The article on "tools for communication rights"
might be of interest to some of you.
warmest,
jac
-----------------------------------------------
**PLEASE DISSEMINATE WIDELY**
(apologies for cross-posting)
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**GENDERIT.ORG EDITION: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION &
INFORMATION**
-----------------------------------------------
I. Small Thoughts Around:
* Freedom of Expression & Information
II. New Articles:
*Community radios and feminist voices against repression in
Brazil
*Tools for Communication Rights in Malaysia
*Culture, local traditions, and taboo - Challenges to the
full
expression of women's voices
*A 'Women's Commons'? An Exploratory Dialogue on the
Potential of the
Knowledge Commons for
Women
*Will women really benefit from the digital revolution?
III. Featured Resources:
*Access Denied: The Impact of Internet Filtering Software on
the Lesbian
and Gay [version 2.0.]
* The Media Freedom Internet Cookbook
* Gender Harassment on the Internet
IV. Call for Contributors
V. New Features
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
I. SMALL THOUGHTS AROUND...
*Freedom of Expression & Information*
World Press Freedom Day was celebrated on 3rd of May. Yet
this year
alone, 21 individuals all over the world have been killed
because of
their work as journalists, and many more are missing
(Committee to
Project Journalists). As new digital communications
technologies enable
new opportunities for the creation, expression and
dissemination of news
and perspectives, these spaces are not invincible from the
policing of
State and other equally impactful, but often submerged,
socio-political
norms. GenderIT.org explores the gender dimension of
freedoms of the
freedoms of expression and information.
This edition has been difficult in coming. We arranged for
an interview
between guest writer and ICTs advocate, Katrin Verclas, with
Manal
Hassan, a prominent communications rights activist based in
Egypt. This
was also aimed to be in support of Alaa Abdel Fatah, her
partner and
also active blogger on freedom of speech, who was detained
together with
more than 300 activists during a peaceful protest on 7th May
2006. They
were arrested under the Egyptian Emergency Laws allows for
15 days
detention without trial that can be indefinitely renewed.
More than a
month later, and after a third renewal of the 15 days
detention, Alaa is
freed and continues to blog with Manal in follow-up of the
other
activists still in detention [http://www.manalaa.net/].
On 12 June 2006, several thousand participants in a peaceful
women's
rights protest who demanded changes to family laws and legal
discrimination against women in Tehran faced extreme
violence. A large
number of police and security forces arrived at the scene,
and ended the
protest by attacking the crowd with batons, and pepper gas.
According to
the spokesperson for Ministry of Justice , 70 persons were
arrested
during the course of this protest. However, this does not
include the
arrests that happened prior to the protest, where women's
rights
activists, student activists and also bloggers were summoned
to court
and interrogated. Since then, others have been summoned for
interrogation by phone or in writing, including Sussan T, an
active
women's rights and ICTs advocate from Iran. We contacted
Sussan to help
render visible the situation that women rights activists are
currently
facing in Iran, and to issue a call for support.
Understandably, at such critical moments, finding time and
resources to
write or engage in interviews is difficult. Prioritising the
urgency of
these two events, genderIT.org decided to postpone the
edition for a
month while attempting to continue our contact with both
Manal and
Sussan. It has been a troubled month of silence.
These two events demonstrate louder than ever that the
spaces for us to
freely speak our minds, opine our thoughts, access
information and
engage in democratic processes is narrowing. As such, this
edition is
also a call for the renewal of commitment towards these
fundamental
freedoms.
For more information about the situation in Iran, please
visit:
[http://www.wluml.org/english/actions
fulltxt.shtml?cmd%5B156%5D=i-156-538618.]
For the status of the internet in Iran, see: �Access is
denied: a report
on the status of the internet in Iran�
[http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?apc=r90480-e919
26-1]
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
II. NEW ARTICLES
*Community radios and feminist voices against repression in
Brazil*
The repression against community radios in Brazil reaches
important
social projects and initiatives such as Novo Ar - a
community
association and radio station led by Gra�a Rocha. In this
interview to
GenderIT, Gra�a provides details about the repression that
Brazilian
community radios experience and highlights the critical role
that women
play in the radio and in the community: "women resist
better. Here in
Novo Ar, women are the majority � and although we feel
exhausted
sometimes, we never give up, we keep struggling".
