Thanking Wael Ghonim in Person

When the uprising in Egypt erupted, the Islamic Republic was full of it. All their media outlets were directed to broadcast the uprising as an Islamic revolution following the footprints of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. According to the Islamic Republic's propaganda machine, Egypt's revolutionaries looked up to the leaders of the Islamic Republic and wanted to establish an Islamic Republic in Egypt.

When Iran's state TV and its English speaking channel, Press TV pined at the brutality of Mubarak's regime, it was rank hypocrisy at its best which was rubbing salt on our wounds.

So when a photograph of Wael Ghonim, the Google employee and one of the pioneers of Egypt's pro-democracy protests, showed him wearing a green wrist band, we were all hoping that he was wearing it in support of the Green Movement in Iran. We were then told Wael's wrist band was to raise awareness about the victims of the flood in Pakistan and so our hopes were once again dashed. The wrist band he wore was neither to do with Iran's Green Movement nor with Pakistan's flood, it was coincidental, but Wael Ghonim did make the following statement:

“I would tell Iranians to learn from the Egyptians, and we have learned from you guys that at the end of the day with the power of people, we can do  whatever we want to do.  If we unite our goals, if we believe, then all our dreams can come true”

As I wrote back in February, with this one message of solidarity, Wael Ghonim, destroyed all the efforts made by the Supreme Leader's regime in Iran to hijack the Egyptian uprising. It was a huge moral boost to the Green Movement in Iran and energised the protests which then took place in Iran on 14th Feb, where people's main slogan was "Mubarak, Ben Ali, its your turn next Seyyd Ali (Supreme Leader)"

Today, I had an opportunity to meet Wael Ghonim at Google's Bigtent event in person, to thank him for his support of Iran's Green Movement and make him aware how important his message of solidarity was.