Interview: Esraa Abdel Fattah

Esraa Abdel Fattah Ahmed Rashid is a leading member of the April 6 Strike Group, which protested in support of workers in 2008. Called the “Facebook Girl” for her organizing role on social media, she was subsequently imprisoned for her activism.  She reappeared during the 2011 Arab Spring protests both on social media and on the ground, and served as a contact for news organizations as well as an organizer and spokesperson for the youth protest movements.  She has won the New Generation Democratic Activist Award from Freedom House and been named “Woman of the Year” by Glamour Magazine,  one of Arabian Business Magazine’s 100 most powerful Arab women.  She also leads the Free Egyptian Women Group and the Egyptian Democratic Academy.
HPR: You’re known as “the Facebook girl” for your role in social media during the movements of 2008 and 2011.  What has the role been for social media in the movements in Egypt during this time?  Do you think the changes that we’ve seen in Egypt would have been possible without social media?
Esraa Abdel Fattah: First of all, the social media in 2008 and 2011—it was a tool.  A tool for change. And every time in Egypt we use it according to what we need, according to what we want to achieve.  In 2008 we used this social media for calling Egyptians for the April 6 strike, and in 2011 it was the beginning of our revolution and how we could call people to join with us.  And also we used this before revolution on June 30 [a day of widespread protests that occurred the day after the inauguration of President Muhammad Morsi].
And after the revolution, the role of media has changed, because now we find that the state itself is social media.  We can find an account for the President, we can find an account for the Prime Minister, now we have a Facebook for the military and an account for the spokesman [for Congress].  We can now reach the peaceful people through social media, not only as before in 2011 to call for demonstrations or to call for events in Tahrir.
Now it’s also used for communications between the state and between the youth who uses social media.  And also it’s now to make pressure, to change something, […] to release some politicians from the [opposition?] and from the youth.  So the role of social media has now maybe changed somewhat but it’s become more effective and now the youth have pressure to use this and to make a campaign with photos and with YouTube and with videos—to make pressure and to change how things happen in Egypt.
HPR: What do you see the role of the youth in determining Egypt’s future?  And how is this role affected by other groups that are pushing for their own interests that might not be representative of the youth?
EAF: You know now it’s not only the youth now who are using social media.  Yes, the youth is the main group or main category that is using this social media for change, but now there is another generation, maybe an older generation, coming to use this social media and to change.
In social media, the young are the main people who are using it, but now the Brothers [Muslim Brotherhood] and the Revolution Front and many other generations use social media.  An old generation also comes to use the social media as political briefing of opinions, to know what’s happened and to hear what the people are sharing, what the people are talking about.

HPR: In terms of general change, what do you think the role of the youth is apart from social media, and how do you think this role plays out in terms of the relationship with other groups like the older generation, with the military, with the Muslim Brotherhood?   Youth culture and youth political action.
EAF: The youth are the main power who make all this change.  Everything that happened in Egypt was started by the youth. And then other groups joined them.
HPR: So even now do you think it’s the youth who are dictating the policy of the government in power?
EAF: Now they’ve tried to, they have our own, they still want to change the country for the best, they resist any return back from the old Mubarak regime.  They still have some pressure in the street.  They still want to stop any violence against human rights.  They still have a role on the ground, yes, I think so.  We have about more than eight people now who were in the constitutional committee, who make the constitution, now we have more than seven vice-ministers in the government.  So they also have another role now, not only in the revolution, but now they try to participate in building the country.
HPR: What does the future of Egypt look like, and what does the future of democracy in Egypt look like, now that we have the military in power again?
EAF: No one can predict what will happen in Egypt, or what the future of Egypt is, but we are working toward it, we are working toward it.  We made this roadmap before June 30 to start with the constitution and after that the election. So we are in Egypt working under the roadmap, put in by by the revolutionary people before June 30.
If we can say there is a power of the military, the power of the military comes to be in favor of Egypt, to stand behind the voice of Egyptians who come to the street in 30 June.  But I cannot say that the country’s now under the military power because we now have a civilian president, we have a prime minister who has more authorities than the president himself, and we have a minister of defense.  Until now we cannot say that Egypt is under military authority in any way, and even if [Defense Minister] al-Sisi will be a candidate, he will be a candidate after he has resigned from his position as the minister of defense.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Photo credit: www.vitalvoices.org, Andrew Ma/HPR