"In 2022, the Rapid response Fund for the Protection of Digital Rights in Latin America (RRF) celebrated three years of work. Managed by Derechos Digitales, the RRF was conceived as a contextualized, agile, flexible and less bureaucratic response to the needs of organizations and activist working in
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Latin America when facing urgent situations that cannot be addressed by regular funding cycles. During these first three years, the Fund has supported more than 85 projects in 16 Latin American countries [...] The Rapid Response Fund supports organizations and activists that are doing work in their communities and facing emergency situations in which digital rights are violated. By providing micro-grants - with maximum ceilings of USD 8,000 - the Fund has been able to create relevant social impact, empowering voices and actions that are consistently ignored by public and private authorities." (pages 2-7)
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"As one of the mass media, the existence of radio in carrying out its role as a social institution to provide education for citizens, especially political education in a democratic country is an interesting topic. The purpose of this study is to analyze the way radio runs and controls political educ
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ation programs for citizens in public spheres and uncovers radio strategies to survive in the face of competition in the digital era. This study adopted descriptive qualitative methods and qualitative content analysis using radio interactive programs. The data were collected through interviews with the manager or directors of each radio. The subjects of this study were four radio stations in East Java, Indonesia. The results showed that radio carries out this role by organizing programs that involve participants. All radios have a mechanism for selecting participants, news and experts/informants. In carrying out its function as a social institution to provide education for citizens including political education, radio has made serious efforts by producing content that: 1) provides knowledge about local political dynamics; 2) criticizes public policies; and 3) activates citizen participation in public issues. Selectively choose the content of the program. Radio’s ability to survive was strongly supported by its ability to utilize of income opportunities and elegantly avoid economic and political pitfalls by empowering the role of the public sphere through massive involvement of external sources. Thus, the constructed opinion seems to be more of an extra media influence rather than an internal initiative of the radi o organization." (Abstract)
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"In Myanmar and Pakistan, anti-democratic forces including an alliance of military and right-wing political factions are dominating political affairs despite both countries’ constitutions defining democratic processes. Consequently, the authoritarian rule has been looming in these countries. The a
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bove forces have kept tight control over traditional media (television, print) by silencing the voices of common people using force and violence. However, social media has empowered pro-civilian rule activists to raise their voices and has helped to mobilise the public in favour of political change in their societies. How are these activists using social media to bring political change in Myanmar and Pakistan? This policy brief seeks answers to this question by examining the activism of political and civil society activists on social media in Myanmar and Pakistan. The brief explains the methods, strategies, and their impact on political and social space in Pakistani and Myanmar societie." (Summary)
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"This book analyses a South-to-South connection between media activists and artivists – artists who are activists – in the Global South. The authors, Andrea Medrado and Isabella Rega, emphasise the urgent need to engage in South-to-South dialogues in order to create more sustainable connections
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between Global South communities and as an essential step towards identifying and facing global problems, such as state repression, social inequality and climate crises. Medrado and Rega analyse the characteristics of this connection, identify its unique contributions to the study of media and social change and discuss its long-term sustainability. They do so by focusing on instances when media narratives in countries of different Global South(s) intertwine and transform each other; specifically, the exchanges between Latin America (Brazil) and Africa (Kenya). They explore how media activism and artivism can be used as tools for global movement building and to challenge colonial legacies. They also discuss how to connect people with varied skill sets in different Global South contexts, promoting South-to-South solidarity, in a cross-continental challenge to marginalisation." (Publisher description)
