Posts

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Trash Selfies in Tunisia

The selfie took the world by storm, spreading like a virus across social media platforms. The term often carries a negative connotation in many contexts, reflecting a sense of heightened narcissism brought on by the digital age.

However, even viral trends like the selfie can be turned around and used for productive and positive reasons.

A new selfie phenomenon is catching on in Tunisia for a very unique reason. It involves citizens taking snapshots of themselves with piles of trash in the background with the fitting title, “trash selfie.”

About two months ago, Tunisians began taking the trash selfie and posting it to Facebook and Twitter, using the hashtag #SelfiePoubella (#trashselfie). The photos are aimed at raising awareness of the excessive garbage and pollution currently plaguing the country.

The revolution in Tunisia left much of the country destroyed and many areas have yet to see proper repair and reform. As the political system works to restore order, public services have fallen behind. People are simply throwing their trash on the streets on top of piles that remain untouched.

Many Tunisian neighborhoods are riddled with rubbish, raising several health concerns. Aside from the smell alone, mosquito infestations and unsanitary conditions raise the risk of disease. Pollution-related diseases, such as asthma, are also increasing in the area.

The government has failed to properly respond to the crisis up until now. Tunisians are taking the trash selfie to social media platforms as a way to galvanize government response. As a result, Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa is currently working up a plan and intends to increase funding to the most problematic areas.

The waste treatment crisis is not limited to Tunisia alone, however. Trash in public areas has become a facet of life in much of the Middle East and North Africa region as the result of the Arab Spring.

The Arab Spring erupted in Tunisia in 2010 as a result of Twitter advocacy. The platform was critical to revolutionary communication throughout the conflict, as the entire world tuned in to a live-tweeted revolution. Social websites and mobile devices served as an effective way to voice the concerns of a people and push for political change.

Countries like Tunisia show the true potential of the Internet for uniting people over a cause they believe in. Middle Easterners have taken up a public voice on social platforms for real and necessary reform, and it seems they will continue to use it this way.

– Edward Heinrich

Sources: Green Prophet, Global Voices Online, PRI
Photo: Global Voices Online

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My Reasons for Writing and Why You Should Write Too

I decided to write for The Borgen Project not only because I want to disseminate interesting developments from all over the world for everyone to read, but also because the act of writing itself also contains many heath benefits. Quite frankly, it is very pleasant.

Before we begin, I would like to disclaim any expertise in psychology on my part. However, there have been numerous studies on the benefits of writing. First of all, have you been noticing that you are learning new things and forgetting some of the old ones all the time? Writing helps you to remember and going back through your journal or diary can help you refresh your memory. My apologies if the following information may bore those who do not take great pleasure in reading about the human cerebral anatomy, but our brains have an involuntary information intake filter. This filter determines which sensory inputs (sights and sounds, for example) to register and if the brain is under a lot of stress, this filter will work in a very particularly selective manner. This is because your amygdala—that’s one of the pink gooey gummy things in your brain (scientifically speaking)—conducts information to the lower reactive part of the brain when you are under stress. To put it briefly—you are welcome—stress puts you into the fight or flight mode and when you are in that mode you do not remember information very well.

So, this is where reasons for writing comes into play. First, it reduces your stress (yes, it actually does, I swear). Writing about your traumatic or stressful experiences (expressive writing) helps you cope with these emotions. Just 15 minutes to 20 minutes of writing several times a week is sufficient. I mean, if you have time to look at photos of cats, I am sure you will have some time to spare for writing. It’s good and good for you.

Furthermore, in AIDS patients, expressive writing helps to improve memory and sleep and to reduce the viral load and helps with post-surgical recovery. A test conducted on cancer patients also revealed that writing makes the subjects feel better both physically and mentally. In fact, there is even a name for the medical use of writing to facilitate recovery. It is called journal therapy.

Writing not only helps you, it can also serve to help others. The United Nations estimated that around 774 million adults 15 years old or above are illiterate, and 493 million of them are women. Much of these figures come from developing countries or underdeveloped countries. Part of what writing with The Borgen Project does is give a voice to those who cannot express themselves to the international public. Writing about the issue of global poverty puts a human face on the sufferings of those whose lives might otherwise be grossly abbreviated as numbers after the sports news coverage. It also helps to raise public awareness of the fact that beyond our immediate surroundings, there people who are going through inconceivable ordeals.

However, when writing about poverty, I personally always keep in mind that I should write about the subjects respectfully and, as much as it is possible within my capacity, to preclude any vertical power relation. By perpetuating the idea that certain groups of people are dependent on the collective discursive “us” and that they owe this “us” their livelihood only serves to further stigmatize poverty, the poor, and the underdeveloped world.

