How do you feel about what is happening in Egypt? Inspired? Confused? Fearful? While we don’t know how this moment in history will end, we do know we are witnessing something big. As community organizers in small town Oregon we, too, are trying to create sparks. It is hard and requires perseverance, patience, being ready, luck, creation of context and some willingness to apply our skills to the moment. We owe it to ourselves to understand not just the headlines of Egypt but also the nuts and bolts of how did they get this going? What can we learn? Studying other movements helps our efforts.
In that spirit, we share this video. A lone woman in an empty room records a call out to her compatriots to take action that resulted in thousands in the street in the streets for days. Since all of us have made calls to action that few have responded to, it is good to be reminded that this is part of the process.
Meet Asmaa Mahfouz and the vlog that Helped Spark the Revolution
This vlog was recorded on January 18th by Asmaa Mahfouz, the girl who helped start it all. She had shared it on her Facebook, and it had gone viral. It was so powerful and so popular, that it drove Egyptians by the thousands into Tahrir Square, and drove the Egyptian government to block Facebook . I’ll shut up now and let Asma talk.
Egypt’s Paul Revere? http://www.youtube.com/watch?
There are many lessons to take from what is happening in Egypt. On Saturday, May 7th rural and small town organizers will gather for a day of strategizing and consider questions like: How do we create sparks? What local strategies have worked and which ones have not over the last year? What lessons can we take from other movements? Join us on Saturday, May 7th in Central Oregon for ROP’s Annual Rural Caucus & Strategy Session. Mark the date now, email cara@rop.org for a registration form, and make the Rural Caucus & Strategy Session one of your traditions in movement study and inspiration.