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Basem Fathy is an Egyptian political and civic activist who co-founded many Egyptian initiatives that worked for democracy before the January 2011 revolution, such as the April 6 Movement, the ElBaradei Campaign, and the Egyptian Democratic Academy. He has also worked as a Projects Director with different Egyptian and international NGOs that focus on democracy in Egypt.
Two big misconceptions have been circulated about the Egyptian revolution in January 2011: first in the international media, research, and policy circles, and second inside Egypt itself through the Egyptian media. In the international sphere, the misconception was that the Egyptian revolution was a “cute” Facebook, social media, social network, or internet revolution (in which scrappy youths banded together over the internet to create change). Inside Egypt, the second misconception is that it was a pre-planned, organized, orchestrated, well-led revolution.
