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Category: Campaign of the week

Palestine Digital Activism Forum

Discussing the challenges and possibilities of Palestinian Digital Rights


26/03/2021

7amleh — the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, is preparing to host the Palestine Digital Activism Forum in its fifth and digital edition, which will begin in 29 March and last until 1 April. PDAF 2021 brings Palestinians together from all over the world to discuss the challenges and possibilities of Palestinian digital rights. The forum has wide universal, global, regional and local participation, which will open the space for people from all over the world to share their different experiences in the digital world.

The theme of the forum will be “Palestinian Digital Rights during and after the Coronavirus Pandemic.” The forum will host more than 35 digital events, including political discussions and digital talks that engage issues relating to digital rights. It will also host multiple workshops and trainings, that aim to develop and advance the practical skills of participants in different areas. This year’s forum will also host a number of exclusive talks and workshops which will be the first of their kind in Palestine and the Arab world, such as Twitter’s session on Social Change, a Q&A with Facebook on content moderation policies, and a session with Instagram on Social Good. In addition, we will host a very important conversation about the Palestinian elections in the digital era and the age of social media.

80 speakers will join our events from all over the world, such as the inaugural Director of Human Rights Product Policy at Facebook, Miranda Sissons, who will speak in the Facebook Q&A, and the Head of Public Policy, Government & Philanthropy for the Middle East and Afghanistan and Pakistan at Twitter, George Salama. Further, in the first day of the forum, the deputy manager of the Norwegian Institute for Public Health will join us to talk about the protection of medical data, which will give us the opportunity to discuss the questions and privacy concerns that were raised recently in this regard.

We will also be joined by the chief of the section of Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists at UNESCO, Guilherme Canela, as well as Juri Schnoller who will join us in a workshop on the best practices in political campaigns and communication. Further, in the first and second days of the forum, we will have Palestinian inspirational speakers, including the Palestinian-American comedian Amer Zahr, and the youngest journalist in the world Janna Jehad, in addition to other experts and activists who will share their different experiences with us at the forum.

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These activities will be organized in partnership with 70 local, regional and global partners, such as UNESCO, Amnesty International, UN Women, Access Now, United Nations Population Fund, as well as some of the largest social media companies, such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

We hope that this year’s forum will transcend barriers and borders, and offer a safe and common space for the different groups of people who are interested in the digital world and in Palestinian digital rights, as well as a space that brings Palestinians together from all over the world.

Free Ahmed Samir

Campaigning for the release of the political prisoner in Egypt


19/03/2021

Free Ahmed Samir advocates for the release of Ahmed Samir Santawy, a master student in Central European University in Vienna who has been arbitrarily detained in Egypt on trumped-up charges since 1 February. He was denied access to legal representation and contact to his family

Ahmed is studying anthropology at the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna, doing research primarily on women’s rights and the history of reproductive rights in Egypt. After Ahmed left for his family in Egypt for the semester break, he was summoned by the police in Cairo. On February 1, 2021, officers arrested him. Ahmed was detained and interrogated for five days without any contact with his family or legal counsel.

Ahmed was formally charged with “joining a terrorist organization”, “deliberately spreading false news and data”, and “use of a private account on the Internet to spread false news or data”. These charges are based on screenshots from a Facebook account which allegedly belongs to him. His pre trial detention has already been extended 3 times without a hearing or lawyers. This prolonged pre-trial detention is often used in Egypt to arbitrarily detain human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and opposition politicians.

During the February-6 hearing, Ahmed reported that he had been subjected to beating, and ill-treatment by the National Security Agency during his interrogation on February 1, 2021. He was reportedly slapped on the face and severely beaten during the three-hour interrogation, in order to force him to confess crimes he did not commit. He was blindfolded and handcuffed for prolonged periods of time in the days following the interrogation. His lawyers requested his referral of to the forensics in order to verify the allegations of ill-treatment, but the prosecution did not order it and no investigation has been opened into these allegations.

Ahmed’s detention is the latest case in a series of imprisonments of falsely-accused international students and researchers. The actions against Ahmed coincide with the one-year anniversary of University of Bologna postgraduate student Patrick George Zaki’s illegal imprisonment, and echo the cases of PhD students Walid al-Shobaky and Giulio Regeni.

The targeting of scholars and students by the Egyptian security apparatus is part of a larger agenda to silence open discussion and intellectual production. Ahmed’s academic work deals with the history of family planning in Egypt, and advocates safe and legal access to healthcare procedures for women. His work is an example of the critical importance of scholarship for the present that we all inhabit. We refuse to stand for the Egyptian state’s attack on academic freedom, in Ahmed’s case in particular, and the cases of all persecuted scholars, in general.

Ahmed Samir Santawy is a prisoner of conscience. He is innocently in custody and must be released immediately. He was arrested for doing research, for pursuing knowledge and being curious. Academic freedom and the ability to pursue knowledge is vital to keep us progressing, Ahmed should not be in prison, he needs to be free. Free Ahmed!

On Saturday 20th March, there will be a protest in Berlin for Ahmed’s freedom. It will take place at 3pm at the Rathaus Neukölln. Please go down to show your support.

