Bread&Net Online

Digital Rights in Times of War

May 13, 14, and 15
 

Bread&Net Online will host a series of webinars to address key challenges that emerged over the last year across West Asia and North Africa. We will also reflect on moments of strength that could aid our collective efforts for just and free internet societies.  

The regional digital rights community was set to meet in Beirut in November 2023, one month after Israel unleashed its genocidal campaign in Gaza. 

However, within a few weeks following October 8, we realized that hosting the event was impossible amid the bloodshed in Palestine and the Israeli aggression on Lebanese towns in the South. It was impossible to maintain business as usual at a time when two million Palestinians across the border were being bombed, starved, and made homeless at an unprecedented scale. We decided to postpone the event to ensure the safety of participants and reject the normalization of genocide. Our community had been immobilized by witnessing the sheer magnitude of violence experienced by our people, stunting us into a critical moment of reckoning. 

Six months has been more than ample time to reveal some of the core faults in the digital platforms and networks that dominate our daily lives. While not a new revelation, their detrimental consequences become much more felt, and even life-threatening, in times of war and crises. 

 

Free and open to all, the Bread&Net Online program aims to provide participants with the best possible tools for digital rights advocacy in turbulent and trying times.

 

Outcomes

 

Bread&Net over the years

About SMEX

SMEX is a non-profit that advocates for and advances human rights in digital spaces across West Asia and North Africa through research, campaigns, and advocacy. We encourage users to engage with digital technology, media, and social networks responsibly and critically.

 

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