July 21, Asia Meetup

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Date: Wednesday, July 21st

Time: Delhi 13:30 (UTC+5:30) / Taipei-Kuala Lumpur 16:00 (UTC+8) / Tokyo 17:00 (UTC+9) / NYC 4am (EST)

Who: Facilitated by Don, Lulu, Kaia, Nica

Where: The Meetjitsi link will be shared in the following rooms on the IFF Mattermost one or two hours before the start of the meeting: Southeast Asia, Central Asia and East Asia.

• Don't have an account to the IFF Mattermost? you can request one following the directions here.

Agenda: What do you think about Asia Meetup?

Notes

Topic: What do you think about Asia Meetup?

It is great to have the person to full-time facilitate the Asia networking. It allows the conversation to continue.

• Two months ago, the Asia meetup had concerns and talks about technology education for student protestors, such as the Thai and MY protestor is very young, and don't know how to protect themselves online. Participants provide many good ideas, however, there is no further conversation and follow up.
• Last meetup, we had the mental check in, people talked about the COVID situation. It is frustrating to see nothing get better, especially, Asia has COVID-19 resurgence. To help Asia partners update the current COVID-19 and vaccines situation has been mentioned but has no follow up.

In Asia, mental health issues seem not that open, is that really?

• Yes, in many communities, even for activists it is also hard to talk about mental health.
• However, in the younger generation, they are more open to mental issues. It definitely has the chance to talk more about mental health in the Asia networking. Also, it will be important to start this conversation.

In Asia networking, language is definitely a challenge.

• English is the only language that could be used across Asia, but most countries don’t use English that often.
• The Philippine and India have English as the national language, people from those two countries may often be signed as moderators or be the staff in international organizations.
• The participation level for other countries in Asia may be restricted because of English. In those countries, many community members may not join international meetups that often due to this barrier.
• Translators will be very important for Asia events, to allow more people in communities to be able to join the talk.
• To invite one member from each country to help translate may be a starting point.
• Using immediate text notes can be an easier way to translate for many languages.