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"This book offers a ten-year perspective on ongoing and evolving practices of digital activism across the Middle East and North Africa, drawing on interviews and ethnographic evidence collected between 2012 and 2022. It examines the shifting narrative around digital activism in the region, from the
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wake of the 2011 uprisings to the 2019 series of protests coined 'the second wave of the Arab Spring'. It considers how media activists navigate the transition from the emergent to the mainstream in a climate of contentious politics, following the civil mobilisations of the pro-revolutionary youths in Tunisia, Egypt, and Lebanon. It outlines the particularities of these three different political contexts and media environments, featuring case studies of the Tunisian blogosphere, online campaigning in the Egyptian elections and interviews with social media activists. In light of this empirical evidence, the book offers a critique of the increasing prevalence of a security perspective through which online activism has been viewed and its deleterious effect on digital political engagement in the region." (Publisher description)
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"The chapter examines how news coverage of feminist protests in Mexico, one of the most violent countries in the world for women and for journalists, has changed in mainstream Mexican media since the #MeToo movement’s revitalization after 2017. With few exceptions, news coverage in Mexico, a count
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ry in the Global South, has historically emphasized disruptive behavior and the use of violence rather than the grievances of protesters. This trend follows the protest paradigm, which contends that media coverage tends to disparage protesters and hinder their role as political actors. However, the trend in coverage has begun to shift over the past several years, yet minimal scholarly discussions have occurred about temporal and geographical variations in news coverage of feminist mobilizations in Mexico. Given the recent increase in feminist demonstrations and upsurge in violence against women, this chapter provides findings from qualitative content analyses of 1007 news articles from 25 Mexican news media and agencies and assesses how they reported on the annual International Women’s Day marches on March 8 for the 2018–2020 time frame. These analyses concentrate on four dimensions of news coverage that focus on women’s protests: the evolution of topics in the news narrative; the tone of the coverage focusing on demonstrations; source selection; and news frames. The chapter demonstrates that journalists in Mexico have begun to shift away from the typical protest paradigm when covering demonstrations, and that they have moved toward a more assertive framing of women’s demands." (Abstract)
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"Bringing together 15 journalism scholars from around the world, this book explores and offers solutions to the common issues and inadequacies of reporting on sexual violence in the media. Presenting a range of conceptual, methodological, and empirical chapters, the book tackles issues related to, o
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r missing, from journalism in three parts: Part I acknowledges and surveys the role journalism plays in shining a light on social injustices and critiques research deficits in reporting on sexual violence; Part II employs cutting-edge research linked to an intersectional lens to amplify the voices that have been silenced in the media coverage; Part III explores how advocacy, campaign, and solutions journalism offers frameworks for ethical reporting on the shadow epidemic of sexual violence during these COVID-normal times." (Publisher description)
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"This case study shows that media development endeavors to foster constructive dialogue require concerted effort. They have to be in closely interwoven with local realities and needs — be it at the country, community or individual level. The example of interactive radio formats in Niger illustrate
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s that journalistic formats bringing together conflict-affected groups require thorough preparation, an understanding of the challenges posed by safety threats, trauma or gender inequality (and their intersections), and the ability to act upon these challenges sensitively and flexibly. Yet, these efforts are worthwhile, because they do make a difference: In our case study, people from various social groups perceived the value in making contact, engaging in exchange, being listened to, learning about each other’s concerns, developing common approaches to problem-solving and implementing them in their communities. In doing so, they enlarged the space for self-reliance in often tense and unpredictable situations, which seemingly continued even after the project as such (and our data collection) was completed. In Téra, for example, members of the “dialogue and concertation committee” founded a club that takes engages in IDP and refugee issues. Of course, there are many different ways to foster constructive dialogue. While this study focused on a single project with a specific design, its take-aways are able to inform dialogical media development projects more broadly — especially those strengthening media outlets in hostile environments and promoting the voices [of] marginalized groups." (Page 16)
