Democratic Development
New Media vs Repressive Regimes: Democratic Development and the Freedom of Expression
Video of the event
A panel discussion presented by Rights & Democracy as part of its Cross-Canada Dialogue Series
Opening remarks by Rémy M. Beauregard,
President, Rights & Democracy
Wael Abbas, renowned Egyptian journalist, blogger and human rights activist
Megan Boler, Professor at the University of Toronto, author of Digital Media and Democracy
Micheline (Mika) Lévesque, Program Officer at Rights & Democracy, and project manager for supporting Democratic Voice of Burma’s
underground journalists
Free public event by RSVP.
The panel will be webcasted live on our website. Web participants will be invited to submit their questions online.
Wednesday, October 7th,
5 PM to 7 PM EST
Fountain Room, National Arts Centre,
Ottawa
* Simultaneous translation will be available *
Background
The recent uprisings in Burma, China, Iran and Zimbabwe demonstrate the growing importance of new forms of media as alternative sources of information in authoritarian states. No doubt, such media do offer an avenue for the freedom of expression, but do they ultimately enhance democratic development?
Some argue that alternative media such as blogs, text messages, cell phone videos and similar means do not have much of an impact on the power structures within authoritarian regimes. They certainly irritate and embarrass such regimes, and are a means of exercising the freedom of expression, but they do not lead to profound change. Others present the opposite view, arguing that through alternative media citizens claim their right to the freedom of expression, and this eventually leads to other demands for political and civil rights, undermining authoritarian rule.
Rights & Democracy currently implements democratic development programmes that address the issue of the freedom of expression in Burma, China, Jordan, Morocco and Zimbabwe. This roundtable explores the question further through dialogue and debate between practitioners, policy makers and academics.
Speaker Biographies
Wael Abbas
Wael Abbas is an internationally renowned Egyptian journalist, blogger and human rights activist who blogs at Misr Digital (Egyptian Awareness). He reported an incident of mob harassment of women, and broadcast several videos of police brutality. His actions lead to the conviction of police for torture, but he has been harassed by the Egyptian government, and his accounts with YouTube and Yahoo were closed. YouTube has since restored his account and most of his videos. Facebook has deleted Wael's account. In 2008, he turned down an invitation to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush. Abbas has earned himself many distinctions: Egyptians Against Corruption Award 2005/2006, journalism award by the International Center for Journalists in 2007, Human Rights Watch's Hellman/Hammett Award in 2008. The BBC considered him one of the Most Influential People in the year 2006 and CNN recognized Abbas as the Middle East Person of the Year in 2007.
Megan Boler
Megan Boler is an Associate Professor, in the Department of Theory & Policy Studies, at OISE, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, and the editor of a number of books including most recently, Digital Media and Democracy: Tactics in Hard Times (2008). She is also a poet, a writer of fiction, and is currently finishing a children’s story. She co-authored the Web-Based Teaching Guide to accompany The Corporation, a documentary directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott, in 2003. Her research focuses on people’s creativity within digital media and is centrally focused on progressive politics, social movements, and social justice issues through the lens of digital political media. She is currently completing a three-year funded research project, “Rethinking Media, Citizenship and Democracy: Digital Dissent after 9/11,” through interviews and surveys she examines the motivations of producers of “digital dissent”--practices of digital media to counter mainstream media. She teaches philosophy, cultural studies, feminist theory, media studies, and social equity courses in the Teacher Education program, and media studies at the Knowledge Media Design Institute at the University of Toronto.
Micheline (Mika) Lévesque
Mika has been Regional Officer for Asia at Rights & Democracy since 1995. She holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy and has undertaken doctoral studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston. She lived for several years in Asia, in the Middle-East and Mexico, including five years working in an Indochinese refugee camp in Thailand.
Resources available online or at our Documentation Centre
BARNEY, Darin. -Prometheus Wired: The Hope for Democracy in the Age of Network Technology. -Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001. -254 p.
BOLER, Megan (ed.). -Digital Media and Democracy: Tactics in Hard Times. -Cambridge [Mass.]: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008. -464 p.
GOLDFARB, Jeffrey C. -The Politics of Small Things: The Power of the Powerless in Dark Times. –Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. -168 p.
