Egyptian Tech Activist Ali Shaath Dies

Egyptian tech pioneer and activist Ali Shaath died of a heart attack Wednesday. He was 45.
Shaath, a computer engineer, was the co-founder of the Arab Digital Expression Foundation, a non-profit that runs summer camps for Arab youths ages 12 to 15. The camps focus on “adding Arabic digital content, enabling more varied voices in the Arab World and promoting active and artistic expression.” He spoke of the changes that came from these youth camps at TEDxCairo in 2012.
In addition to summer camps, the ADEF strongly advocated for more Arabic-language and open-source software. Shaath also co-founded the Egyptian Association for Free and Open Software, which criticized the Egyptian government for spending $44 million on Microsoft licenses rather than using locally adapted open-source software.
Egyptian journalists and bloggers mourned Shaath’s death on social media and remembered his contributions to the Arab Spring and Egyptian society.
“Ali was a visionary and a revolutionary mind, who spent decades working on encouraging uplifting Arab digital expression,” Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey told Mashable. “He believed in free knowledge for all people and dedicated his life in that pursuit, never once losing his legendary smile or spirit.”
Shaath was the son of Palestinian leader and Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Shaath.

Nelson Mandela, South African Anti-Apartheid Hero, Dies

Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa and the anti-apartheid hero, has died at the age of 95.
South Africa President Jacob Zuma confirmed Mandela's death on Thursday. In a televised address, Zuma said, "Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father." Mandela died at 8:50 p.m. local time.
Mandela passed away after almost a month of being in intensive care. He was admitted into a Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, on June 8 with a recurring lung infection, an illness that traces back to his years in prison. During the rule of the white racist government and apartheid, Mandela spent 27 years behind bars, before being freed in 1990 and becoming South Africa's first black president in 1994.
The tweet, below, was sent from Mandela's account after the announcement of his death.

“Death is something inevitable.When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people&his country,he can rest in peace” #Madiba
— NelsonMandela (@NelsonMandela) December 5, 2013

You can read Zuma's speech in its entirety, below:

My Fellow South Africans,
Our beloved Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the founding President of our democratic nation has departed.
He passed on peacefully in the company of his family around 20h50 on the 5th of December 2013.
He is now resting. He is now at peace.
Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father.
Although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss.
His tireless struggle for freedom earned him the respect of the world.
His humility, his compassion, and his humanity earned him their love. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Mandela family. To them we owe a debt of gratitude.
They have sacrificed much and endured much so that our people could be free.
Our thoughts are with his wife Mrs Graca Machel, his former wife Ms Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, with his children, his grand-children, his great grand-children and the entire family.
Our thoughts are with his friends, comrades and colleagues who fought alongside Madiba over the course of a lifetime of struggle.
Our thoughts are with the South African people who today mourn the loss of the one person who, more than any other, came to embody their sense of a common nationhood.
Our thoughts are with the millions of people across the world who embraced Madiba as their own, and who saw his cause as their cause.
This is the moment of our deepest sorrow.
Our nation has lost its greatest son.
Yet, what made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves.
And in him we saw so much of ourselves.
Fellow South Africans,
Nelson Mandela brought us together, and it is together that we will bid him farewell.
Our beloved Madiba will be accorded a State Funeral.
I have ordered that all flags of the Republic of South Africa be lowered to half-mast from tomorrow, 6 December, and to remain at half-mast until after the funeral.
As we gather to pay our last respects, let us conduct ourselves with the dignity and respect that Madiba personified.
Let us be mindful of his wishes and the wishes of his family.
As we gather, wherever we are in the country and wherever we are in the world, let us recall the values for which Madiba fought.
Let us reaffirm his vision of a society in which none is exploited, oppressed or dispossessed by another.
Let us commit ourselves to strive together – sparing neither strength nor courage – to build a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.
Let us express, each in our own way, the deep gratitude we feel for a life spent in service of the people of this country and in the cause of humanity.
This is indeed the moment of our deepest sorrow.
Yet it must also be the moment of our greatest determination.
A determination to live as Madiba has lived, to strive as Madiba has strived and to not rest until we have realised his vision of a truly united South Africa, a peaceful and prosperous Africa, and a better world.
We will always love you Madiba!
May your soul rest in peace.
God Bless Africa.
Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika.