Revolution in Cairo: The Power to Organize

FRONTLINE just released an investigative report that gives a behind the scenes look at two organizations at the center of the Revolution in Cairo--the secular youth movement and the muslim brotherhood. Overall, the report gives great insight into how organizational power and the power to organize came together in a unifying force that toppled a 30+ year dictator. The missing social force behind the Revolution in Cairo, which was only briefly eluded to in the FRONTLINE portrayal, was the Egyptian people who had experienced economic hardships and political repression. For example, for years the Egyptian economy has been struggling with economic inequality, inflation, unemployment, and poverty. Thus, while the two dominant organizational groups--secular youth movement and muslim brotherhood--used their power to organize successfully, the full story needs to take into account the large economically deprived population of the Egyptian Society that fundamentally were the foot soldiers in the Revolution in Cairo.

As the protest movement in Egypt sent shock waves throughout the country -- and the world -- FRONTLINE dispatched teams to Cairo for this special report. "This is a story that no one could have predicted, and everyone now wants to know more about," says FRONTLINE executive producer David Fanning. "We're using our new monthly magazine to be able to respond quickly to timely events and help fill the need for added depth and insight on these important breaking stories."

In this hour's lead story, Revolution in Cairo, FRONTLINE gains unique access to the April 6 Youth Movement as they plot strategy, then head out into Cairo's Tahrir Square, hoping to bring down President Hosni Mubarak. The film traces these young Egyptian activists' long road to revolution, as they made increasingly bold use of the Internet in their underground resistance over the last few years. Through sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the members of April 6 and related groups helped organize a political movement that the secret police did not understand and could not stop, despite the arrest and torture of some of the movement's key members.

For the second story, The Brothers, veteran Middle East correspondent Charles Sennott of GlobalPost is on the ground in Cairo for FRONTLINE to investigate the Muslim Brotherhood, the controversial but poorly understood Islamist political movement that's poised to play a key role in Egypt's future. While the group was absent in Tahrir Square when young demonstrators first ignited Egypt's revolt, the Brotherhood assumed a larger role over the course of the protests, taking frontline positions in rock-throwing battles with regime supporters and helping to run emergency medical clinics. Now that the Muslim Brotherhood stands to take a prominent place at the negotiating table, we examine what the group believes and how it may influence politics in the country and the region.