The courage in Egypt is breathtaking, Europe should push for it in leadership too - Hoofdinhoud
With the EU team at the Pyramids
I’ve just returned from Egypt: impressed by the courage and ambition I found, worried by some of trends I saw, and pleased that the Minister was willing to commit the open internet.
Deep inside one of the Pyramids in Giza (you can climb many stories into them! incredible experience), the guide turned and announced: “the problem with Egypt is that we talk too much about the things we DID, and nothing about the things we will DO.”
Coming from a man who talks about the past for a living, that got me thinking.
But I don’t agree with him actually. It might have been true of old Egypt but in the new Egypt we met this weekend, the young generation aims much higher. The entrepreneurs, human rights defenders, cultural leaders, bloggers and feminists - they have a resilience and courage that isn’t going to be bottled up again.
But the challenges are immense. Egypt’s youth is its greatest asset and its greatest risk. Without a networked young middle class to light the revolutionary torch, there would be no Egyptian democracy Equally, where will the two million homeless, illiterate children of Cairo be in a decade?
The answers have profound implications for the world, but especially for Europe. Egypt is on our doorstep, and there’s no point pretending otherwise.
So Egyptians have to make smart choices, and the EU has to support those smart choices.
I offered the comfort that while some revolutions may be peaceful, no revolution is quick or easy. Europe re-learnt that lesson 20 years ago. What counts most is how you build the revolution after the regime change has happened.
Building it on openness and inclusion is the only path to success.
It requires hard-to-assemble political organisation, competitive markets, equal rights, social tolerance and prudent international support. The closed thinking that permeates many current legislative proposals affecting civil society and women is really not the answer. I don’t buy the argument that these are cultural issues.
In the digital field, my job is to help investors and I would love to be able to say that on Europe’s doorstep there is Egypt, a great place to invest.
For this to have a deep credibility there will need to be more reform that makes certain the respect for rights and rules, for free and fair competition in the mobile and internet markets themselves, and which promotes digital literacy so there is a skilled workforce and a population with the skills to use all the new technologies. Not just some skills for some - but nearby evereybody.
Another point I tried to make during the visit is that connected thinking made the country alive to the possibility of freedom. And it is connected thinking that will deliver progress, because Egypt’s challenges are indeed connected.
I’ll also share here with you details of how the Egyptian IT minister pledged to support the open internet, and work to enhance multistakeholder governance of it alongside Brazil, the European Union, African Union and others in a new Global Internet Policy Observatory. Such a commitment would have been unimaginable under Mubarak.
And in the coming days look out here for collaborations and guest posts from some of the fascinating young leaders emerging in Egyptian society.