Lastly, if you like posting pictures of your cakes and coffee on Facebook, love hoarding “likes” from your friends, take delight in posting on your Twitter or all of the above, you are already halfway there. Start a blog, write for social change, send your writing to your local gazette or simply keep a journal for yourself to read. It is good for your health, it is free (pen and paper not included), it’s fun, it doesn’t hurt anyone, it makes you happy and it has no sodium. Not a lot of things do all that these days.

– Peewara Sapsuwan

Sources: Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, Lifehacker, The New York Times, The UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Scientific American, The George Lucas Educational Foundation
Photo: Antonio Siber

Turkish Government Cuts Off Access to Twitter

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan ordered access to Twitter to be cut off for citizens in the early hours of Friday, March 21st. The shutdown came just a few hours after Erdogan publically threatened to cut off access to the social media platform, calling it a ‘scourge’ and claiming it is being used against him by his political enemies.

Erdogan is currently embroiled in a political scandal which was furthered when an audio clip was anonymously released via Twitter. The tweet contained a link that implicated widespread corruption in Erdogan’s administration. Users that attempted to access Twitter were redirected to a webpage with a statement from the telecommunications regulator in Turkey that cited several court orders for the reason the site was blocked. The court orders from the government asking Twitter to remove the tweets with the incriminating audio clips have gone unanswered by the company.

Twitter, a website widely used by celebrities, also found another use during the Arab Spring. Activists and protestors utilized the social media platform to spread up- to- the- minute information to the world. Twitter provided people who may not have had a voice through official channels or media with a way to tell their story about what was happening in their country. Twitter was used in Turkey last year to spread the word about protests against the government which ended in Erdogan requesting that Twitter establish an office in the country so the company can respond more quickly to the government’s requests. That request also went unanswered.

Twitter is only the one of the social media platforms that the Turkish government has bumped heads with. Facebook, Google and YouTube have all been criticized by Erdogan for their content that is unflattering to him. He has also threatened to extend the ban to these companies and others unless they comply with requests from the Turkish government. With Prime Minister Erdogan threatening to shut down access to these companies ‘no matter what the international community thinks’ it sets up a potentially troubling situation blocking the access for the citizens of Turkey during a time of political unrest.

This situation will continue to evolve in the coming weeks. Whether or not other social media websites will go down or if Twitter will come back online in Turkey remains to be seen. Erdogan seems eager to show power in the face of the international community saying, “The international community can say this, can say that. I don’t care at all. Everyone will see how powerful the Republic of Turkey is.”

– Colleen Eckvahl

Sources: NPR, Haaretz
Photo: Amnesty

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MasterCard Utilizes #Selfie to #DoGood for World Hunger

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Last month, we talked about the #SelfiePolice project started by young college students who found an innovative way to turn the traditionally selflish “selfie” into a force for social good. Turning selfishness into selflessness has now also been embraced as a strategy by MasterCard and the World Food Programme (WFP), through the “Selfless Selfie Campaign.”

The Selfless Selfie Campaign was unleashed this year at the Mobile World Congress, where attendees were encouraged to stop by the MasterCard booth, take a selfie and tweet about it. For each selfie taken, MasterCard pledged to donate a month of school meals for a hungry child through the WFP.

The campaign did not end there. It found itself this week taking on “one of the hottest and most well-known festivals in the world,” South by South West (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. MasterCard donated $5 for every selfie taken at the festival and tweeted with the hashtag #dogood. Again, for each selfie tagged, MasterCard pledged to donate $5 to provide a month of school meals for a hungry child through a WFP program.

MasterCard and the WFP formed a global partnership in 2012, with the goal of delivering “ground-breaking technology to meet the needs of the world’s hungry and vulnerable populations in order to help end world hunger.” According to Hunter Biden, the Board Chair of the WFP USA, “66 million students across the developing world go to school hungry every day.” MasterCard and the WFP believe that a new approach to help these children lies in the power of technology to unlock innovation in food assistance.

One way to utilize the power of technology is through social media platforms. “Leveraging technology to do good is important to us at MasterCard,” said Ann Cairns, MasterCard President International Markets.

Twitter, in particular, has some staggering statistics that make it a valuable tool for corporations, non-profits, and activists worldwide to spread their message to millions:

  1.  There are now at least 230 million active users on Twitter globally, with over 100 million daily active users
  2. More than 5,000 tweets are tweeted every second
  3.  3 million websites integrate with Twitter.