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"This book showcases the online activism of women's groups around the world in the post-#MeToo era, and presents an overview of the diversity of its current expressions. The focus of this book extends beyond campaigns against rape culture to include women's struggles on other political and environme
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ntal issues, such as the campaign against the radical right-wing in Austria. Moreover, the book's chapters highlight the genuine complexity of the efforts of women activists who are not only challenging the patriarchal order within male-controlled digital platforms but are also challenging the hegemonic voices within the women's movements. The book's case studies attest to the proliferation of digital campaigns aimed not only against discrimination of women but against discrimination based on their color, age, ethnicity, and nationality. The internet helps them to voice their agenda and strive for social change as well as to create both connective and collective identities." (Publisher description)
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"Soziale Medien wie Facebook, YouTube, Instagram oder Twitter sind wichtige Werkzeuge der politischen Kommunikation geworden. Politikerinnen und Politiker genauso wie ehrenamtlich Engagierte nutzen sie, um über ihre Ziele zu informieren und Unterstützung zu mobilisieren. Bürgerinnen und Bürger k
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önnen mit ihrer Hilfe an gesellschaftlichen Debatten partizipieren und ihre eigene Meinung einbringen. Zugleich können die Regeln und Mechanismen der sozialen Medien aber auch zu Filterblasen, Echokammern und Hassrede führen. Dieses Buch beschreibt allgemeinverständlich, wie Politikerinnen und Politiker soziale Medien nutzen, wie soziale Medien Meinungsbildung und politisches Engagement verändern, und wie wir diese Entwicklungen gesellschaftlich einhegen sollten, um unsere Demokratie nicht zu gefährden." (Buchrücken)
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"Este artículo caracteriza las prácticas comunicacionales de los comités que promovieron las consultas populares convocadas contra proyectos de extracción minero-energética en dos municipios de Colombia: Arbeláez (Cundinamarca) y Fusagasugá (Cundinamarca). Con este fin, se abordan los factore
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s que originaron el conflicto socioambiental, se reconstruye el proceso de convocatoria a la consulta y se detalla el “repertorio de prácticas comunicacionales” que organizaron los comités promotores, comprendido como la integración de nanomedios y artes populares y su articulación con las acciones de organizaciones sociales que impulsaron las consultas. Se concluye que el proceso de comunicación de los comités robustece el reconocimiento de los conflictos socioambientales en la comunidad, expande y diversifica la opinión pública y contribuye al desarrollo de mecanismos de participación popular." (Resumen)
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"Digital infrastructure increasingly enables the extraction, exploitation, processing and analysis of personal and behavioural data. Data analytics have not just become the core of the digital economy but also constitute a growing feature of the public sector. Wide areas of public administration are
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now based on, or at least informed by, the aggregation of data for the purpose of profiling, categorising, sorting, rating, ranking and segmenting populations, and then treating them distinctly. Scoring systems and other forms of predictive analytics are prime means to assess citizens yet these systems are applied mostly without the knowledge of those being analysed and the exact mechanisms of data analytics remain obscure. Citizens are classified according to criteria that are not transparent, with consequences they do not know about, and without an open way of redress. As citizens are continuously profiled and evaluated, there is a power shift from citizens to the state. All this raises fundamental questions regarding the quality of democracy in a context of datafied administration and governance. Whereas a democracy requires that the people adopt the role of the sovereign, in a datafied society this sovereign does not have much knowledge, understanding, or say in how it is treated. Key questions arise: What are avenues for people to participate in decisions about the use of predictive analytics by public institutions? How can they intervene into an increasingly automated state? How can the datafied society be democratised? To investigate these questions, this report addresses six themes: 1. Institutional dynamics; 2. Initiatives of civic engagement; 3. Oversight and advisory bodies; 4. Civil society strategies; 5. Alternative Imaginaries and Infrastructures; 6. Data literacy." (Executive summary)
