From Pharaohs to Facebook

From Pharaohs to Facebook

Jan 31st 2011, 16:56 by F.R. | LONDON

IN ITS tales of ancient Egypt, the Book of Exodus spoke of darkness and killing and hard-hearted Pharaohs. The biblical symbolism has not gone unnoticed by those who have been warning, over the past decade, about the certainty of the coming uprising in Egypt. No one knew quite when the lid would blow, though, making the openly revolutionary mood of the past few days something of a surprise.

For those who want to read up on the roots of the turmoil, our Cairo bureau chief, Max Rodenbeck, recommends two clearly written accounts. The first is "Egypt on the Brink: From Nasser to Mubarak" (Yale University Press, 2010) by Tarek Osman, a Western-educated Egyptian banker and occasional newspaper columnist. The second is a series of books by Galal Amin, starting with "Egypt in the Era of Hosni Mubarak: 1981-2010" (American University in Cairo Press, 2011), which builds on his earlier works, "Whatever Happened to the Egyptians?" (AUC, 2001), "Whatever Else Happened to the Egyptians?" (AUC, 2004) and "The Illusion of Progress in the Arab World" (AUC, 2006).  "The Yacoubian Building" (American University in Cairo Press, 2004) by Alaa al Aswani is a marvellous comic novel of life in Cairo.

Two pieces of thoughtful journalism that bear re-reading are The Economist's 14-pagespecial report on Egypt, written by Mr Rodenbeck and published over the summer, and our earlier special report on the Arab world, by Peter David (July 2009). And do revisit Adam Shatz's insightful reportage, "Mubarak's Last Breath", published in the London Review of Books in May 2010.
Global Voices Online is particularly good at collecting commentary from the Middle East, as is the daily news service provided by Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) and mideastwire.com, an invaluable selection of Arabic-press articles, translated into English in Beirut. Internet access in Egypt has been intermittent at best since the demonstrations began. But activists are now using older technologies, such as dial-up modems and fax machines, to spread information, and anonymous bloggers have been able to use proxy servers to circumvent the censorship and get their message out. Facebook has been an essential tool for organising demonstrations, particularly the page created by "El Shaheed" ("The Martyr"), as have several Twitter feeds, particularly "#jan25" and "#Egypt". Two incisive and feisty bloggers, "Egyptian Chronicles" and "Baheyya" are also worth following.