Twitter and other social media sites offer a unique platform that connect millions of people, affording them opportunities to influence change and spark social justice movements in ways that were unimaginable before.

– Rifk Ebeid

Photo: Mastercard
Sources: Amazon, Stay Classy, News Room

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#NotaMartyr: Lebanon’s New Twitter Revolution

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Social media is proving itself once again a vital medium for advocacy.  In a movement reminiscent of the 2011 Arab Spring, the younger generation of Lebanon is organizing on Twitter around the mantra #notamartyr. The online phenomenon was sparked by the death of 16-year-old Mohammad Chaar, a bystander in Beirut.

The December 26, 2013 explosion was targeting former Lebanese ambassador to the United States, Mohamad Chatah. It killed Chaar instead, who was hanging out with friends nearby. The press and government authorities immediately transformed him into a figure of patriotic martyrdom, as is customary in such cases.

According to the subsequent outcries from Lebanese activists, the glorification of martyrs is a problem in their culture and disrespectful to Chaar’s memory. They are adamant that he was a victim, and not a martyr. #Notamartyr is a promotion of pacifism and the choice of life. It also demands that the Lebanese government to be held accountable for violent harms perpetrated against their citizens.

Recent times in Lebanon, and especially in the capital city of Beirut, have seen a lot this type of martyrdom. The country still feels a degree of political and economic instability in the wake of their 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990. Violent spillover and ethnic tension from their neighbor Syria has significantly increased this. Beirut has seen six fatal bombings in the past six months, averaging one per month.

Violence has only resulted in breeding further problems for Lebanon, which is quickly declining into an economic crisis. Limited job opportunities have forced more and more Lebanese youth to reluctantly leave their home country.

The #notamartyr movement has now developed into a means of voicing a wide range of dissatisfaction, along with resolutions for the future. Poverty, corruption and human rights violations are just a few topics highlighted. It is also consciously challenging negative media misrepresentations of Lebanese culture.

As the accompanying Facebook group states, “We can no longer desensitize ourselves to the constant horror of life in Lebanon. We refuse to become martyrs. We refuse to remain victims. We refuse to die a collateral death.”

Tweets from Lebanese activists:

@LebaneseVoices: I’m tired of head counting my family every other week to check if they have survived explosions #notamartyr #انا_مش_شهيد #لبنان #Lebanon

@Akananmariam: I want my hijab to represent my faith and my love of peace, not my political affiliation or party.

@Safran3: I want to raise my kids in Lebanon #notamartyr #lebanon

@Hamedleila: I would like to hold my boyfriend’s hand without being afraid of the police #notamartyr

– Stefanie Doucette

Sources: Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN
Photo: Huffington Post

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#GlobalPOV

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Everyone can help end global poverty, even Twitter. #GlobalPOV was created by the Blum Center for Developing Economies at University of California, Berkeley. The Global Poverty Project started by students working with the Blum Center thought of using a hashtag to trend topics surrounding global poverty. The students wanted to get people thinking, reading, and writing about concepts related to global poverty and what causes it as well as how it can be resolved.

Some hashtags are just fact or comments about the world’s poor. Some topics are news headlines about natural disasters and relief efforts across the globe. They include links to charities and organizations that are providing aid to victims of the disaster, and ways everyone can contribute.

#GlobalPOV can follow a post about an article detailing events in other countries related to politics and foreign aid. One tweet talks about social entrepreneurship ending global poverty with a link to Forbes Magazine cover photo of Bono and Bill Gates, two high profile charity donors. Another tweet links a YouTube video that describes how people become dependent on welfare in different societies.

The great thing about Twitter is that using the #GlobalPov phrase in the search bar connects audiences to a wealth of links and information that they can browse on their own time.

The best part of the Global Poverty Project, besides the impact it makes on the lives of poverty victims, is the convenience of spreading the word. One button can share the tweet with potential hundreds of followers. No one has to tediously search through different websites for the information since it is directly accessed via the link.

Richard C. Blum is the founder of the Blum Center at Berkeley. He is also the founder of the American Himalayan Foundation that helps provide food and education to people living in the Himalayas. Mister Bloom serves as a board member today and as the Honorary Consul of Nepal. His dream to help people has touched people all across the world. Starting the Blum Center at Berkeley University was intended as a place to bring together people of all different experiences and backgrounds to help those struggling with poverty.

Brainstorming, education, business, technology, and more are subjects that students working at the Blum Center use to help solve poverty across the globe. Their Global Poverty Project continues to grow with the hashtag #GlobalPOV, which can also be read as Global Point-of-View. This project challenges readers to act against widespread misconception and become educated about the issues facing people today.

