A new revolution
Even before his death, many observers felt Osama bin Laden’s terrorist tactics had been upstaged by the success of recent civilian protests and public uprisings in the quest for Arab liberation. Some now see Bin Laden’s death as the end of an extremist era, replaced with a more moderate age of civil engagement and empowerment. Two central figures in this new civil movement came to speak at MIT just days before Bin Laden’s death. Ahmed Maher, 30, and Waleed Rashed, 27, are co-founders of the April 6 Youth Movement, an Egyptian Facebook group that mobilized thousands of citizens to take to the streets in protest, leading to the February overthrow of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Maher and Rashed participated in a Starr Forum event, sponsored by the Center for International Studies and Technology Review. In a panel discussion moderated by Jason Pontin, editor-in-chief of Technology Review and MIT’s director of...