http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/world/middleeast/10youth.html?src=twrhp
If you go to the link above you can read the New York Times take on the young, wired and very very shrewd Egyptians who have helped coordinate the riots in Egypt. The riots, of course, were precipitated by a rise in food prices.
These young, wired and shrewed professionals like, Wael Ghonim from google were the brains, nerve system and glue that got things going. Ghonim has been named as a key spokesman of the movement.
I think these events have great significance for the foreign investor and the need for the investment to be sustainable for the investor and the country. Does anyone out there think these young professional wired and oh so very clever people will not care about their country's food security? Or that they won't be able to mobilize support for or against foreign investment? With access to the web becoming a global prerequisite for commerce do people think that young professionals globally will be using the web, blogs, text messaging and cell phones more and more?
According to the Times, here are some of their latest projects:
*Using anonymity of the Internet to elude the secret police
*Planting False Rumors
*Conducting field tests in slums
*Planning weekly protests to preserve resources
As so many big players have learned, it's a whole new connected web wide world of food and ag. Fast, smart, young and wired may be able to beat (or at least hamper) big, slow and wealthy enough that big and wealthy has to pay more attention that it might have wanted to.
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