Anyone can log onto Twitter.com right now and tweet about global poverty, or search for the hashtag and start reading.

– Kaitlin Sutherby

Photo: AIIA
Sources: Himalayan Foundation, Wall Street Journal

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Lack of Media Coverage For Syrian Refugees

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Syrians have recently become the highest population of refugees on the planet at nearly 2.4 million people strong. The UN has, in fact, labeled the Syrian refugee crisis as “the greatest humanitarian crisis in modern history.” However, media throughout the world is strangely quiet about their monumental struggle.

In nearly every host country that Syrian refugees have been forced to flee into, they have been met with indifference, hatred or open hostility. Many have even chosen to go back to their Syrian homeland despite the overwhelming violence, deciding it best, if die they must, to die in their homeland. The international community has also been negligent to their needs while the aid that is being given lags far behind what the dire situation calls for.

This is only part of their plight, so why is there such silence in the media considering the scale of the issue? A simple reason may be reflective of the refugees’ inability to articulate for themselves; according to Nancy Baron, a UN psychologist who provides mental health to Syrian refugees in Egypt, “the Syrians don’t have a voice.”

Rattled by warfare and hostility in a foreign land, Syrian refugees are doing their best simply to stay alive. Most find it hard to talk about what they have been through, and even if they did want to talk, few (if any) are willing to listen. The international community seems to still be trying to figure out exactly what is going on in Syria. Most are eager for the peace talks scheduled for January 22 to begin both as a respite from the civil warfare as well as for a chance to hear both sides of the story and garner a better picture of the situation.

Furthermore, a great deal of the problem with attaining media coverage involves the lack of proper reportage. This dearth is caused by several issues, not least of which is the difficulty of finding a ‘fixer,’ a person who can provide interviewees, translations and safe passages to areas of interest. Due to this scarcity, many media outlets are forced to use the same fixers, and therefore have less to report, leading to empty and sometimes sensationalized news stories.

Moreover, if international media continues to be reticent in interceding on behalf of the Syrians, media outlets within host countries may become anxious to condemn the new Syrian presence. In Egypt, for example, TV presenters affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood have accused Syrians of undermining their country’s well-being and have threatened violence upon the refugees.

Compelling stories have helped the United States and other countries rally on behalf of refugees in the past. There are stories waiting to be told, stories that need to be told. Hopefully, for the sake of millions of innocent lives, they will be.

– Jordan Schunk

Sources: FIDH, The Interpreter, Reuters
Photo: Religious Action Center

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Most Charitable in Hollywood

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Money is not the only way to contribute to charities, although it is arguably the most effective – unless you are a celebrity. Apparently just being associated with a charity is enough to boost donations by $100,000 per year. Research from the Rutgers’s Business School found charities with celebrity endorsements received a 1.4 percent increase in donations over charities that were not associated with stars.

In that respect, the popular celebrity news website, The Daily Beast, found out who the most charitable celebrities were in regards to lending out their name and fame. Using an in depth survey with forty-eight characteristics via E-poll market research, a list was created with the top celebrities in the charitable running. The list was narrowed after secondary research on www.looktothestars.org, a site that tracks how many charities celebrities are actually supporting. Using Traackr to record the number of actual hits on Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and personal blogs, the list was further weighted to reflect the celebrities’ personal effort put into promoting their respective organizations.

Elton John was at the top of the list with support towards a whopping forty-eight charities. Furthermore, his foundation to help treat AIDS victims, Elton John Aids Foundation, is one of his personally founded charities. Though it may be due to the passing of many of Elton’s close friends of because of AIDS/HIV, he hosts enormous galas open to his multitude of famous friends as fundraisers for his organization.

Second on the list is Angelina Jolie, recognized worldwide for her long list of humanitarian efforts. She has visited various nations such as Tanzania, Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, Egypt and Costa Rica, even during times of conflict and war. Taking a hands on approach, she has provided care and aid to refugees in the aftermath of natural disasters, apartheid, oppression and more. She is the founder of the Maddox Jolie-Pitt, named after her first adopted Cambodian son, an organization which serves to implement sustainable community improvement policies for women and children in Cambodia. Angelina and Brad Pitt sold the first images of their newborn twins to People and Hello! Magazines for $14 million, utilizing the entire sum of money for the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

Following Angelina on the top 25 list is Bono, the incredible U2 front man, Oprah Winfrey and Ellen Degeneres. Some of the most famous stars on television and film are giving huge chunks of their success away to help others, thus becoming role models in the world of charity and fundraising. It is simultaneously inspiring and humbling to recognize that people have the ability to help those in need no matter how famous, wealthy or well off we are in their own lives. Celebrities have a name and a face but their actions are worth so much more than that, and anyone can take action against global poverty.