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"The following are the key insights identified across all three weeks of the radio dialogue: In week one of radio dialogue, 36.2% of the participants (n=125) and week 3 55.1% (n=266) of participants agreed that there should be unity and cooperation among all members of the community. They stated tha
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t unity is helpful in the fight against violent extremism and would strengthen the role of women in PCVE and enhance cooperation among women, the government, and civil society organisations in PCVE interventions. 25.5 % (n=88) of participants in week one also stated that peace and security should be prioritised so that women can play a role in combating violent extremism in their respective regions. This can be promoted by working on and maintaining peace in the respective communities. In week two, 32.2 % (n=118) of participants believed that women play an important role in combating PCVE because they are the foundation of the family and are important in a community." (Main findings, page V)
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"Die Ausbeutung natürlicher Ressourcen und Infrastrukturprojekte bedrohen die Lebensgrundlagen indigener Bevölkerungen in vielen Staaten Lateinamerikas. Wie der Konflikt um das Territorio Indígena Parque Nacional Isiboro Sécure (TIPNIS) zeigt, stellte Bolivien während der Amtszeiten des ersten
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indigenen Präsidenten des Landes Evo Morales (2006-2019) keine Ausnahme dar. Bei diesem Konflikt stieß ein staatliches Straßenbauprojekt, das mitten durch das Schutzgebiet im bolivianischen Amazonas-Tiefland führen sollte, auf großen Widerstand. Unterschiedliche Akteur*innen aus Indigenenorganisationen, Zivilgesellschaft und der katholischen Kirche formierten sich in der sozialen TIPNIS-Bewegung und mobilisierten gegen das Projekt und dessen Auswirkungen. Diese Arbeit erklärt den Widerstand aus Sicht der selbstbezeichneten Verteidiger*innen des Territoriums. Dazu stützt sie sich auf den theoretischen Framing-Ansatz, der den Blick auf die Bedeutungskonstruktionen (Framings) der Akteur*innen lenkt. In einer qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse wurden die Daten von 52 semistrukturierten Interviews ausgewertet und zentrale übergreifende Deutungsmuster (Masterframes) der heterogenen Akteursgruppe identifiziert, die sich aus Diagnosen, Prognosen und Motivationen zusammensetzen. Dadurch ist es möglich, den Widerstand der sozialen TIPNIS-Bewegung, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Konfliktphase von 2017 bis 2019, in seinen komplexen Erscheinungsformen zu verstehen: Als Kampf um Legitimität in einer Situation der Fragmentierung und Spaltung der Indigenenorganisationen, als Versicherheitlichung (securitization) des Konflikts angesichts sozio-ökologischer Bedrohungen, als Anfechtung des staatlichen neoextraktiven Entwicklungsmodells sowie als Forderung nach einer Umsetzung der Menschenrechte, indigenen Kollektivrechte und der Rechte der Natur." (Abstract)
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"Das Open Access Buch bietet eine aktuelle Bestandsaufnahme zum freiwilligen Engagement in Deutschland. Die Ergebnisse basieren auf dem Deutschen Freiwilligensurvey, der zum fünften Mal im Jahr 2019 durchgeführt wurde und vom Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend (BMFSFJ) gef
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ördert wird. Die Autor:innen klären Fragen wie: Wer engagiert sich aus welchen Beweggründen? Wie ist freiwilliges Engagement ausgestaltet und wie hat sich freiwilliges Engagement gewandelt? Wie gestaltet sich der Zusammenhang von politischer Partizipation sowie Einstellungen zur Demokratie mit dem freiwilligen Engagement?" (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Multifaceted, uncensored, promoting democracy - that is the internet, many people had long hoped. But from today's perspective, this is not true - or only partially. Because the big digital platforms and the world wide web are both: media of freedom and control. In many places, they support civil s
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ociety, but often they also pose a massive threat to it. On the one hand, civil society organisations, activists and bloggers use digital tools to organise their work and make it more efficient: Through them, they disseminate reports and campaigns and exchange information. On the other hand, governments restrict freedom of expression and the press through online censorship: They block access to certain websites or platforms or shut down the internet entirely and monitor activists and journalists with digital technologies, often made in Europe. Policymakers, platforms and civil society face major challenges: They have to negotiate and decide how to deal with hate on the web and in social media without compromising freedom of expression. How more people, especially in the Global South, can get better access to the internet. And, how the data collection frenzy of the big tech companies and the dangers posed to democracy by Facebook & Co can be contained. Civil society voices call for more human rights based regulation and containment of digital capitalism." (Summary, page 6)
