Wael Ghonim likens Egypt to Black Mirror TV show

Egyptian activist Wael Ghonim has likened events in Egypt to the science fiction television series Black Mirror in which a cartoon bear runs in municipal election and eventually makes it to the presidential office.

Ghonim’s sarcastic Facebook Post came hours after the arrest of presidential hopeful and former military chief of staff Sami Anan, who has been arrested and forcibly disappeared to prevent him from taking part in the presidential elections against the incumbent president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

The cartoon bear, according to Ghonim, would be a better option than politicians who are corrupt and disliked. In the current Egyptian context, the bear would be made of Egyptian cotton and it would be better than “a background actor coming to play a role in the comical play that is the [Egyptian] election,” he added.

The bear “would be more real than him. It would [be straightforward]. It would not fear confronting people and presenting its ideas. And it would not claim that it is wise or a philosopher,” he added.

Read: The fantasia of the Egyptian elections

Moreover, the bear “would not arrest its rivals or threaten them to withdraw from the election. The bear would admit to the mistakes it makes and would have a realistic vision of how to turn Egypt into a state of institutions…”

Ghonim concluded his post by proposing a name for the bear and its campaign, noting that the problem is that “there is no time to implement the idea”.

Seven years ago Wael Ghonim and other activists called for protests across Egypt on the 25 of January. Millions responded to the call and a popular uprising ousted long-serving president Hosni Mubarak.

Egyptian lawyer Samy Sabry filed a lawsuit against Ghonim, accusing him of deceiving Egyptians. A court case pursued stripping Ghonim of his nationality but it was rejected by the administrative court in 2016.

Read: Remembering the Egyptian Revolution