– Kaitlin Sutherby

Sources: Marie Claire, The Daily Beast, Look to the Stars
Photo: Giphy.com

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Who are the Syrian Rebels?

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Raging since early 2011, the civil war in Syria has left many wondering who will obtain the reins of power in the war torn nation. Will the rebel forces topple Bashar al-Assad’s regime, creating a power vacuum? Or will Assad maintain control?

These questions lie at the heart of what policymakers consider when sending aid to rebel forces who have managed to continue their three year war against the Assad regime with minimal support from the West.

One of the questions that has been most pertinent to American policymakers is who exactly are the rebels and to what extent are there Islamist extremists in their ranks.

Politifact points out politicians on both sides of the aisle, advocating both for and against aid to the Syrian rebels, who use questionable sources to justify the numbers of radical or moderate elements among the rebel forces.

For example, Senator John McCain has been a vocal proponent of aid to the rebels and has stated that close to 70 percent of the rebels are still moderate. When pressed on his certainty of where the rebels stand, McCain simply stated he visited the war torn country and through his visit, gained an understanding as to the leanings of the rebel forces.

Others such as IHS Jane’s, a British intelligence analysis agency, have estimated the radical element composes half of the 100,000 opposition fighters. Their conclusion is based off interviews and intelligence estimates that are extremely difficult to confirm.

Many have turned to social media to examine the political leanings of the rebels.

Caerus, a strategy firm that examines Syrian governance for government clients, examines major internet platforms such as YouTube to glean data about the rebels. They claim through examining social media, very reliable data can be constructed giving a better understanding of the ideological makeup of opposition fighters.

For example, the Free Syrian Army has a hefty YouTube footprint of over seven YouTube channels. Other rebel groups are active Facebook and Twitter users, posting propaganda sympathetic to their cause.

Unfortunately, David Kilcullen, CEO of Caerus, as well as many government officials have concluded that moderate opposition forces are losing influence to radical Islamist sects within the rebel forces.

The perception of Islamist elements among the rebels gaining ground has led some officials to suggest that Assad staying in power would be the best outcome for the protracted civil war. The Christian Science Monitor quotes Ryan Crocker, a former U.S. ambassador to Damascus, predicting Assad’s eventual victory in Syria.

He states, “And do we really want the alternative–a major country in the heart of the Arab world in the hands of Al-Qaeda?”

The different factions of moderates versus Islamist hardliners have contributed to the propagation of the Assad regime. Their incoordination among each other has prevented a cohesive strategy from forming against Assad.  And the radicalization of many forces has blocked the flow of foreign aid from countries unwilling to potentially support Al-Qaeda linked forces.

While many officials are now leaning toward the continuation of the Assad regime as the best outcome for the war, others have argued that the brutal tactics perpetrated by the regime was the main cause for their radicalization in the first place, and the failure by the west to adequately fund the rebel forces have led them toward radical ideals in an attempt to secure funding from wealthy Arab nations.

Now close to three years old, the Syrian conflict shows no signs of letting up and rebel groups no closer to toppling the Assad regime.

– Zack Lindberg

Sources: NPR, The Christian Science Monitor, Politifact
Photo: Giphy.com

Imongo: The Next Facebook?

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Terkura Unongo, a ninth grade student at Nigeria’s Hillcrest Secondary School, is the creator of Imongo, a social network that facilitates communication among people all over the globe. Imongo, which means “gathering” in the language of Nigeria’s Tiv tribe, allows its members to create profiles, chat with others, catch up with the latest news, and share pictures, videos and music.

Since its conception in February of 2012, Imongo has attained over 3,900 members from Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Algeria, Egypt and other areas in the Middle East, China and the United States.

Terkura’s interest in the Internet and programming stemmed from his use of Facebook. As he interacted with friends and played games online, he began to wonder what was “fueling this thing from behind”. His curiosity inspired him to learn HTML and other programming languages, eventually giving birth to Imongo. The process of designing Imongo demanded 10 to 16 hours of writing code per day, months of publicizing and over 500,000 Nigerian Naira ($3,120.13 USD) in costs.

In the future, Tekura hopes that Imongo will become a household name and expand. Plans are already in place for Imongo to develop interactive chat rooms, a marketplace, a gaming platform and more.

In today’s world where social media and websites have the ability to rapidly mobilize thousands of people, Imongo has the potential to become a source of political and social organization in Africa.

– Lienna Feleke-Eshete

Sources: allAfrica, The Nation
Photo: Greenbiro