Here is how you can also support the campaign:

  • Sign the petition for Amnesty

  • Follow the campaign on social media Free Ahmed Samir

  • If you have any media/political/NGO contacts, please contact us at freeahmedsamir@gmail.com

#free_ahmed_samir

United Against Turkish Fascism

Armenians, Kurds, Yazidi and Turkish people united against ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide


12/03/2021

We have come together as members of the Armenian, Kurdish, Yazidi, Assyrian, and Turkish communities to fight the Turkish state and fascist movement by advancing mutual solidarity and common self-defense. The dire need to recognize and connect each other’s struggles has only increased in recent years, but it was the war on
Arzach/Karabakh which killed over 5,000 Armenians and ethnically cleansed over 40,000 over 44 days last Fall that was the shock which caused our group to form.

Unfortunately, many Armenians have felt a false sense of security within the borders of their state. The genocide in Shengal and attack on Kobane by ISIS in 2014 with Turkey’s logistical support, followed by the block-by-block destruction in 2016 of Kurdish cities like Sur, Cizre, and Nusaybin, among others, and then the invasion and brutal ethnic cleansing of Afrin and Serekaniye in 2018 and 2019 made it clear which shape and trajectory the expansionist and fascist elements in Turkey were taking. Some in our group were involved in solidarity with the resistors at the time, but we could say that the majority of Armenian society was sleeping at the time for various reasons we will not get into here.

But it is not just in our homelands that our communities are threatened by Turkish fascism. In Germany, the largest and most organized rightwing extremist group are not Nazis, according to the Federal Agency for Civic Education, but the Grey Wolves (Ülkücü), with an estimated 18,000 members. We have met many Armenian, Yazidi, and Kurdish migrants who have hidden their identity due to fears of racist targeting, including both physical attacks and psychological attacks, such as genocide denialism.

This brings us to a central point: A perpetrator that does not recognize and account for a crime will usually continue that crime. There has been a huge mistake in promoting the idea that recognition of the Armenian Genocide is in any way a historical issue. Truly recognizing the genocide as a genocide entails acknowledging why it occurred: that it was part of an overarching project of Turkification of former Ottoman territories, which had planned the annihilation of Christian minorities and assimilation of the Kurds.

Assimilation took the form of the denial of the existence of Kurds, instead categorizing them as “Mountain Turks”, criminalizing the language and banning any political representation. The greater project of Turkification or Turanism has never been rescinded and continues as a National project to this day. That is the real reason the genocide cannot be recognized.

Therefore, among our demands as a group is the immediate recognition of, and accountability for, the Genocide by both Turkey and Germany, which played a huge role as a military ally to Turkey both 100 years ago, as well as during the depredations and ethnic cleansings of the last years. All wars and attacks on our peoples must cease
immediately.

It is in that sense that we decided to organize our next demo in honor of Soghomon Tehlirian. Come out on the streets with us to show our numbers against Turkish Fascism!

Follow us on facebook

Alliance of International Feminist*s – Berlin

Intersectional feminists against racism, colonialism, capitalism, patriarchy and imperialism


05/03/2021

We are different groups, networks and people who define themselves as women* and/or trans*people, who are organized in Berlin since 2015.Our feminism is intersectional and positions itself against all power structures and relations such as racism, colonialism, capitalism patriarchy and imperialism.

We, the Alliance of internationalist Feminists believe self-organization and self-defense is our strength in fighting against fascism, capitalism, patriarchy and white supremacy. Our struggle has been here all along and is connecting us around the whole world. We stand hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder together. Because the fight of each sister* is the fight of all sisters*. Let us show our determination and autonomy beyond borders. Another world is possible.

Let’s be organized.
Let’s be uncompromising.
Let’s dream big.
Let’s stand up.

CONTACT AND FOLLOW

Email: b.int.fem@gmail.com
FB page: Alliance of Internationalist feminist – Berlin
Instagram: @allianc.int.feminist
Twitter: @Int_Feminists

No Border Assembly

Meeting space to organise resistance against borders


26/02/2021

Who are we?

Since 2020, the No Border Assembly is a Berlin-based weekly meeting-space to organize resistance against borders and deportations. We stand for the following:

  • We believe in total freedom of movement & the right to stay for all: no borders, no deportations!

  • We are convinced of the power of non-state, leaderless movements, collective organizing and practical mutual solidarity.

  • The fight against borders and deportations is linked to fights against any form of oppression (sexism, ableism etc.), the fight against racism, neo-colonialism and capitalism.

What do we do?

Currently, No Border Assembly has some ongoing projects, but it is a space open to any initiative for resistance against borders and deportations, including regular demo’s and actions. Current projects include:

  • we manage the Deportation Alarm, where we publish warnings about upcoming charter-deportations, so there are more possibilities to hide and resist. Also, we keep track of which charter-deportations happened, from which airport and with which airline company.

  • we organise the campaign #Abschiebefrei, which targets Lufthansa as Germany’s biggest deportation profiteer. Most deportations from Germany happen on Lufthansa’s planes and so far we held 2 online social media storms to confront Lufthansa and shame them into stopping collaborating with deportations.

  • we visit Lagers and accommodations where people are resisting their deportations: we have collected different tactics people are using and share them in an info-flyer: Resistance against Deportations

  • we promote Soli-Asyl: the practice of opening up rooms so people can hide from deportation.

  • we organise Anti-Deportation Café: a regular Küfa that aims to be a meeting space and a possibility to gather donations in people’s struggle against deportation.

How to take part

This is an open assembly. Anyone who would like to organise against borders and deportations and can live with what we stand for, is welcome to join our assembly.