Presented at the Australian Institute of International Affairs – ACT Branch, 18 August, 
2011
Transcript taken from http://www.aiia.asn.au/act-papers/doc_details/798-amro-ali-middle-east-specialist-and-satirist-transcript
A common question that I was asked by the Egyptian youth when I was in Tahrir Square
in Cairo was ‘what do Australian think of our revolution?’ I replied that they were very
impressed, but if you want to push an Egyptian youth’s buttons you just have to say ‘you
guys were inspired by Tunisia’. That is like Australia being inspired by New Zealand.
For a period I was travelling between Cairo and Alexandria quite often to study how
protests were organised and behaved in the two cities. When I was in Alexandra in what
was dubbed The Second Revolution, in late May, one of the lead protesters took out his
Smart Phone and found out through his Al Jazeera app. what was going on in Cairo. He
yelled to the crowd ‘our brothers in Cairo have reached one million’, the sub-text to that
being ‘we can do better’.
To understand Cairo and Alexandra, it is rather like the Melbourne-Sydney rivalry except
that one did end up being the capital city.
As trivial as this may seem, it is underscoring something that needs further discussion in
the discourse of the Arab Spring. They are all perceptions and influences – and the values
and narratives that shape and are shaped by them. I want to look at three aspects: Imagery
as an agent of change; Egyptian soft power and how this impacts on the Arab Spring and
finally where Australia fits into this emerging new Arab order. Continue reading “The Arab Spring, Egypt and Australia: The Intertwinement of Perceptions and Influences (Transcript)”