On July 13th, I attended an event at the New America Foundation: How to Ignite, or Quash, a Revolution in 140 Characters or Less, which looked at the promise and limitations of technology in spreading democracy. July 13th also happened to be my birthday, and one of the most special messages I received that day came in the form of a tweet from Ghada Shahbender (@ghadasha), an Egyptian human rights activist and one of this year’s winners of the James Lawson Award.
Posted in Events
Tagged Ahmed Al Omran, Alaa Abd El Fatah, Bahrain, civil resistance, digital activism, egypt, facebook, Ghada Shahbender, Global Voices, human rights, internet, James Lawson Award, kefaya, Merlyna Lim, Michael Posner, net neutrality, New America Foundation, nonviolence, otpor, Rebecca MacKinnon, revolution, Sami Ben Gharbia, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Jeans, Syria, Tahrir, tunisia, twitter
Yesterday I participated in a panel discussion event organized by Viet Tan – an organization that engages in actions that empower the Vietnamese people. Specifically, they seek to roll back existing restrictions against two key human rights: freedom of expression and freedom of association and assembly. These enabling freedoms are the pillars for civil society (Viet Tan).
The event looked at the role of social media in the nonviolent uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt and whether or not there are any relevant connections that can be made between those who engaged in civil resistance and digital activism in Tunisia and Egypt with those who continue to struggle in Vietnam. I had the pleasure of speaking alongside to amazing activists and organizers. Continue reading to learn more…
Posted in Presentations
Tagged cairo, civil resistance, dalia ziada, digital activism, duy hoang, egypt, facebook, gwu, hanoi, nonviolence, social media, tunisia, twitter, viet tan, vietnam, youtube
Daryn R. Cambridge 