The following is an edited excerpt from Rusha Latif’s new book, Tahrir’s Youth: Leaders of a Leaderless Revolution. The book challenges the idea that the Egyptian revolution was spontaneous and leaderless through a study of the organised youth who sparked it, specifically the activists of the Revolutionary Youth Coalition (RYC). The excerpt explains the strategy conceived by the organisers to help Egyptians, especially those of lower class backgrounds, overcome their fear of the police and join them en masse in the streets on January 25, 2011. Twenty secret locations were announced on social media sites, which served as a decoy from a 21st secret location.
The activists I interviewed confirmed that the secret strategy for the January 25 protest was the brainchild of April 6 activist Mahmoud Samy, a dapper and astute young man recognized for his clever innovations in street-protest tactics.
