CitizenShift
Updates from the basement, courtesy of the CITIZENShift team.
Archive of November, 2006
The CITIZENShift Podcasts are included in an apple.com lesson plan entitled, ‘The Imagery of Societal Change.’
So proud of Matt, our podcast coordinator extraordinaire!
This lesson is designed to take students outside their level of current awareness and think about social change more broadly.
Scroll down to the section entitled: Engaging and Effective Activities Make a Statement; Taking Action!
This is really great news - we hope that educators and students alike will use the site for exactly these types of activities -
many thanks apple - to check out our podcasts visit us here!
and remember, we are always looking for new audio pieces (and other medi), so send a note!
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Written by
Laura
November 29, 2006
Hey! I?m the new research assistant/intern at CitizenShift. I?m very excited to be part of the team and look forward to collaborating with all of you!
As a response to Catrina, I think the term ‘femicide? is appropriate for our next dossier because it is somewhat catchy. It?s self-explanatory and has not been overused in the public sphere, probably because the mainstream media has neglected the issue. Good choice though.
On that note, I?m really happy that CitizenShift will be addressing femicide not only in Latin America but also in Canada. Violence against women is often overlooked in this country given that we pride ourselves as tolerant and peaceful people. Dr.Yasmin Jiwani, a Communications Professor at Concordia University and author of Discourses of Denial claims that the media has “a strong history of representing non-British or non-French immigrants in highly negative ways”.
If we examine news reports on Native communities in Canada, they often use conflict-related terms and stereotypes that perpetuate the mentality of “us” versus “them”. Also, when we hear about female repression, countries such as Iran or Afghanistan are automatically targeted as scapegoats. Of course women?s rights urgently need to be addressed in the Middle East, but we seldom hear of violence faced by First Nations women in Canada. For example, how many Canadians know that 500 women are missing in this country, 350 of which are Aboriginal? What does this mean about our media?s agenda?
Once the femicide dossier is up and running, a few clips from Highway of Tears will be available; it focuses on women who disappeared in British Columbia.
(The quote was taken from FREDA website- Feminist Research Education Development and Action Center )
Laura
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Justin Trudeau’s film, Secure Freedom, will be screened tonight in Montreal (Nov. 28 at 7 p.m.) at Centre St-Pierre, (1212 Panet St., room 1205).
Mahmoud Jaballah’s family. (Photo: Darren Ell)
It will be followed by a panel discussion with Mona el Fouli, Ahmad Jaballah, Adil Charkaoui (arrested under a security certificate in 2003) and Alexandre Trudeau. There will also be an exhibit of photos, Between States, by Darren Ell.
Read a full article about the screening at Hour magazine.
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Written by
catrina
November 27, 2006
Our upcoming dossier on CitizenShift is on FEMICIDE. Femicide, the systematic killing of women has and is happening all over the world. The cases that will be highlighted through film on the site are in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Canada (Native women) and in Guatemala where thousands of women have been killed over the past few years. What do these cases have in common.
In all cases, it is marginalized women who go missing because the killers are able to get away with it. This is the sad truth. In doing research, I found it extremely difficult to digest alot of the stories, and statistics. Again, it is only with hope and optimism that I think we must take action.
Some of the things that I found inspiring out in the cyberworld were acts of artistic and creative reactions. This image from the Creative Commons site, is from an installation that a woman named Irene Simmons helped to create - I believe she travels to different schools and gives workshops on making dresses as a tribute to the women who have gone missing in Mexico. Another art installation that I found to be quite lovely was instigated by a Norweigian artist, Lise Bjorne
the artist asked women from around the world to embroider the names of missing women and to send them back to her - these are on display at the Station Museum along with other artists in the exhibition called Frontera 450. Here is a description: ‘This exhibition consists of works by l3 artists and filmmakers who have been deeply concerned about this horrendous cycle of of unsolved murders. Each of the artists has created work that addresses various aspects ofthis tragic situation: misogyny, las maquilas, globalization, the mother?s movement for justice, los desaparecidos, and the role of the Mexican government and media as well as the involvement of United States. This issue has become an world-wide concern of artists and activists and is a microcosm of the serious events taking place all along the U.S. - Mexico border.’
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Written by
catrina
November 26, 2006
As technology helps spread and share information across geographical as well as cultural, social and economic borders, there is no question that there are many positive outcomes; cross-cultural communication, access to educational tools, access to alternative media, information, and point of views, and connecting in ways to one another that transcend time and space.
Unfortunately, along with these advancements and benefits also are a new set of tools to perpetuate and proliferate negative things … Along with ICTs have come a support network haven for illegal and unethical activities. ‘the internet provides an anonymous network of support for perpetrators (sex traffickers) to share their experiences, legitimize their behaviour and advise and mentor less experienced men’ (link)
The first time I skimmed the surface of VAW online, was when we launched Diego Briceno?s dossier on trafficking of children in Mexico (link). In doing research, I came across critical articles against trafficking that were in fact hosted on porn sites. My only deduction from this was that it had deliberately been placed there as a warning for perpetrators of the sex trade. It was one of the first times that I felt really ill and uneasy about uses of the internet…
When I initially agreed to sign on as a blogger for Take Back the Tech, I was thinking that it was going to be a way to come together and discuss VAW in the blogosphere, and by doing so, empowering women to speak out about related issues. I was not thinking about how technology negatively affected or even proliferated VAW. Reading the article, linked from the tbtt website ‘Digital Dangers: Info & Communication Technologies and Trafficking Women’ made me recall this whole dark side of the internet. (link)
‘Perpetrators have taken advantage of each new technology and application to stalk victims, transmit illegal materials, and avoid detection by law enforcement’ (p.4)
It?s a really thought-provoking and important article, written by Kathleen Maltzahn (Founding Director of a leading Australian counter-trafficking NGO project called Respect).
