How did the Press miss this and tell me I am WRONG!

While the press around the world covered the incredible events taking place in Egypt and Tunisia over the last month, many times comments on the United States lack of care or involvement was pointed out.  Oddly, if you had watched the press closely on January 28th you would have seen a small little tidbit on a Wikileaks wire Sent in 2008 from the US Embassy in Egypt, to the United States.  In essence it says that the US Government had helped a young Egyptian man attend a special  summit called “Alliance of Youth Movements”.  And that when he returned to Egypt he was immediately questioned by authorities regarding this summit and his blue print he was given at the summit “confiscated”.  It goes on to detail His conversations with different potential government factions that could come into play in “2011” IF Egypt were to become a “Democratic state” and how the military would be government in between ….Folks this was in December 2008…United States played a HUGE part….and I wonder who the young man was?

Now what is most interesting is what you find when you look at what was taught at this “youth summit” and who was in attendance.

The agenda?

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Perspectives from the Front Lines

Location:

Columbia University School of Law (Morning)

8:20-8:30am	Welcome Remarks Matthew Waxman, Associate Professor of Law, Columbia Law School Watch Video »
8:30-8:40am	Opening Remarks Jason Liebman, CEO Howcast Screening of Howcast Hub Demonstration Video Watch Video »
8:40-9:20am	Keynote – Facebook: Origins and Tools for Social Change Dustin Moskovitz, Facebook Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz will reflect on the origins of Facebook and share his perspective on how the organization has grown into one of the world’s most important tools for social and political change. Dustin will also be fielding questions. Watch Panel »
9:20-9:50am	Intro to Building a Movement Against Terrorism James K. Glassman, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Remarks about the importance of using social networks to create social change and combat violent extremism. Setting the stage for Oscar Morales and One Million Voices Against the FARC. The Under Secretary will also be fielding questions. Watch Panel »
9:50-10:25am	Keynote – Building a Movement Against Terrorism Oscar Morales, Founder of “One Million Voices Against the FARC” Oscar Morales, founder of the One Million Voices Against the FARC movement, will discuss how in just one month, he used online platforms and new media to build the largest movement against a terrorist organization in the history of the world. Oscar will also be leading a discussion. Watch Video »
10:25-10:45am	Coffee Break
10:45-11:45am	Perspectives: Building a Global Movement Session will feature organizations, which while originating from humble beginnings online, have evolved into successful transnational non-profits. Panel: Janessa Goldbeck, Genocide Intervention Network Imran Jamal and Sophie Lwin, Burma Global Action Network [Watch Burma Global Action Network Video] Andrew Burnette, Save Darfur Coalition Chris Sarette, Invisible Children Moderator: Tim Kash, MTV VJ Watch Panel »
11:45-11:50am	Screening of Howcast video “How to Be an Effective Dissident”  http://www.howcast.com/flash/howcast_player.swf?file=88612&theme=green
11:50-12:35pm	Overcoming Adversity, A Case Study from Egypt A discussion about Egypt’s pro-democracy youth movements and the importance of the online space in Egypt to speak out in favor of democracy and human rights. Moderator: Matthew Waxman, Associate Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
12:35-1:45pm	Lunch
1:45-2:45pm	Perspectives: Addressing Violence at Home Session will focus on groups that have used online platforms to address domestic violence at home. Each group will speak for 10 minutes and Whoopi Goldberg will then lead a discussion. Panel: Herman Lochner, One Million People Against Crime in South Africa Sharon Singh and Gemma Alway, The People’s March Against Knife Crime Felice Gorodo and Veronica Valdes, Roots of Hope/Raíces de Esperanza Jamie Tworkowski, To Write Love on Her Arms Moderator: Whoopi Goldberg, Host of ABC’s “The View” Watch Panel »
2:45-2:50pm EST	Screening of Howcast video “How to Smart Mob”  http://www.howcast.com/flash/howcast_player.swf?file=88587&theme=blue
2:50-3:40pm EST	Perspectives: Taking Action to Address Political Process Session will focus on groups that have organized to address a political situation, increasing transparency and diversity in the political process. Panel: Elie Awad, Youth for Tolerance Ceren Kenar, Genç Siviller (Young Civilians) Juan David Lacouture, No Mas Chavez Moderator: Luke Russert, NBC Watch Panel »
3:40-4:00pm EST	Coffee Break
4:00–4:50pm EST	Perspectives: Mobilizing in a Challenging Environment The panel represents groups who have been effective at mobilizing in challenging environments. Panel: Rana Abdulaziz, Saudi Women Petitioning the Government for Driving Rights Mark Wachtenheim, Día de Solidaridad con Cuba/CAMBIO Elias Kuri, Iluminemos México Moderator: Nicole Lapin, CNN Watch Panel »
4:50–5:00pm EST	Wrap Up  Roman Tsunder, Access 360 Media Watch Video »
6:30pm EST	Red Carpet, MTV Studios, Time Square

