DigiActive.org

Report from DigiActive’s Rabat Meet-up

It was only our second meet-up, but also our biggest yet.  Eighteen digital activists and fans invaded the second floor of Cafe 8ieme in central Rabat.  Topics of conversation, mostly in Arabic, included the outlook for digital activism in Morocco, whether hacking is a form of activism (particularly with regard to attacks on Israeli sites during the current war) and, finally, whether it is possible to define truth or whether all history is subjective.  I’m not sure how the conversation reached that final philosophical topic (my Arabic is a bit shaky).

DigiActive Meet-up: Rabat

What? An informal meeting of digital activists and fans
When? Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
Where? Café 8ieme Art, across from Ciné 7ieme Art in Rabat, Morocco
Why? meet DigiActive team members Mary (Co-Founder) to talk about digital activism over a warm cut of shay bi nana.
How? If you’d like to come, please sign up on the event’s Facebook page.

DigiActive News: 1st training – Morocco

Participants during a personal security module (trainer Mary is on the far right)

Last weekend, DigiActive held its first digital activism training. The event was conducted over 3 days in Rabat, Morocco, and included modules on DigiActive’s top tools – Facebook, blogs, and mobile – as well as personal security and strategy.

The participants’ dinner at Dar Naji (thanks to management assistant Laila for organizing it)

DigiActive co-founder Mary conducted the training with the help of six of the participants: Said, Nada, Zineb, Abdessamad, Laila, and Chakib. The group became very close over the course of the training, and plans to keep in touch – via a Google Group, of course! Thanks to our official photographer, Chakib, photos from the training and participants’ dinner have been posted here on Flickr (and the two above).  The training was even filmed by 2M, Morocco’s official TV channel! (The news segment, in Arabic, is available on the 2M site and occurs about half-way through the show.)

Participants chatting before the training begins. (Photo:  Lalla Zineb el Alaoui)

All in all, it was a great event. Here are some comments from the participants:

• “I appreciated the training because of the amount of knowledge I learned, [the] interaction between participants, [the] quality of interventions.”
• “I appreciated the group work, the tutorials, and the method of running the training. It is a rich experience that I was able to share.” *
• “Thanks, Mary, it was very enriching and I am sure to share what I have learned… in order to lead our social actions is the right direction.” *
• “This training was a great opportunity to develop our digital skills and also to be aware how effectively the should be used.”
• “This training was very interactive and it pushed participants to create and produce, which is amazing!”

* = translated from French