Many difficult questions are raised, including whether ICTs and trafficking of women are indeed related, or if looking at how ICTs are used as a tool for trafficking is simply a ‘distraction? from the real problems. Kathleen breaks it down into two ways of thinking:
1. ICTs as a mechnanism where they ‘provide a fundamentally different way of being violent to women and children: they allow types or frequency of behaviours that were previously rare or unusual. ICTs are seen as unique, creating a cyberworld that is out of sync with ‘real? life…’ In other words, they are seen as separate from ‘real’ world activities, values, and responsibilities? As people become more comfortable in their ‘virtual? surroundings and activities, do they become more comfortable with traditionally unacceptable acts in the real world??
2. ICTs ‘in relation to trafficking as a forum for influencing culture’. In this context, it is not so much that ICTs allow a different type of violence in themselves but that they can effect cultural changes that significantly extend the acceptance of violence and normalise practices previously said to be unacceptable.’ Examples include online porn, sex-tourism, marriage sites & other online ads - ‘all work to compound acceptance of violence against women’.
UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking Sigma Huda, raises concern, ‘We have to look at this whole issue if it hurts the dignity of women and harms them. Sometimes they don?t even know this imaging of them is on the internet… We must see that this is really a very critical issue from a human rights perspective and we must address the negative effects of ICTs.’ (p. 
Another interesting point raised is whether exploitative ‘images? of women that are circulated and profited from, fall under the same category of trafficking (of the actual women), and add to the cultural proliferation of violence against women…
And lastly on the issue of privacy - This is also a complex issue, as it appears that online tools and communities are obviously being used for illegal and criminal activities, but to what extent how are these weeded out without affecting or violating others’ civil liberties & privacy?
According to this article, there is still a lot more that needs to be investigated in this area of research.
To me the fundamental questions remain the same however. Why is it that women and children are targeted? How can THIS be intercepted and prevented?
I can only be optimistic and hopeful, as I think it is the only way to create positive social change, (and this is easy for me to say, sitting in my comfortable chair, slippers, sipping on a cup of coffee), but. ..
my hope is that just as these bastards are proliferating online, the same wonderful tools (online community building - like take back the tech - chat rooms for women, distance learning, etc) must be used to strengthen, educate and proliferate real and healthy community living real lives out there….
related dossier: Diego Briceno Orduz
related blog: Teprine Baldo
related film: Souvenir Kids
related upcoming dossiers:
Femicide (Dec 6)
Trafficking of Women in Southeast Asia (January)
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Written by
catrina
November 25, 2006
I’ve been asked to participate in a 16 Day Action to increase awareness and to help end Violence Against Women through technology. It’s a really great initiative called Take Back the Tech that encourages EVERYONE to participate in some form or another, by organizing an event, sharing your own stories, and fostering community around this extremely important issue.
One of the ways you can be involved is by blogging, starting today (Nov 25) and until Dec 10, everyday, about VAW. It is up to you as to how much you want to take on. You can write from your own blog and connect it to their project, or if you don’t have a blog, you can go on their site here, and they will help you set something up: http://www.takebackthetech.org/blogathon.htm
Here is a little description of the blog:
We want to take over the blogosphere for 16 days.
ka-BLOG! is a 16-day blog fest for the Take Back the Tech Campaign. It is open to anyone and everyone - girls, boys, everyone beyond and more — who wants to share their thoughts, write poetry and prose, post graphics / pictures, rant, rave, heckle, make snide remarks, stick their tongue out at violence against women, and how online communications can exacerbate or help eliminate VAW. [In Filipino slang, 'ka-BLOG' means someone you blog with.] I encourage anyone to join in on this really important cause.
best wishes + hope to see you out there - c
related dossier: Global Womens Memorial
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Written by
denise
November 21, 2006
I recently attended Art, Music and Dance a fundraising event for kidsreadAfghanistan hosted by Carol Mark of ACA Gallery. Kidsread is an initiative created in collaboration with FemAid, ACA Gallery and Malalai Joya, elected representative to the parliament of Afghanistan. The goal of the initiative is to build a public library for the children of Afghanistan.
Here?s Carol talking about the children of Afghanistan and how they inspired her to embark on this project. Watch the video:
More info on kidsreadAfghanistan.
The event featured entertainment by musicians Jimmy Helverson and Samantha Terry and the theme of the night was the idea that art can change the world. Check out the video clips of artist Bernadette Badali and photographer Maria Nunes as they tackle this question.
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Written by
catrina
November 8, 2006
on December 6th, the International Day of of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, we will be launching a dossier surrounding Femicide: a term referring to the systematic killing of women. we will be featuring media that discloses these acts of violence in Mexico, Guatemala, & here in Canada, specifically with Aboriginal women who have gone missing.
yesterday in our weekly citizenshift meeting, we had a debate about what the title of this dossier should be. should it be as vague as Violence Against Women, so that in the future we can update the dossier with various media surrounding this? or should it be specific to Femicide? i thought that it would be interesting to continue the debate online & see if we can’t get some feedback from the world out there..
Denise had come up with a few suggestions including ‘When Women become Prey: Femicide in Canada & around the world’ which on first glance seemed powerful, but then Reisa brought up the point that it was too sensational, and might put too much emphasis on victimization of women.. ‘Stolen Sisters’ was a much more agreeable title, but might seem too exclusively about women, and besides this it is a title already being used by native communities & Amnesty International…
What are some thoughts out there?? we’d really like to know.
related films: Finding Dawn, Killer’s Paradise
related dossier: Global Women’s Memorial
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