[liberationtech] Fwd: FW: CyberDissidents.org Launches Blogger Board

[Laura Cosovanu]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nicholas Reed <nreed at stanford.edu>
Date: 2011/1/28
Subject: FW: CyberDissidents.org Launches Blogger Board
To: ILS list serve <stanford-ils at lists.stanford.edu>


 All,

Here is an interesting website that is focused on furthering democracy and
shaping policy via the internet, using blogs, twitter and other new media
forms - very interesting especially as concerns current events in the Middle
East.

--------------


Visit Our Website <http://cyberdissidents.org>
<http://cyberdissidents.org>     CyberDissident Database
<http://cyberdissidents.org/dissidents.html><http://cyberdissidents.org/dissidents.html>
    Our Issues
<http://cyberdissidents.org/ourissues.html><http://cyberdissidents.org/ourissues.html>
    News & Analysis
<http://cyberdissidents.org/news.html><http://cyberdissidents.org/news.html>
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    Contact Us
<http://cyberdissidents.org/contactus.html><http://cyberdissidents.org/contactus.html>



*CyberDissidents.org Launches Blogger Board*
*Ahl Makka adra bishi`abuha
*The people of Mecca know its paths
–Arabic proverb

Unprecedented tumult has rocked the Middle East in the past two weeks.
Hundreds of thousands of Arabs have taken to the streets to protest
dictatorship and corruption. As the above proverb notes, it is the people of
the region who understand its complexities best.  CyberDissidents.org is
proud to announce the formation of a blogger board comprised of leading
Internet activists from North Africa to the Gulf. Many of these individuals
have paid a high price for their dissident--from imprisonment to torture.
They have also been instrumental in the recent protests in Egypt and
Tunisia.

The members of our blogger board will help formulate policies and approaches
to online communities and aid us in better understanding the issues that
affect them. They will assist us in shaping programs, selecting stories to
highlight and engaging in dialogue with Western
audiences. CyberDissidents.org provides a platform to board members and the
wider online community to spread their message to policy-makers and press.
We are excited to be working with this group of brave pro-democracy
cyberdissidents from throughout the Arab world.
  *Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman (Kareem Amer), Egypt. *On November 15, 2010,
Amer was released from Egyptian prison after serving a four year sentence
for criticizing Egypt’s dictator and “insulting” Islam. He was kept in
prison an additional ten days even after his sentence was completed. Amer
first began expressing his secular, pro-democracy views on his blog as a
student at Al Azhar University in Cairo. Upon discovering his writings, the
school expelled him in 2006. His case was referred to state prosecutors and,
in February 2007, Kareem was convicted on the aforementioned charges. He was
sent to Borg El-Arab prison and continued to write fiery letters in jail
against dictatorship. A large global campaign was waged by groups throughout
the world on Kareem’s behalf. His term in prison was the longest any
individual has faced for expressing opinions on a blog.
  *Soufiene Chourabi, Tunisia. *Known throughout Tunisia as a staunch
defender of freedom of speech and democracy, blogger Soufiene
Chourabi highlighted human rights abuses committed by former President Zine
El Abidine Ben Ali’s regime. Chourabi is also a journalist who works for the
*Attariq Al Jadid* and *Al Akhbar* newspapers in Lebanon. Many international
media outlets rely on Chourabi’s videos, photos and articles, especially
during the recent unrest, and he is frequently quoted by Arabic news
organizations on the subject of anti-government protests in
Tunisia. Chourabi is a member of the Tunisian Syndicate of Journalists.
  *Abdulwahab Saleh Al Oraid, Saudi Arabia. *A prominent blogger,
journalist, and activist, Al Oraid is a leading voice in Saudi Arabia
advocating for social media’s role in facilitating change. A co-founder and
member of several civic organizations in Saudi Arabia, Al Oraid has
researched and written a range of articles on the subject of freedom in the
Gulf. He is the Editor-in-Chief of ِthe *Al-Duwalia* newspaper and an editor
at *Al Shorfa. *For 17 years, Al Oraid has written for prominent newspapers
in the Gulf region and Jordan. He blogs at
http://abaloraid.blogspot.com/where he writes about a diverse range of
social and political topics
affecting the Middle East.


  *Kacem Al Ghazali, Morocco. *Even at the young age of 20, Moroccan blogger
Kacem Al Ghazali holds leading positions in several human rights
organization in his country. He is the head of the Youth Chapter at the
Moroccan Center for Human Rights and is a member of the Executive Board of
the Moroccan Blogger Association. Al Ghazali is the author of bahmut.com
<http://bahmut.com> <http://bahmut.com> , one of the most controversial
blogs in the Arab world, and has received a number of death threats. He is a
passionate supporter of separation of religion and state and recently
started an English blog, http://atheistica.wordpress.com, to reach
non-Arabic speakers interested in atheism and minorities in the Arab world.
  *Imad Najjib Bazzi, Lebanon. *Imad is one of Lebanon’s most prominent
bloggers, journalists, and civil society activists. He is a co-founder of
the Arab Bloggers Forum, an organization dedicated to improving bloggers'
professionalism, generating debate about social issues, and defending
internet activists from censorship in the Arab world. He previously worked
for Greenpeace and the Center for Sustainable Democracy in Beirut. Bazzi has
won several awards and honorable recognitions for his activism in the
blogosphere, most notably the 2008 Young Arab Artists Prize in Amman. His
writings have also appeared in numerous Arabic newspapers and magazines. His
blog covers a wide variety of topics relating to Lebanese politics and
society, monitors domestic human rights abuses, and condemns sectarianism
and ideological agendas. But Imad's pro-democracy positions and outspoken
criticism of sectarian ideologies have not come without a price. He has been
arrested three times and has been detained by Hezbollah's paramilitary
forces. Nevertheless, he remains committed to spreading his message of
democracy and pluralism.
  *Rami Nakhla, Syria. *Rami is a Syrian writer and journalist. His interest
in cyberdissent began with a personal experience with a victim of “honor
killing.” He came to the conclusion that these killings were symptomatic of
the broader problem of authoritarianism in his country and throughout the
Middle East. Rami has been involved with initiatives aimed at law reform to
protect women and minorities, and he spent a year on the Syrian Women
Observatory team which highlights human rights violations against Syrian
women. He has participated in international training courses and conferences
in Germany, Jordan and the United States. Nakhla is the founder of Syrian
Press, a daily electronic news service, and he established a group called
“Get Your Rights” to help Syrian citizens circumvent Internet censorship.

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   - Visit our website *CyberDissidents.org*
<http://cyberdissidents.org><http://cyberdissidents.org>



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