Friday, December 5, 2008

Best Practices and Moving Forward

Location:

Columbia University School of Law

8:45-8:50am EST	Day 3 Introductory Remarks Jason Liebman, CEO Howcast Watch Video »
8:50-9:40am EST	How to Begin: Taking It to the Streets Creating or responding to events (local, national, global) to get a movement off of the ground. Crafting a movement’s short and long-term goals. Planning activities, events, marches, protests, both traditional and innovative, and transitioning to new issues and methods after short-term objectives are met. Panel: Felice Gorordo, Raíces de Esperanza Ceren Kenar, Genç Siviller (Young Civilians) Stephen Smith, Community Organizer Jamie Tworkowski, To Write Love on Her Arms Moderator: Larry Diamond, Journal of Democracy and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution Watch Panel »
9:40-10:40am EST	Rebooting Politics 2.0: A Conversation with the Obama Campaign’s New Media Team The 2008 Presidential Campaign saw unprecedented use of new media tools to engage young people in the presidential campaign. The lessons learned from the campaign have broader applicability than just politics as they are some of the same approaches being used by civil society movements all across the world. We will sit down with some of the critical people behind President-elect Obama’s new media team to hear their perspective. Panel: Joe Rospars, 2008 Barack Obama Presidential Campaign, New Media Director Andrew Rasiej, Personal Democracy Forum Sam Graham-Felsen, Director Blogging and Blog Outreach, Obama for America Scott Goodstein, External Online Director, Obama for America Joe Green, Causes and Project Agape Moderator: Micah Sifry, Personal Democracy Forum Watch Video: Obama Across America: Seeing the Big Picture Watch Panel »
10:40-10:50am EST	Coffee Break
10:50-11:50am EST	Break-out Sessions: Building New Movements Online Session will bring together delegates and observers for a working session on how observer organizations can build an online component to their existing grassroots efforts. Watch Video »
11:50-12:50pm EST	How to Get Media Attention: Engaging and Inspiring the Media Session to focus on reaching out to and using the media to enhance a movement’s exposure and engage the broader public. Focused on how to get the media involved, what the media can do, and ways to engage them. Panel: Ian Rowe, MTV Luke Russert, NBC Nicole Lapin, CNN Adam Kushner, Senior Writer at Newsweek International Moderator: To be announced at Summit Watch Panel »
12:50–1:45pm EST	Lunch Break
1:45-3:00pm EST	Utilizing Digital Media for Social Change Session will look at new digital media platforms and how they can be leveraged to affect social change. Panel: Dustin Moskovitz, Facebook Joe Green, CEO Causes and Project Agape Amy Webb, CEO Webb Media Group (See >Amy’s List of Links.) Katie Stanton, Google Richard Robbins, Marketing Director AT&T, Media Innovation Moderator: David Kirkpatrick, Senior Editor Fortune Magazine Watch Panel »
3:30-3:35pm EST	Screening of Howcast video “How to Circumvent an Internet Proxy”  http://www.howcast.com/flash/howcast_player.swf?file=90601&theme=green
3:45-4:30pm EST	How to Stay Safe: Safety, Law, and Security for the Social Movement Session to focus on the safety issues (both internet and government related) regarding the administration and engagement of youth oriented social movements in hostile or challenging environments. How to protect privacy, ensure safety of membership, avoid being shut-down, etc. Panel: Chris Michael, Witness Sherif Mansour, Freedom House Peter Rosenblum, Director of Columbia Law Human Rights Program Moderator: Shaarik Zafar, Department of Homeland Security Watch Panel »
4:30-5:45pm EST	Breakout Sessions: Moving Forward Delegates will convene to discuss the major deliverables from the summit and a plan of action for moving forward. Session will also focus on observer organizations—who they are, what they have learned, and what they will go back to their respective countries to do in light of the summit—building grassroots movements based online which harness the tools they have learned at the conference. Watch Video »
5:45-6:00pm EST	Closing Remarks Stephanie Rudat, Philanthropist Watch Video »

