Action Alert: Free Esraa and her Companions

Written by Amine on April 13, 2008 – 2:27 am -

What? Join one of the Facebook groups pushing for the freedom of the 3 digital activists jailed in Egypt: Esraa Abdel-Fattah Ahmed, Mahamed El Sharkawi,and Kareem El Beheiri

When? Now!

Where? The Facebook groups to join are divided linguistically. Join the one in the language you are most comfortable with, as you will likely be receiving messages in that language from the group.

Arabic: Free Esraa افرجوا عن إسراء ورفاقها

English: Free Esraa and her Companions! أفرجوا عن إسراء ورفاقها

French: Libérez Esraa et ses Camarades. Free Esraa.

Norsk: Free Esraa and her Companions!

How? Click one of the links above to visit the group you would and then click the “Join” button on that page.

Why? On April 6th we covered the story of Egyptian activists using a Facebook group, 6 April - اضراب عام لشعب مصر (April 6 - General Strike for the People of Egypt), to drum up participation in a general strike on Sunday, April 6. The group’s founder Esraa Abdel-Fattah Ahmed, and bloggers Mahamed El Sharkawi and Kareem El Beheiri were arrested by Egyptian police in connection with the Facebook group and the call of the strike.

Who is organizing the action? There are slightly different officers and admins for the 4 groups, but Egyptians Hany Elkhayat, Samy Harak, Wael Nawara, Manal Fahmy, and Mohamed Zaki Elsheemi seem to be involved with most of them. Dina Ibrahim is the sole admin of the French group.


Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Action Alerts, Mid-East & N. Africa | No Comments »

Tactic: Saudi Activist Uses Youtube to Advocate for Womens’ Right to Drive…

Written by Amine on April 13, 2008 – 1:52 am -

Description: On International Women’s Rights day, a video of a woman in Saudi Arabia defying the country’s ban on female drivers in urban areas was posted on the video-sharing site YouTube. At the wheel of her car, rights activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider, describes the injustice and appeals to the Saudi Government to expand women’s rights in the country and lift the ban.

Organizer: Human Rights activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider. 125 other people signed an accompanying petition that was delivered to the Saudi Ministry of interior that same day.


Purpose of Action: To celebrate International Women’s Rights day and call for the lifting of the ban on female drivers in Saudi Arabia.

Organizing Tools: The video was uploaded to and posted on the video-sharing site Youtube.com

Outcome: The story was picked up by all major international news organizations which has helped to widely publicize the action. Bloggers around the world have also helped amplify the message by writing on the story and posting links to the video, which has so far been viewed more than 120,000 times.

Link to Video with English dubbing



Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Mid-East & N. Africa, Tactics, Video | 2 Comments »

DigiActive News: New Team Member Dan Schultz

Written by Amine on April 1, 2008 – 2:33 am -

We’repleased to welcome Dan Schultzfrom Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, to the DigiActive team. In 2007 he was one of 27 individuals to win the first Knight News Challenge and he is currently an active blogger for the MediaShift Idea Lab. He is still discovering new interests, but digital media as a community facilitation device has been a driving directional force since he started using the Internet. He believes that activism and community often go hand in hand, so writing for Digiactive provides a perfect opportunity to explore the community dynamics of digital media.

Dan Schultz

We look forward to his contribution and would like to invite all those interested to check out the different ways to get involved with DigiActive!


Posted in DigiActive News | No Comments »

DigiActive News: New Team Member Simon Columbus

Written by Amine on March 29, 2008 – 1:46 am -

We are very pleased to welcome a new team member to the DigiActive project:

Simon Columbus from Siegen, Germany, started blogging in early 2007, and has been involved in several human & civil rights projects. He is part of the Free Burma Action, and is a member of the German anti-data retention movement. In the wake of the bloggers response to Burma’s saffron revolution, Simon co-founded the digital activism site Blogger for Freedom. He is also a member of the international Blog4Burma Coalition and an editor for FreeKareem. Additionally, Simon co-founded the Waldorf blog Namenstnzer and has a personal blog at simoncolumbus.de.

We look forward to his contribution and would like to invite all those interested to check out the different ways to get involved with DigiActive:

DigiActive isn’t a web site. It’s a community of people who care passionately about digital activism, who are creating a world of activists empowered by digital technology. It’s a community by and for activists. Come join us! Here’s how to get involved.

1. Sign Yourself Up

Enter your e-mail address on the DigiActive homepage in the field labeled “Join Us!” Then we will keep you up date by sending you news of the latest cool things happening at DigiActive. We give you our solemn promise that we will not send you spam or other e-mail annoyances.

2. Write for DigiActive

The primary means we have for spreading the word about digital activism is by writing about it. We are always looking for people to write about a new digital activism tool, tactic, campaign, action, guide the list goes on. And you don’t need to write in English! We are looking for writers in all languages, Read more »


Posted in DigiActive News | No Comments »

Action Alert: Flood the Jail with Mail

Written by Amine on March 27, 2008 – 3:07 am -

FreeKareemLetter

What? “Flood the Jail with Mail” campaign in support of detained Egyptian blogger Kareem Suleiman

When? April 7th through April 21st

Where? From around theworld to a jail cell in Alexandria, Egypt

How? Supporters are urged to send their messages of solidarity by mail to Kareem to the following address:

Alexandria, Borg Al-Arab Prison, Room 1 Section 22, Prisoner Abdul Kareem Nabil Suleiman, The Arab Republic of Egypt, Kareems address in Arabic (mandatory to be included on the envelope)

Why? “to remind Egyptian authorities that Kareem, bloggers in general and prisoners of conscience over all, are not alone.”

Who is organizing the action? FreeKareem Campaignand theCommittee to Protect Bloggers

Kareem Suleiman isan Egyptian blogger and law student who was arrested by Egyptian authorities on Read more »


Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Action Alerts, Mid-East & N. Africa | 3 Comments »

Tool: Skype

Written by Amine on November 26, 2007 – 5:21 pm -

Name: Skype

Website: http://www.skype.com

What it is: Skype is a program which you can use to have chat, voice and video conversations with friends and contacts around the world.

Rating: 4 stars

skype2.jpg

Read more »


Posted in Internet Telephony, Tools | No Comments »