I found myself being confronted with the issue of anonymity and accountability in different ways at the AWID Forum. At the Feminist Tech Exchange (FTX) and Connect Your Rights events that took place just before the Forum, we discussed about the different and increasingly sophisticated ways that interneti
technologies have been used to erode any sense of anonymity online.
I found myself being confronted with the issue of anonymity and accountability in different ways at the AWID Forum.
At the Feminist Tech Exchange (FTX) and Connect Your Rights events that took place just before the Forum, we discussed about the different and increasingly sophisticated ways that internet technologies have been used to erode any sense of anonymity online.
In 2001 while working at Agenda, a South African feminist academic journal, we produced an edition titled ‘Globalisation: challenging dominant discourses’. The journal problematised the realpolitik of a global neo-liberal economic system that was marked by developing countries’ indebtedness, the rise of the market and the devastating consequences of structural adjustment policies for women of the global South.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the internet has entered into almost all spheres of our lives today. From falling in love to falling into debt, organising your wedding to the next mass demonstration, getting to know our rights to more efficient delivery of government services, the internet has changed the way we relate, engage and participate in the different dimensions of social, cultural, economic and political life.
When I saw this quote on Mozilla's new Collusion website: "If you're not paying for something, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold - Andrew Lewis." I felt it summed up the economics tool boxi
session on Commodification of Knowledge that APC led at the 2012 AWID Forum quite nicely. The session, organised by APC, brought together speakers to spark debate and reflection, but the audience vibrated with insights and was full of feminists eager to deepen discussion on the commodification of knowledge.
When I saw this quote on Mozilla's new Collusion website:
If you're not paying for something, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold. - Andrew Lewis
I walked in late to the jam-packed session “Bringing Gender i
to the Streets: Young Women Amidst the Arab Uprisings” at AWID Forum 2012. This was not a session about technology or the interneti, but it was a common strand running through each presenters' activism and evidence-building for women's rightsi, even and perhaps especially in the midst of revolution.
I walked in late to the jam-packed session “Bringing Gender to the Streets: Young Women Amidst the Arab Uprisings” at AWID Forum 2012. There was standing room only, and I sidled my way in between interpreter booths.
I'm sure we've all seen amazing testimony videos of incredibly sensitive subjects: of women who choose to have abortion and share why despite risking imprisonment in their country for this act of taking control of their bodies; lesbians who come out fighting against "correctional rape"; rural women living in isolated regions sharing stories of cultural violence. I cringe and wonder - do they know, did they realize - we would see their testimony - way across the world, that anyone close or near could see it. Are they at risk because of this?
I’m sure we’ve all seen amazing testimony videos of incredibly sensitive subjects: of women who choose to have abortion and share why despite risking imprisonment in their country for this act of taking control of their bodies; lesbians who come out fighting against “correctional rape”; rural women living in isolated regions sharing stories of cultural violence. Their voices are loud and passionate, their names sometimes blaze across the screen, clear images of their faces and their surroundings dance through them all.
The question in the headline elicits a complicit smile. Have you ever? Or have you spied on their new partner? Or have you googled someone you just met and liked a lot? At the interactive session on “Privacywww.privacyinternational.org/survey/phr2003/overview.htm,
epic.org/privacy/gender/default.html">www.privacyinternational.org/survey/phr2003/overview.htm,
epic.org/privacy/gender/default.html" class="glossary-indicator">i and pleasure” that was held as part of the 2012 AWID Forum there were a variety of participants, of diverse ages, that raised their hands, recognizing that both Facebook and Google are tools not just for finding friends, but also for watching and following the lives of the people who interest us, or that we should have stopped being interested in, but who are still in some corner of our hearts.
The question in the headline elicits a complicit smile. Have you ever? Or have you spied on their new partner? Or have you googled someone you just met and liked a lot?
Images of amazing infographics and heart-wrenching campaigns circled us in the recent "Using information design in advocacyi
for women's rightsi" workshop at AWID Forum 2012. Maya and Faith from Tactical Tech led us in a provocative session, where small groups focussed on just one of six questions about each "ad" or campaign image as they toured the room. Questions to tackle included: who did the team think the ad was geared at, what did they learn, what would they change about the ad, etc.
Images of amazing infographics and heart-wrenching campaigns circled us in the recent "Using information design in advocacy for women's rights" workshop at AWID Forum 2012. Maya and Faith from "Tactical Tech":http://tacticaltech.org led us in a provocative session, where small groups focussed on just one of six questions about each "ad" or campaign image as they toured the room. Questions to tackle included: who did the team think the ad was geared at, what did they learn, what would they change about the ad, etc.
A graceful tree glimmering with scarves and blue beads to ward off the evil eye greeted us every day during the 12th AWID Forum: Nazar Degemesin – “May the evil eye not touch her”.
Every morning participants could share their message and hang the bead, scarf and satchel (and coin if they had one) for another participant to find at the end of the day.
Flavia from GenderIT.org based her feminist talk on Maria Suárez Toro’s notes for the session “Harnessing the Power-Politics of Communications: A New Edge for Feminist Transformative Activism” that took place during the 12th AWID International Forum on Women’s Rights in Development. The session was organized by APCWNSP and took place on 12 April 2012 in Istanbul. María Suárez Toro, from the initiative ESCRIBANA shared some interesting notes describing their work developing feminist autonomous capacity to communicate feminist perspectives and women’s voices under the motto: “In the midst of destruction, open way for creativity”.
_Flavia from GenderIT.org based her feminist talk on Maria Suárez Toro’s notes for the session “Harnessing the Power-Politics of Communications: A New Edge for Feminist Transformative Activism” that took place during the 12th AWID International Forum on Women’s Rights in Development. The session was organized by APCWNSP and took place on 12 April 2012 in Istanbul.
In a trend that is becoming all too familiar, distribution of an alleged gang rape video has again made the news this week. Like the Jules High School case, the cell phone video went viral and was finally reported to the police by an upset parent who found the video on a teenager’s cell phone. The video triggered outrage online among netizens, with many users expressing their anger using the hashtag #RapeVideo on Twitter. Sadly, at the same time, a number of social media users made requests to see the video and jokes about it.
In a trend that is becoming all too familiar, distribution of an alleged gang rape video has again made the news this week. Like the Jules High School case, the cell phone video went viral and was finally reported to the police by an upset parent who found the video on a teenager’s cell phone. The video triggered outrage online among netizens, with many users expressing their anger using the hashtag #RapeVideo on Twitter. Sadly, at the same time, a number of social media users made requests to see the video and jokes about it.
Who said we should write things in our own names? It makes it personal. Today there was a debate at AWID Forum about a letter that was distributed criticising the exclusion of a certain discourse in the MENA region, and a point that was used to attack the letter was that it was not signed, you can't identify the authors of the letter, and no one "to take responsibility" for its content.
