[APCPress] TAKE BACK THE TECH! Campaign to reclaim the internet to end violence against women

[Karen Higgs]

NO EMBARGO


PRESS RELEASE


TAKE BACK THE TECH: RECLAIMING THE INTERNET TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
16 days of activism against violence against women (VAW): November 25 - 
December 10
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Hundreds of women made private public by testifying about street sexual 
harassment in the "Blank Noise Project Blogathon" in India. 
http://blanknoise.blogspot.com

In New Mexico, USA, the "Domestic Violence Virtual Trial" helps judges 
and court staff learn about issues and challenges in VAW cases, and 
compare rulings with colleagues. http://jectrials.unm.edu/dvtrial/

In South Africa, women survivors of violence use digital storytelling to 
share their experiences and courage.
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, November 27 2006 -- Increasingly the internet 
and information and communications technologies (ICTs) have been seized 
as new tools to defend, inform, and exercise women's right to live their 
lives free of violence. The APC Women's Programme (APC WNSP) calls on 
all who use ICTs to "Take Back the Tech", and reclaim this technology 
for the fight against violence against women. From November 25 to 
December 10, the Take Back the Tech Campaign encourages users to take 
action against VAW with any ICT tool at hand - using our cell phones, 
instant messengers, blogs, websites, digital cameras, email, or podcasts.


16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women

"Take Back the Tech!" is part of the 16 Days of Activism Against 
Gender-based Violence initiative. Since 1991, local groups have used the 
16 Days campaign to demand support services for survivors, enhance 
prevention efforts, press for legal and judicial reform, and use 
international human rights instruments to address VAW as a human rights 
violation, a public health crisis, and a threat to human security and 
peace worldwide.


VAW and ICTs

Violence against women has many manifestations, all rooted in the 
unequal power relations between men and women. Systematic rape is used 
as a weapon of war. In most nations, women survivors of domestic 
violence range from 20 to 60% percent of the female population, with 
women at greatest risk of violence from the men they know. New terms 
such as "feminicide" for understanding gender-based killings have had to 
be coined. http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2005/presskit/factsheets/facts_vaw.htm

With emerging technologies, other expressions of VAW including 
cyber-stalking or digital voyeurism have appeared on the scene. As 
technology has become smaller and more inexpensive, installation of 
tiny, hard-to-discover cameras facilitate peeping and spying.  Images of 
women, recorded in intimate moments, without their knowledge or consent, 
are being sold as pornography on the internet. In the hands of 
tech-savvy domestic violence abusers, spyware and global positioning 
systems (GPS) are used to track and control their partner's mobility.


Take Back the Tech!

For each of the 16 days of the Take Back the Tech Campaign, simple 
actions can be taken by ICT users in activism against VAW. Some actions 
include raising awareness around this issue by linking to the campaign 
site, changing e-mail signatures, or playing with instant messaging 
status notes. The campaign website shares action ideas. Users are free 
to add their own suggestions to the list. It also provides tips for 
online safety, providing resources that explore the interconnections 
between VAW and ICTs and practical guidelines for women to communicate 
more securely online. Campaigners are translating "Take Back the Tech" 
into Malay, Czech, Spanish, Portuguese and more languages are submitted 
every day.

Bloggers are invited to join ka-BLOG! - 16 days of collective blogging 
from thoughts to images in any language around this theme. For those new 
to the blogosphere, tutorials and how-to guides are shared to make it 
simple on starting a new blog and how to tag posts.

Women around the world are creating post cards. Eloquent images and 
ideas recreating a vision of technology founded on equality and what 
might be possible in a world where women shape, define, participate, use 
and share ICTs freely.


Campaign Partners

Dozens of sites and blogs currently carry the campaign banners in 
support of this initiative. The Center for Digital Storytelling site 
will feature digital stories from initiatives that have used video as a 
platform to narrate powerful and transformative experiences by survivors 
of violence against women.
Innovative G2G has localised the campaign in Brazil and recently 
launched it on their webspace [http://g2g.sarava.org/en]. G2G plans to 
take over a telecentre for a day of blogging!
At the end of the 16 days, a 'Conversations Collage' will be created 
with print screen images of these sites, signifying the diversity and 
openness of people who are taking back  the tech.


Take action

The APC WNSP believes that women have to be safe everywhere - including 
online. We all have a role to play in stopping violence against women. 
Take Back the Tech Campaign aims to help you take action.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

For more information on how to participate, send an email to 
jac at apcwomen.org; or check out the campaign website: 
http://www.takebackthetech.net

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"Take Back the Tech" is an initiative of the APC Women's Networking 
Support Programme (APC WNSP), a global network of women who support 
women networking for social change and women's empowerment, through the 
use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) especially 
internet, founded in 1993. The APC WNSP is part of the Association for 
Progressive Communications (APC).
http://www.apcwomen.org/about/
http://www.apc.org

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