Egypt and Al Jazeera: Television Slingshots Another Revolution

By Brian Deagon
Hearing from experts about the uprising in Egypt stands apart as one of the most illuminating METal breakfast events I have attended in more than 8 years.

What is the root cause of the Egyptian eruption, how might it end and will it disrupt the entire Middle East were discussed by a panel of experts at the event, attended by about 90 rapt business professionals in Marina Del Rey, Calif., on Saturday. It could have been right out of CNN, as commandeered by METal founder Ken Rutkowski.

The main event began with a Skype teleconference call with Mohammed Nanabhay, the head of online Al Jazeera, English, based in Doha Qatar.

Nanabhay first noted that the upheaval in Egypt was preceded by the revolt in Tunisia, rocked by demonstrations in mid-December then riots that culminated with the ouster of the country’s president. It was reportedly caused by high unemployment, inflation, corruption and squalor, the spark being the self-immolation of a jobless young man.

Events unfolded so fast that news groups were unprepared. It was Tunisian citizens that sent the initial video footage and messages to social media sites for the first glimpse on what happened.
There is a parallel here to Egypt. Panelists agreed that economic conditions are the root cause of upheaval in Egypt.

“It’s a real populist movement,” said Nanabhay. “The people want change. And watching such a large mass of people demonstrating is such an amazing site”

Much of what’s taking place in Egypt has been posted to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, such as the video at the top of this site. If you haven’t seen the video yet, stop reading and watch. It is powerful and has more than 1.6 million views.

Simon Mainwaring and Phillip Seib

Another panelist at the METal event, Phillip Seib, professor of Journalism and Public Diplomacy and International Diplomacy at University of Southern California, said that while social media sites have contributed to the dissemination of information, its role is secondary to that of what’s showing on Al Jazeera’s TV and Web site. Al Jazeera’s coverage has been the real driving force that is uniting the masses – and explains why the government of Hosni Mubarak tried to kill the messenger.

Seib said only 17 million Arabs in this region are on Facebook – an area of 22 states and 350 million people. Less than 20% have an Internet connection, but “satellite dishes are everywhere.”
“While it is easy to become infatuated with the role of social media, this is yet another television revolution,” he said.

Seib did give social media credit for this: Al Jazeera is aggregating what they are pulling off social media sites and redistributing that to a vast audience.

The event was moderated by Simon Mainwaring, a recent METal “Focus Guy” and a highly accomplished speaker, author, blogger and branding consultant.

The event included a phone call by Mainwaring to his Uncle, Amr Zaki, a Cairo based lawyer who has closely followed and participated in the events (Mainwaring’s spouse is Egyptian).
Zaki said the uprising is connected to failed efforts by Mubarak’s government to initiate economic reforms for a market economy. Instead, it turned into “crony capitalism.”

“The economic reforms never materialized in the past 30 years,” said Zaki.
A lot of the wealth went to the wealthy and that walloped job growth. Of college graduates in the age range of 20 to 30, about 35% are unemployed. “Some of them work as shoe shine boys,” he said.

Asked how long the unrest could last Seib said, “I think it will simmer down. The adrenaline rush can only last so long.” He added, “Mubarak is finished and there will be elections. The only question is who will prevail.”
Also here was Inman Jihad Turk, Director of Religious Affairs at the Islamic Center of Southern California.

Asked what role religion plays in the current upheaval he said, “Like in most societies worldwide, religion plays a relatively minor role,” though it is often used “to rally and organize people.”
The primary factor in the Egyptian uprising is economic, of people struggling, “trying to live normal lives.”
Even the Muslim Brotherhood, an old and large Islamic political group “is well adjusted on the whole, wanting to engage in a pluralistic society.” As a political party the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is not a large enough force to dominate the outcome of elections.

“They would have to be part of an alliance,” said Turk. “Muslims want democracy.”
Turk also backed up what Zaki said about the root causes of the problem in Egypt
Egypt has a very small middle class, a very wealthy elite, and a mass of poor. “That is the challenging economic reality.”

Alright now, on to what else took place at METal and this bond of brothers.
Saturday was the official end of our latest Focus Guy, Richard Gibbs, one of the many talented men of METal. Among his talents, Gibbs was a former member of “Oingo Boingo.” He is a highly accomplished music composer who simply rocks!

Among the things Gibbs wanted help on was promoting his music recording studio in Malibu.
METal man Bobby Owsinski, author, musician, songwriter and long-time music industry veteran said this: “I’ve been in studios all over world and would say this is one of the top five. The location, the construction, the beauty and the utility. It’s different than anything else you will see.”

Gibbs said this about being the Focus Guy and what he observed: “The point of being the focus guy is not that you focused on me, but that I became focused. I learned a lot about how to focus.”
Now, about the NEW Focus Guy, Stephen Meade.

Personally, I can’t say enough about Stephen, whom I have known many years. He is one of the coolest, most enthusiastic and brilliant people I know and a highly dynamic entrepreneur. Stephen and I have one particular strong connection. We thoroughly enjoy talking about intelligent life beyond Planet Earth. I hope Stephen doesn’t mind me saying but if you really want to get him going ask him about what took place on Planet Mars a long time ago. 

Stephen is working on some projects now that literally could change the world.
I will wrap up with “The Quigley Report,” from William Quigley of Clearstone Venture Partners, who does his weekly presentation at the METal breakfast.

He talked about how more venture capital firms are starting to raise money from overseas and are, among other places, looking at the Middle East.

“I wonder how Egypt unrest affects that,” he said. “It’s definitely a negative.”
Quigley also told a fascinating story about Pandora, now the No. 1 music site.
The company launched in March 2000, which was “a shitty time.” Four years later no company employee had yet taken any salary. One employee, said Quigley, was maxing out his 12^th credit card. The company had made 347 pitches to investors over three years and struck out each time. That is stunning in that most founders, after about a dozen strikeouts in funding attempts, head for the painkillers and wonk out. At one point, down to just $25,000, the founders considered betting it on black at the roulette table, figuring their odds of winning were better than their odds at betting on investors. The Pandora execs, on try No. 348, got $5 million in financing and the company took flight. It is now rock solid and is considered an IPO candidate this year.

This reminds me of something Jay Samit said to me over lunch on Friday. Jay is a dynamic businessman and entrepreneur. His current company, SVnetwork is rewriting the rules of advertising in the 21st Century. What he said and showed me about SVnetwork blew me away and I will be making it the subject of a story I will write for Investor’s Business Daily.

What Jay has noted over his extensive career is that founders who cash out some or most of their stake in a company and receive huge sums of money lose their momentum to innovate. Once the twenty-something whiz kid is loaded down with cash, the mind tends to lose focus. That might explain why Pandora kept pushing the envelope. The founders stayed hungry.

When Quigley finished Ken reitereted the value of networking. Here’s what he suggested: Put $15 on a Starbucks card. When you go to Starbucks to order, tell the cashier that you also want to pay for whatever the person behind you is getting, only don’t tell the person behind you. That person will come up and thank you. That opens the door to start a conversation. And you never know who you might meet. One time, the person Ken bought the drink for was Gary Busey, who would not stop talking to Ken, even when Ken walked out the door to his car!
Dear reader, If you got to the end here I am so thankful, and impressed!

I had a lot of ground to cover. I spent a good chunk of my day on this and on learning more about WordPress. The message here is that the page will get better and so will my writing.
I am in the process of finding my voice and the direction I want to take this blog site.
As always, I welcome your suggestions. Today I named the blog site “Rocket Science.”
That’s just me. Let me know if you think it sucks or have a better idea. You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter @BrianDeagon.

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