This was the blog I didn’t expect to be writing after the #aitech event. Things were fairly cerebral, looking at wider issues. It’s now time to get down and dirty.
You see, we were shown a video of a couple of guys taking the rise out of politicians in Azerbaijan. It had been posted on YouTube by blogger Adnan Hajizade following a news story about how the Azerbaijani government had allegedly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars importing donkeys from Germany. (The deal is suspected by many Azerbaijanis to have masked some kind of corruption/misappropriation of funds.)
The video (humorously) questions the purchase of the donkeys, the introduction of restrictive legislation for NGOs and the low priority the government attributes to human rights.
Only now it’s not so funny. On Wednesday, a Baku court upheld the convictions of Adnan and fellow blogger Emin Milli sentencing them to over two years prison each.
International Women’s Day: ARTICLE 19 Affirms the Rights of Women with the Right to Free Expression
ARTICLE 19 joins the global community on International Women’s Day to celebrate the leadership and contribution of thousands of women around the world who strive for women’s equality and empowerment through their daily work.
ARTICLE 19 reaffirms the importance of gender equality as a key component of the right to freedom of expression. As ARTICLE 19 Executive Director, Dr Agnes Callamard, states: “Women’s voices are all too often silent in the media and other public spaces. Women must be heard and must be able to receive information on issues that affect them. Women journalists, activists, community leaders and others must be allowed and encouraged to articulate their views and tell their stores. They must be able to engage freely in their work, without fear of censorship, harassment or violence.”
ARTICLE 19 here reflects the experiences of just a few women who have stood up for freedom of expression in some of the countries in which we work.
We’ve all done it. Turned our icons green or pink or red. Or added a Twitter avatar. Retweeted a good cause. Posted something to a profile. Joined a fan page.
Social media makes it easy to support a cause, but to what effect?
Take Twitter. Things aren’t right in Iran, but somehow Iran is yesterday’s tweet. Haiti was so last month. Support is big, powerful and turns it’s glare on an issue, but it’s as fleeting as an article in yesterday’s paper.
Social media support for human rights can amount to little more than ‘slacktivism’ (coined by Kevin Anderson, the Guardian) or ‘mousey activism’ (coined by Annabelle Sreberny, Professor of Global Media and Communication, School of Oriental and African Studies).
communications | claireatwaves | 
March 11, 2010 11:42 am | 
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