Posts tagged Syria
“Women from around the world, urge you, Asma Al-Assad, to take up your responsibility as wife of the Syrian leader. Hundreds of children in your country have already died, tens of thousands have been injured and displaced, all of them have been traumatized. We expect you to speak out for peace, to stop the bloodshed. Make your voice heard!”
On April 16, the wives of the British and German ambassadors to the UN released a video urging Asma Al Assad, the wife of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad, to act to stop the violence in Syria. They also started a petition calling for peace.
Video activist Ali Mahmoud Othman, head of the media office of Baba Amr, has been seized by the Syrian government. Friends and colleagues believe he is being subjected to severe torture.
His detention puts all activists from the office at risk and is a huge blow to citizen journalism in the country.
@RazanSpeaks: I can’t even bring myself to say anything ‘poetic’ because the reality is far from that. #Syria
Today, March 15, 2012, marks the first anniversary since the start of the Syrian uprising. One year after protests began in Damascus and Daraa, the Syrian opposition’s fight against the Assad regime continues amidst global ambivalence toward the conflict.
On Twitter, Syrians and their allies utilized the #Syria and #March15 hashtags to commemorate the day, remember the country’s martyrs, and reflect on the year behind them.
An initiative called Global March for Syria aims to take people from all over the world to the streets on March 15, 16 and 17 in support of the Syrian people’s struggle.
Image posted on Weibo.
China: Veto of UN Security Council Draft Resolution on Syria Draws Praise and Grief
The ‘At Risk’ Blogger’s Contingency Plan
In 2011, we have witnessed the incredible power of bloggers and social media users capturing the world’s attention through their activism. At the same time, regimes appear to be quickening the pace of their cat-and-mouse game with netizens.
Aware of the threats to their safety, bloggers often devise contingency plans in the event they are detained.
EFF together with Global Voices Advocacy have created a set of questions to consider. This list is by no means exhaustive, but should offer a starting point from which bloggers can develop their own contingency plans.
- Consider providing someone outside the country with the following information:
- Login credentials to your social media, email, and blog accounts
- Contact information of family members
- Information about any health conditions
- Regularly back up their blog, Facebook, email, and other accounts
- Consider mirroring your website if you want to ensure it remains up without your attention to it
- Encrypt sensitive files and consider hiding them on a separate drive
- Consider using tools like Identity Sweeper (for Android users) to secure/erase your mobile data
- Consider preparing a statement for release in case of arrest– This can be helpful for international news outlets and human rights organizations
- Consider recording a short video identifying yourself (biographical info, scope of work) and the risks that you face and share with trusted contacts
- Develop contacts with human rights and free expression organizations*
- Think about a strategy/contingency plan for what to do if you’re detained (see below)
2011 has been an extraordinary year for online content.
Global Voices has been there as revolutions happened, dictatorships fell, and network effects rippled through the cities and neighborhoods of our contributors reporting from around the world.
You can help our 530 authors do even more in 2012: globalvoicesonline.org/donate
Syrian blogger Razan Ghazzawi was arrested on the Syrian-Jordanian border on 4 December, 2011.
Syria: Free Razan Ghazzawi
Syrian authorities have arrested blogger Razan Ghazzawi on the Syrian-Jordanian border today. Ghazzawi was on her way to Amman to attend a workshop on press freedom in the Arab world.
Her arrest has drawn criticism and anger from bloggers and activists around the world, who are calling for her immediate release.
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