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"Vielfaltig, unzensiert, demokratiefördernd - das ist das Internet, hofften viele Menschen lange. Doch diese Attribute passen aus heutiger Sicht nicht - oder nur teilweise. Denn die großen digitalen Plattformen und das World Wide Web sind beides: Medien der Freiheit und der Kontrolle. Sie helfen d
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er Zivilgesellschaft vielerorts, gefährden sie aber oft auch massiv. Denn einerseits nutzen zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen, Aktivist:innen und Blogger:innen digitale Tools zur Organisation und Effizienzsteigerung ihrer Arbeit: Sie verbreiten über sie Analysen und Kampagnen und tauschen sich darüber aus. Andererseits schränken Regierungen weltweit durch Online-Zensur die Meinungs- und Pressefreiheit ein: Sie blockieren den Zugang zu bestimmten Webseiten oder Plattformen oder sperren das Netz ganz und überwachen Aktivist:innen und Journalist:innen gezielt mit digitalen Technologien, oft Made in Europe. Die Herausforderungen an Politik, Plattformen und Zivilgesellschaft sind groß: Sie müssen aushandeln und entscheiden, was dem Hass im Netz und in den Sozialen Medien entgegengesetzt werden kann, ohne dass die Meinungsfreiheit eingeschränkt wird. Wie mehr Menschen gerade im Globalen Süden einen besseren Zugang zum Internet bekommen. Und wie sich die Datensammelwut der großen Tech-Konzerne und die damit für die Demokratie von Facebook & Co. ausgehenden Gefahren eindämmen lassen. Die zivilgesellschaftlichen Stimmen mehren sich, die mehr menschenrechtsorientierte Regulierung und eine Eindämmung des digitalen Kapitalismus fordern." (Zusammengefasst, Seite 6)
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"This study examines the use of social media by individuals during protests in China (Hong Kong), Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon. Method: Surveys in the four countries assess the relationship between people's attitudes toward the protests and their selection bias on social media, manifested through selecti
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ve sharing and selective avoidance. Findings: Regardless of the different political and media systems in each country, social media usage was largely similar. Overall, our findings established that people's attitude strength toward the protests was associated with their selective sharing behavior; those who scored high on supporting the protests were more likely than those who scored high on opposing the protests to share news that supports the protests, and vice versa. As for selective avoidance, social media protest news use emerged as the strongest predictor. The more individuals followed and shared protest news on social media, the more likely they were to engage in selective avoidance by hiding or deleting comments, unfriending or unfollowing people, and blocking or reporting people for posting comments with which they disagreed." (Abstract)
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"The pandemic made inequality, discrimination, exclusion and structural inequity more palpable, and rather than stagnating in indignation, it reactivated a sense of rebellion and contestation. The strength and sharpness with which we connect social justice, gender justice, environmental justice, eco
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nomic justice and racial justice with the potentials and limitations of digital technologies is undeniable. Using this intersectional lens, we need to document and build our own narratives about the challenges that we face related to the impacts of the pandemic and reflect on how our advocacy priorities as well as the ways we do advocacy are changing and keep being modified and adjusted. At APC we have strengthened capacity to design and implement collective and contextual community responses to the multiple challenges and crises that we face, while having a greater awareness of the kind of global responses that should be prioritised, based on shared but differentiated responsibilities [...] GISWatch 2021-2022 focuses on responses to some of the fundamental questions brought by the pandemic to inform civil society’s advocacy around digital technology issues and their potential to shape future horizons. As illustrated on our cover, a sustained struggle will be necessary in the years ahead, but not only in the public spaces. A nuanced approach to advocacy will be essential to open multiple ways to bring about positive change." (Preface, page 6)
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