HATTOTUWA, Sanjana. -New Media and Conflict Transformation: Potential and Limits. [Online]
http://www.securitytransformation.org/bli.php?id=2 (Accessed: 30 September 2009)
“How new media bring Burma to the eyes of the world” in The Guardian [Online]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2007/sep/27/newmediabringsburmatothe (Accessed: 6 October 2009)
FREEDOM HOUSE. -Freedom on the Net: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media. –Washington [DC]: April 2009. -123 p.
http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/specialreports/NetFreedom2009/FreedomOnTheNet_FullReport.pdf
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH.-Race to the Bottom: Corporate Complicity in Chinese Internet Censorship. -New York: HRW, August 2006. -149 p.
http:. www.hrw.org/en/reports/2006/08/09/race-bottom
LASICA, J.D. –“Blogs and Journalism Need Each Other” in Nieman Reports. -Vol. 57, No. 3, Fall 2003. -pp. 70-74.
http:. www.nieman.harvard.edu/assets/pdf/Nieman%20Reports/backissues/03fall.pdf
« Media under attack» in The Unesco Courier [Online], no 4, 2007.
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=37619&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html (Accessed: 6 October 2009)
MYDANS, Seth “Technology vs. Tyranny” in The New York Times Upfront [Online], October 5, 2009.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/upfront/features/index.asp?article=f111907_Burma (Accessed: 6 October 2009)
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS. -Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents – Paris: 2005. -87 p.
http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/handbook_bloggers_cyberdissidents-GB.pdf
RIGHTS & DEMOCRACY. Human Rights at Risk on the Cyber-battlefield: The Sale of Security & Surveillance Technology to China . [Online] 2004.
http://www.dd-rd.ca/site/publications/index.php?subsection=catalogue&lang=en&id=1375# (Accessed: 6 October 2009)
RITTER , Archibald. –“Cuba’s Bloggers: Is Cuba Relaxing Restrictions on Freedom of Expression?” in Focal Point, Vol. 8, No. 6, Sept. 2009.
http://www.focal.ca/publications/focalpoint/fp0909/?article=article7&lang=e&utm_source=FOCALPoint%3A+Canada%27s+Spotlight+on+the+Americas&utm_campaign=75cf837a32-FOCALPoint_September_20099_26_2009&utm_medium=email
RUSHKOFF, Douglas. -Open Source Democracy: How online communication is changing offline politics. -London: Demos, 2003. -66 p.
http:. rushkoff.com/wp-content/downloads/opensourcedemocracy.pdf
TACTICAL TECHNOLOGIE COLLECTIVE. -The Quick 'n Easy Guide to Online Advocacy [Online]
http://onlineadvocacy.tacticaltech.org/ (Accessed: 6 October 2009)
WALTON, Greg. -China's Golden Shield : Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the People's Republic of China. –Montréal: Rights & Democracy, 2001. -39 p.
http:. www.dd-rd.ca/site/_PDF/publications/globalization/CGS_ENG.PDF
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM COMMITTEE [and al ]. -New Media: The Press Freedom Dimension. -2007. -91 p.
http://www.wpfc.org/site/docs/pdf/NewMediaConf-Final%20Publication.pdf
ZARWAN, Elijah . -Middle East and North Africa: False Freedom: Online Censorship in the Middle East and North Africa. -New York: Human Rights Watch, November 2005. -148 p.
http:. www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refworld/rwmain?page=search&docid=45cc445f2&skip=0&query=Online%20Censorship%20in%20the%20Middle%20East
Web Sites of Interest
Article 19
Human rights organisation with a specific mandate and focus on the defence and promotion of freedom of expression and freedom of information worldwide.
http://www.article19.org
Association pour le progrès des communications
Internet et TIC pour le développement durable et l'équité
http:. www.apc.org/
The Citizen Lab
Interdisciplinary laboratory focusing on advanced research and development at the intersection of digital media and world politics.
http:. citizenlab.org/
Democratic voice of Burma
Non-profit Burmese media organization committed to responsible journalism
http://www.dvb.no/
Extreme Democracy
The Book and Discussion Forum for Networked Activists
http:. www.extremedemocracy.com/about.html
Hurisearch
Moteur de recherche spécialisé et multilingue sur les droits de l’homme
http://www.hurisearch.org/
OpenNet Initiative
To identify and document Internet filtering and surveillance, and to promote and inform wider public dialogs about such practices.
http:. opennet.net/
Wael Abbas's site
An Independent Egyptian Blog
http://misrdigital.blogspirit.com/
World Press Freedom Committee
A coordination Group on National and International News Media Organization
http://www.wpfc.org/
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