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Remembering Ali Shaath: A beautiful mind 1984 might have Orwellian connotations for many, but for me it was the year my life took a completely different turn due to Ali Shaath, who sadly passed away on 4 December
Anyone who grew up in the 1980s remembers the buzz around those mysterious new machines called computers. From sci fi movies, features in newspapers and magazines, to “experts” talking on the two miserable Egyptian state television channels – the “future of mankind” seemed to rest on that electronic device, which very few of us knew anything about. I recall my father talking with enthusiasm about this new invention. Books, brochures and magazines he used to bring home from work dealing with this new technological revolution called personal computing. Those HUGE electronic machines which had to be housed in massive air conditioned halls, now have shrunk to the size of a box on your desk. It didn't take long for my father to convince the seven-year-old me to get on that bus, in the summer of 1984, which would take me to the first Arab CompuCamp to "study computers," as he put it. It was a life changing experience. I spent roughly a month with dozens of Arab kids, mainly from Palestine, doing what kids do best: play. We ran, swam, played chess, competed in sports, sang and danced – but more importantly, twice a day we attended classes about computer programming. We would spend hours studying Logo, Basic and Pascal – all obsolete today, but back then there was a true wow factor about how you could work your brain and come up with formulas to move this 'Logo turtle' forward or backward, draw geometrical designs, and command with your voice a small robot on wheels. This camp, and the others I attended annually, were also my introduction to the Palestinian cause. Living, learning and receiving education alongside Palestinian children meant never ending chats about their homeland, the Israeli occupation, the diaspora in refugee camps. I was learning more in conversations with Palestinian kids than from any book or film at that age. This experience fostered a deep held belief in our common destiny and the bigger picture where progress in the region means science and education serving the cause of human liberation. Those CompuCamps mushroomed quickly in the following years, and were held simultaneously in other Arab countries. They created a new generation of Arab youth who were drawn to technology as well as political activism – trying to come up with an algorithm for social change. Today, I hardly meet an Arab techie in his late 30s or 40s who did not pass through those camps during his childhood. Friendships and networks were forged in the pre-internet age. The main driving force behind those camps and similar projects was a young Egyptian Palestinian named Ali Shaath. As a teenager, Ali organised the camps and brought together thousands of Arab kids, in one of the biggest independent education projects this region has witnessed, between 1984 and 1994. He went on to pioneer several other projects that focused on technology, education, culture and the promotion of open source in the Arab world. Ali's list of achievements, as well as his contribution to the activist scene, needs volumes to write about. His devotion to the cause of education, science and progress, led him to revive the CompuCamps in 2005, together with his wife, veteran writer Ranwa Yehia, under the name Arab Digital Expression Camps, and in 2009 they established the Arab Digital Expression Foundation (ADEF) that provides a unique venue for supporting independent projects related to technology, free flow of information, art, music, poetry, science and children's education. Ali passed away from a heart attack on the night of 4 December 2013 at the age of 46. His name might not be known to many, because he preferred working in silence and modesty. His heart stopped beating, but his beautiful mind remains alive in the projects he founded and the dreams he inspired of scientific progress. Please join us at the journalists syndicate on Thursday at 6pm to honour his memory. *Arab Digital Expression Foundation invites friends of Ali to commemorate his life with his friends, family, colleagues and partners at its headquarters in Moqattam on Saturday 11 January at 12 o'clock. 143 8 Street, Moqattam, Cairo http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/91205.aspx
