Center for Globalization and Center for Near East Studies
Cordially invite you to attend - Advocacy 3.0
What: In this presentation, Esra'a Al Shafei will take us on a tour of her cyber community, and discuss the challenges of activism in the closed-off countries of the Middle East, where speech and information are tightly controlled; how she and her colleagues maintain a fierce but respectful dialogue among members of diverse and often warring factions; and what the Internet can bring to the many religious and ethnic minorities.
Who: Lecture by human rights advocate Esra Al Shafei. Sponsored by the Center for Globalization and the Center for Near East Studies.
When: February 19, 2009., 3:30 p.m. Reception followed at 4 p.m. by Speaker
About: Esra'a Al Shafei is the founder and Executive Director of MideastYouth.com, an award-winning, independent, interfaith network whose mission is to inspire and provide young people with the freedom and opportunity of expression, and promote a fierce but respectful dialogue among the highly diverse youth of all sects, socio-economic backgrounds, and political and religious beliefs in the Middle East. They use this freedom to prove that the collaboration necessary for stability is possible. Their online advocacy bridges seemingly impenetrable barriers of faith, geography and censorship to unite young people committed to fostering constructive discourse in the Middle East.
Esra'a is also the founder and project director of a series of international activist campaigns for the rights of women, religious and ethnic minorities, and for freedom of expression, including the widely acclaimed FreeKareem.org, The Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights, The Alliance for Kurdish Rights, Migrant Rights, NoHonor (in honor killings), and Sexual Terrorism (to fight human trafficking and sexual slavery in the region). She is the recipient of the 2008 Berkman Award from Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society for "outstanding contributions to the Internet's impact on society over the past decade". She also received the 2007 Templeton Freedom Award for Best New Intellectual Entrepreneur. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Monitor, The National, and other leading publications. Most recently, her live podcasts and blogs from Gaza during the Israeli incursions were featured on CNN International. She is 22 years old and is based in Bahrain.
