Cyberdissidence in the Middle East

Description

This is a Cambridge Festival of Ideas event, open to all, free of charge. Questions and debate on the issues raised will be encouraged. If you would like to attend, please email Ankita Sahay to register.

Organisers

Anne Alexander (CRASSH)
Ignacio Sanchez (Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Cambridge)

The use of digital and online technologies by dissidents across the Middle East to articulate views excluded by government controlled-media, and to mobilise protests against repressive states has gathered pace in recent years. Western media and governments have celebrated the power of social media as a means to advance democracy by opening space for political debate and connecting activists.

Our panellists will look critically at this assumption, drawing on the experiences of Palestinian, Iranian and Egyptian digital activism.

Speakers

Mehri Honarbin-Holliday (Canterbury Christchurch University and author of Becoming Visible in Iran: Women in Contemporary Iranian Society)
Masih Alinejad (Iranian blogger and activist)
Miriyam Aouragh (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford) Podcast/Skype presentation
Anne Alexander (CRASSH, University of Cambridge)