What appears to be a sudden upsurge of popular protests in Egypt has a history of gradually building political unity among all those opposed to Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian rule. It started a decade back with the coming together of political activists from the opposed streams of Islamic and secular political activism and has been nurtured through a vibrant and creative political practice which has relied heavily on the tools of new communication technologies and social media. This has not only helped create a new political public in Egypt, it has helped moderate the radical extremes which kept Mubarak's opposition divided.
