Syrian Activists Circumvent Regime Censorship
Despite the Syrian regime’s relentless crusade to ban activists from sending and receiving information in their country, dissidents have found a number of ways to stay connected. Here is a brief overview of three methods they use.
1) Proxy servers:
Dima, a young Syrian activist from Damascus, told Movements.org,“most of the websites that are important to us are banned. All of the local media outlets that oppose the regime cannot be accessed from Syria."
For example, local websites, like SHRIL (Syrian Human Rights Information Link) that is run by famed Syrian activist Razan Zaitouneh, are blocked in Syria. SHRIL contains links to hundreds of websites that are currently banned, some of which were blocked years before the beginning of the revolution in Syria.
All4Syria is a website run by Syrian intellectual Ayman Abdel Nour. The regime banned his website in 2004 because it discusses issues considered taboo. To read more, click here.
1) Proxy servers:
Dima, a young Syrian activist from Damascus, told Movements.org,“most of the websites that are important to us are banned. All of the local media outlets that oppose the regime cannot be accessed from Syria."
For example, local websites, like SHRIL (Syrian Human Rights Information Link) that is run by famed Syrian activist Razan Zaitouneh, are blocked in Syria. SHRIL contains links to hundreds of websites that are currently banned, some of which were blocked years before the beginning of the revolution in Syria.
All4Syria is a website run by Syrian intellectual Ayman Abdel Nour. The regime banned his website in 2004 because it discusses issues considered taboo. To read more, click here.
Latest News
Iranian Officials’ Phobia of Grouponing
The Internet has become the Iranian government’s worst nightmare, whether it used to organize a gathering (click here to read more about the Iranian teenagers who were arrested for participating in a water gun fight), post one’s thoughts on a blog or another form of social media, or simply to try to save some money.
Group couponing websites such as Groupon, Living Social and Buy with Me are American sensations whose popularity has spread abroad. These websites offer various services for a limited time at discounted group prices. Three Tehran-based websites, Takhfifan, Netbarg and Iroopon, are pioneers in this field in Iran. But the government’s propaganda TV news program “20:30” aired a report that accused the websites of being a scam and asked officials to shut them down.
Title: Online Activists Chide Saudi Grand Mufti
Saudi Grand Mufti Abdul-Aziz bin Abdullah Al-Sheik criticized women vendors for selling goods in public places when he gave his sermon during the Jumma prayer earlier this month, stating that this behavior would result in “a tremendous moral crisis”. This statement follows July’s mandate from Saudi Arabia’s Labor Ministry directing stores that sell lingerie and cosmetics to replace salesmen with women.
To view the rest of this artice, click here.
How to get past Internet filtering (if you aren’t concerned about being detected or monitored)
There are a number of techniques to get past Internet filtering. If your aim is simply to reach pages or services on the Internet that are blocked from your location, and you are not concerned whether other people can detect and monitor your circumvention, these techniques may be all you need:
HTTPS
using alternative domain names or URLs to reach blocked content
using third-party Web sites to reach blocked content
using e-mail gateways to retrieve blocked Web pages over e-mail.
How to add context to your YouTube videos for maximum impact
Many people argue that for activists YouTube is actually the most powerful social network. YouTube allows activists and citizen journalists in countries without free media to capture events happening on the ground and share them with the rest of the world. By recording (or streaming) human rights abuses, violence against peacful protestors, or even non violent demonstrations activists can harness the power of video to gain support for their causes and movements.
CASE STUDY: The PInk Chaddi Campaign
In late January 2009, a group of 40 activists from right-wing Hindu group Sri Ram Sena attacked women and men hanging out in a pub in the Indian city of Mangalore. They were upset with the women for engaging in behavior they found immoral, claiming that the girls were disrepecting traditional Indian values. Video of the event went viral across India, sparking outrage among many at the attack on innocent women.
Pramod Muthalik, the group’s founder, praised the attack, stating, “Whoever has done this has done a good job. Girls going to pubs is not acceptable. So, whatever the Sena members did was right. You are highlighting this small incident to malign the BJP government in the state.”
Following the attack, the Sri Ram Sena announced plans to target couples out celebrating Valentines Day, threatening to forcibly marry off unmarried couples seen in public places.
How could women and men react to this right-wing group attempts at “moral policing” and take a stand before future attacks?