People of note at summit :

AT&T 19Patricia A. Jacobs, Ph.D., Regional Vice President – International Public Affairs 19Howcast 19Jason Liebman, Co-founder and CEO Howcast 19Alex Ellerson, Senior Vice President of Business Development & Legal Affairs 19Daniel Blackman, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer 193 / 26 youthmovements.howcast.comDarlene Liebman, Co-Founder & Vice President of Production 19Sanjay Raman, Co-Founder & Vice President of Product Development 19Jeffrey Kaufman, Vice President of Programming and Content Development 19Tessa Barerra, Communications Manager 19Rachel Silver, Executive Assistant 20Google 20Megan Smith, Vice President New Business Development, Google 20Gisel Hiscock, Director of New Business Development for Europe, Middle East and Africa 20Katie Stanton, Principal in the New Business Development Team, Google 20Facebook 20Chris Kelly, Chief Privacy Officer and Head of Global Public Policy of Facebook 20MTV 21Ian Rowe 21Gen-Next 21Michael Davidson, CEO Gen-Next 21Paul Makarechian, Founder and Chairman, Gen Next 21Sean Sassounian, CEO, SAS Textiles 21U.S. Department of State 22James Glassman, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs 22Jared Cohen, Policy Planning Staff, Office of the Secretary of State 22Andy Rabens, U.S. Department of State 22Farah Pandith, Senior Advisor, U.S. Department of State 23Glen Roberts, Advisor, U.S. Department of State 23D. Marie Tyler, Policy Planning Staff, U.S. Department of State23Adnan Kifayat, Senior Advisor, U.S. Department of State 23Alexandra Abboud, Editorial Director, American Life and Culture America.gov 23Guests 24Craig Hatkoff, Co-Founder, Tribeca Film Festival 24Derek Brown, Peace Appeal 24James Haven 24Marc Sageman, Founder, Sageman Consulting 24Ambassador Stuart W. Holliday, President and CEO, Meridian House 24Susan Bean, Senior Vice-President and Partner, FleishmanHillard New York 25Pat Keane 2

Google, Facebook and US State Department really stand out to me.

The most interesting part of the summit is the handbook that was given and any youth anywhere in the world can use, by simply going online and reading it.  It’s a blue print on how to use social media to further causes like “pro democracy” No where did I read anything about the fall of a regime to hand it over to yet another bad one.  The causes that the youth were there learning to promote are wonderful causes as have been the ones at subsequent summits.

But the press everywhere MISSED this! Why? Because it might shed a different light on the events that occurred and that seem to continuing to occur?  That the chance that the young people of nations actually have stood up to dictators in the 3 years plan in the making to have the nation they could only dream of that is free?

No, I am sure it makes much better news to the Glen Becks who want to cause fear in everyone that we are on the verge of the end of times and all will be killed by a religion he refuses to learn anything about other than to fear and hate it.  I am sure to many news agencies it is better to say this is another 1979, and that the youth of these countries are too stupid to have learned from the past of the world, to have not have a well planned out action plan, because they took 3 years to set into motion events that took days to evolve into miraculous events before our eyes.  I am sure that people who took 3 years to plan this action didn’t plan beyond the moment of the fall of the government, that that is as far as the plans went.

And having done my reading and fact finding on my own and learning of the events on my own and not what I heard on Fox News or CNN, I think I can safely say, I am sure the United States government never just sat back on this and watched.