominent judges and lawyers issue fierce public broadsides about large-scale government corruption and social neglect. Women deride the clerics who limit their freedoms. Even the king has come under attack. All this dissent is taking place on the same forum: Twitter.

In its early days Twitter was often derided as the place where people posted things like, so I had coffee.

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Arab Focus, Microfinance Focus

Image via WikipediaWhat is happening in Egypt gives me immense hope. It feels like the Arab world is about to have its Berlin moment. If the misguided people in DC don't mess up, we will see Arab dictator after Arab dictator wiped out.

Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards

Mubarak's fall is not about Egypt, it is about the Arab world at large. Gaddafi has to go. The Saudi king has to go. The king in Jordan has to go. The dictator president of Syria has to go. I don't even know the names of all sorts of small league motherfuckers who rule the smaller countries in the region like those countries were family property. All of them have to go. Just leave.

I am needed. I have done this before, though the scale of what is happening now is much larger than what I did in 2006. I have decided to slow down a little in terms of the running commentaries on all things tech I am used to delivering at this blog. I am going to pour more time into my other blog, Barackface. That's my politics blog.

Seven Social Media Week Events

Image via WikipediaI tried very hard to limit myself to few Social Media Week events this year. First I decided on one: the party Thursday. Then I added one more. Then one. And I am like, that's it. But now looks like I will have attended seven Social Media Week events by the time the week is over, one of them on LiveStream. That counts. I got to witness the entire panel discussion, and got to ask a question on Twitter.

This morning the UN panel discussion was great, except the moderator chunked off the Q and A session. What a bummer. I approached him later and asked the question anyway.

"What is happening in Egypt right now, we did this successfully in Nepal in 2006. I was the only Nepali in America to have worked full time for it. We did good. That inspired protests in Tibet and Burma, both of which were mercilessly crushed. Iran's was another failure in 2009. Tunisia was a success, but Egypt is struggling. Social media is important. My blog was my primary tool when I did what I did, not phone calls, although those I did, not events, I attended quite a few. But at the end of the day social media is just a tool. Ultimately the challenge of a political revolution and of confronting the ugly, concrete versions of sexism in some parts of the world are social and political in nature. The solutions are primarily political. Would you agree?"

Social Media Week: The Best NY Tech MeetUp Ever

10,000 People In 10 Years

Image via WikipediaI am going to have at least 10,000 people work for me in less than 10 years. I am a large scale group dynamics guy. I like large numbers of people.

Many, many atoms go to make one cell. Some people are cellular biologists, I am like that. That is why I so love revolutions, like the one that is going on in Egypt. I am a large scale group dynamics guy. That is my number one strength.

The Wilsons Were In Cairo Recently

The Wilsons were in Cairo a few weeks back. I don't know what they did while they were there, but whatever they did seems to be working.

How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?

The point is it is a finite number. There are only so many people Mubarak could kill. We did this in Nepal in 2006. The king of Nepal issued a shoot at sight order, and the people braved the bullets. About two dozen people were shot down before the regime collapsed.

There are only so many people Mubarak can kill. The brave people of Egypt have to not stop. This can be done. Democracy is not an American export. Liberty is an export of the human heart. It comes from inside. This is nothing to do with America.