CAIRO: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange appears to take credit for the 18 days of protests that ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year in a MasterCard-styled parody ad published this week. While the ad itself has not sparked much interest among Egyptian activists, it does hit on issues of responsibility that have plagued the aftermath of the Egypt uprising. For many in Egypt, those who have come out and claimed responsibility for the uprising are misjudging the overall nature of the movement, which saw millions of Egyptians from all walks of life take to the streets in a unified call for a change in regime. Karim Ibrahim, a 38-year-old cafe worker, told Bikya Masr after seeing a report on the new ad that “these people are ridiculous and they just want to stay popular. The revolution was all of Egypt and this is why it won.” The ad is a parody of the “priceless” commercials from MasterCard and begins by showing the costs incurred by Assange in running WikiLeaks. “Twenty secure phones to assist in staying anonymous: $5,000. Fighting legal cases across five countries: $1 million. Upkeep of servers in over 40 countries: $200,000. Donations lost due to banking blockade: $15 million. Added cost due to house arrest: $500,000.” It then moves to images of Assange watching video of Egyptian protesters facing down riot police officers during the battle for the Kasr al-Nil Bridge in Cairo on January 28. A narrator speaks over the images: “Watching the world change as a result of your work? Priceless. There are some people that don't like change. For everyone else, there's WikiLeaks.” The reality is that Assange and WikiLeaks had little to do with the popular uprising that has changed Egypt's political scene. While the organization had revealed in secret American diplomatic cables that there was internal divisions growing inside the ruling government, it also published documents that said there was widespread apathy among the Egyptian people toward an uprising. Prominent Egyptian blogger Zeinobia wrote an entire post to the video headlined, “Dear Julian, It Was Not the WikiLeaks.” “The Egyptian revolution did not happen because of the WikiLeaks cables about Egypt and Mubarak. For the record, only very few cables were allowed to be published in Egypt,” she said. It is not the first time leading individuals have attempted to claim credit for the Egyptian uprising. Earlier this year, American Senator John McCain attempted to give credit away from the Egyptian people saying that Facebook played one of the most important roles in bringing down Mubarak. For Egyptians, the uprising is not over and those who attempt to take credit for what occurred on the ground are overstretching and “creating a kind of authority where they have none.” Activists told Bikya Masr on Thursday morning that they believe these attempts are just “part of the international community attempting to feel good about themselves and trying to believe they had a role in what we, as Egyptians, were able to do.” With Friday scheduled for a massive demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square, Assange's claims are likely to not make headlines in Egypt as Egyptians continue to push for change and reform. BM