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?w=a&x=94794
* Tools for Communication Rights in Malaysia*
Jac sm Kee speaks with one of the most vocal media and
communication
rights advocate in Malaysia, Sonia Randhawa, through an
online messenger
platform about motivations, communication technologies,
rights,
democracy, tactics and gender. Sonia currently sits as the
Executive
Director of the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ).
Apart from
conducting regular trainings on independent media and
communications
strategies, CIJ is also developing community radio
programmes that
innovatively combine �old� and �new� technologies
� radio and the
internet � through Radiq Radio.
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?w=a&x=94522
*Culture, local traditions, and taboo - Challenges to the
full
expression of women�s voices*
Popular communicators that work in community
radio-telecentres in
different states of Brazil talk about their achievements and
apprehensions concerning the complete freedom to express
themselves. As
members of the Cyberela Network (Red Cyberela) developed by
the feminist
organisation Cemina, the communicators explain the reasons
behind their
self-censorship and how they gradually overcome taboos and
prejudices
through their work with microphones and screens.
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?apc=a--
e94775-1&x=94775
*A Women's 'Commons'? An Exploratory Dialogue on the
Potential of the
Knowledge Commons for Women*
The idea of the 'commons' has been contestedly understood
as being both
a principle of understanding content and creative products,
and a
community that supports the sharing of information and
creative content.
It is also directly linked with subverting current
Intellectual Property
Rights paradigms, where ownership and control of
information, knowledge,
and content has been commodified. So what exactly is so
'new' about the
'commons'? Looking at the four paradigms where ideas about
the 'commons'
are supposed to operate, perhaps it is possible to see if
developments
towards a Knowledge Commons resonates with feminist
tactics/agendas/isms.
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?apc=a--
e94793-1&x=94793
*Will women really benefit from the digital revolution?*
The book �The Gender Digital Divide in Francophone Africa,
a Harsh
Reality� written by Marie-Helene Mottin-Sylla has just
been translated
into English by APC, the Association for Progressive
Communications. On
this occasion, Sylvie Niombo, Deputy Coordinator of APC�s
Africa-Women
Programme, interviewed Marie-Helene on the content of the
book.
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?apc=a--
e94795-1&x=94795
Visit the collection of a wide variety of other resources
and articles
related to this issue on the communication rights section:
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?apc=i90480-e--1
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
III. RESOURCES
*Access Denied: The Impact of Internet Filtering Software on
the Lesbian
and Gay [version 2.0.]*
A survey of how internet filtering software, and ratings
systems affect
the lesbian and gay community. "Access Denied"
contains sections
analysing the legal, political and social implications of
enforced
invisibility on the web. It also includes testimonials from
lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender persons, who are those most
directly
affected by the lack of access to important information via
the web or
internet. The report offers recommendations for industry
leaders on how
to make the internet both friendly and fair.
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?w=r&x=94799
*The Media Freedom Internet Cookbook*
The Media Freedom Internet Cookbook offers recommendations
and best
practices, the results from the 2004 Amsterdam Internet
Conference of
the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. Among
others, it looks
at "The Role of Filtering Software in Internet Content
Regulation", and
documenting the number of cases how the filters may
'accidentally'
censor websites, and educational materials regarding AIDS,
drug abuse
prevention, sexual and reproductive rights, or teenage
pregnancy.
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?w=r&x=94798
*Gender Harassment on the Internet*
The paper examines the nature and types of gender harassment
occurring
on the net, including possible causes of this online
offense. It also
explores whether online gender harassment rises to the level
of an
actionable claim, and will examine some of the inherent
problems in
pursuing such claims, as well as pursuing criminal charges
against
offenders.
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?w=r&x=91153
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
IV. CALL FOR CONTRIBUTORS
GenderIT.org is *still* calling for contributors 
If you have something exciting to share, or if we can help
communicate
your event, campaign, insights and reflections to a wider
audience,
please send us an email (jac AT apcwomen DOT org).
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
V. NEW FEATURES for GenderIT.org readers
GenderIT.org has recently launched a RSS feed, which stands
for Really
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To subscribe to RSS feed for GenderIT.org
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For more details about what is RSS, why is it useful, and
how it works,
see our help page: http://www.gen
derit.org/en/rsshelp.php
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
*CopyLeft. 2005 APC Women's Networking Support Programme
(APC WNSP)*
Permission is granted to use this document for personal use,
for
training and educational publications, and activities by
peace,
environmental, human rights or development organisations.
Please provide
an acknowledgement to APC WNSP.
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