Egyptian Blogger on Egypt’s Future
Amidst Egyptian elections, CyberDissidents.org caught up with Dalia Ziada, a young Egyptian blogger, activist and parliamentary candidate in the El-Adl (Justice) Party. Ranked third in a recent survey, the Justice Party is mostly comprised of young activists who participated in the revolution, Dalia among them, and places women in advanced positions on their party lists. Dalia says her party is trying to find the balance between the extremists, Islamists, and the former members of Mubarak’s National Democratic Party. As a young woman activist, Dalia promotes liberal rights and women’s rights in Egypt, believing that an Egyptian can be both liberal-minded and a pious Muslim.
CD: During the Egyptian revolution, you were saying that everyone likes the military. Do you think that has changed?
DZ: No, the majority of people still like the military, but people in Tahrir Square are different. On TV recently, I watched a crowd of people saying, “We still want to have the military in power, even if we have a civilian leader. We still want the military.”
CD: Why?
DZ: They like the military. They feel safer with the military. Also, don’t forget the Israel issue. People feel like there is some kind of foreign enemy, and the only way to protect themselves from this enemy....to read the rest, click here.
How to get an SMS short code
Short codes are shorter versions of telephone numbers that provide increased functionality with SMS. They typically provide automated services to people who text them. One advantage of short codes is that organizations can charge special rates for texting to a short code. For example, the American Red Cross charges users five dollars to text “GIVE” to 24357, which is an extremely convenient donation method for supporters. Short codes can also be free to text to, which is used to encourage interaction between and organization and the community. For example, an organization can mass message members and ask for a vote on a decision. Community members can text their votes for free, allowing an organization to easily get feedback from supporters.
Facebook Profiles Reveal Young Women’s Obsession to Post Pictures of Body Parts
The following article was posted on arabnews.com on January 9, 2012. To view the original, click here.
Journalist Mariyam Jaber said she found several social websites where just the body parts of what appears to be Saudi women are displayed, such as feet, just the body or even fingernails, but without betraying her identity.
“This reveals a woman’s desire to liberate herself from social restrictions and express herself, and Facebook or other networking sites are the easiest platforms to achieve this,” she said.
The number of Saudis on Facebook is estimated at 2.3 million out of the 5 million in the Gulf. According to figures, 29 percent of Saudi Internet users visit Facebook and women under 25 account for 48 percent of all Internet users in the Kingdom.
“Most women on social networking sites use fake names. By displaying parts of their body and sometimes in glittering colors, young women must be achieving some sort of gratification or release of their emotions while anonymity guarantees them immunity from social censure or parental displeasure,” said Amal Al-Saleh, a university graduate. She added that many women prefer to present images resembling singers.
They display a passion for posting photos accompanied by minute details of their personal life on Facebook.
From the archives: How to Organize and Communicate a Non-Violent Protest using Protest4 App
Protest4 is an application that helps you connect with other protesters around the world and in the next street. It empowers anyone to create a protest and then invite others to join using social media. After joining you can communicate exclusively with other people who are following that protest, sharing text and publishing images on the same protest wall in real time.
From the archives: Using Language to Evade Online Censorship in China
Officially, Chinese law prohibits media content that could “endanger the country by sharing state secrets. In practice, this includes everything from dissident sites and news servers such as CNN and the BBC, to sexually explicit content and even health sites. As a result, netizens and the Chinese government engage in a game of cat and mouse, where each constantly maneuvers to outsmart the other. Controversial websites are routinely blocked, search results are filtered, and online forums are peppered with posts from the government employed propagandists. But infamous government censors notwithstanding, China maintains a robust online culture - bloggers, activists, and ordinary internet users find unexpected and inventive ways to get their voices heard. That doesn't mean they are talking politics - most aren't - but those that do have, thus far at least, continued to identify new and innovative ways to keep the conversation going despite censorship.
2011 was a BIG year
2011 was a BIG year for human rights and democracy activists using online and mobile technology for their movements and campaigns. Across Africa, MENA, Asia, and all over the world passionate non-violent activists have been able use Facebook, Twitter, Bambuser, Protest4, YouTube, SoundCloud, and more as a 'megaphone' to the rest of the world as they advocated for their rights. We are crowdsourcing the most inspiring articles, videos, and images from 2011 according to YOU! Using the hashtag #INSPIRATION share the memes that mean the most to you and we'll include them in our end of the year post.
