Hayder Hamzoz is a graphic designer and blogger from Baghdad, Iraq. He collaborates on the blog Iraqi Streets 4 Change, which talks about some of the current events including recent protests in the country. Hayder also is a prolific citizen and social media trainer, and has been involved with several programs teaching Iraqi women how to use technology tools. You can follow him on Twitter (@Hamzoz).
Day two and day three of the Arab Bloggers Summit have been more relaxed open workshops where participants can propose sessions on the fly. We’ve heard about citizen media strategies (spectacle, narrative, discourse), making sense of propaganda and counter-propaganda, and how to work with videos, audios, and security software.
The following statement was drafted by participants of the Third Arabloggers Meeting and has been signed by both participants and remote followers of the conference. If you would like to sign the statement, it has been posted as an e-petition, which may be signed by anyone in solidarity.
عربية
في خضم الثورات و ريح الحرية التي تهب على المنطقة العربية، ينعقد المؤتمر الثالث للمدونين العرب في عاصمة الثورة: تونس. و تحضر المؤتمر كوكبة من تضم أكثر من ١٠٠ مدون و مدونة من ١٦ دولة عربية
بالإضافة إلى مجموعة من الخبراء من عشر دول أجنبية.
فرحتنا بالمجئ إلى تونس أفسدتها وزارة الداخلية التونسية برفضها الغير مبرر و الغير منطقي منح ١٢ مدونين و مدونات من فلسطين تأشيرات دخول لتونس للمشاركة في مؤتمرنا. و لم تقدم السفارات التونسية في كل من القاهرة و رام الله أي شرح لهذا الرفض.
نحن الموقعون أدناه، نندد بهذه السياسة الإقصائية التي مارستها السلطات التونسية ضد شعب محتل و نطالبها بتقديم إعتذار رسمي للشعب الفلسطيني، و للشعب التونسي لإساءتها لعلاقتهما التاريخية و لحرمانها المدونين و المدونات الفلسطينين من التواصل مع زملائهم العرب و الإستفادة من خبراتهم المكتسبة في معركتهما المشتركة للحرية و الكرامة و الإنسانية.
On the first day of the 3rd Arab Bloggers Meeting, the new chairman and CEO of the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI), Moez Chakchouk, described the work of the ATI and revealed that Tunisia secretly tested censorship software for Western companies.
Thanks to the change in leadership of the government agency previously charged with censorship and surveillance, Chakchouk is now encouraging bloggers and activists to push for better regulation and constitutional protections for online free speech.
Chakchouk has shared his presentation on Slideshare.
Thalia Rahme is a video producer in Beirut, Lebanon for a local television channel. She is also an active volunteer in the Global Voices community, including Global Voices in French and Rising Voices. You can follow her on Twitter (@Thalloula)