July 27 2022, MENA Meetup
| MENA Meetups |
The monthly meetups bring together folks from the MENA region to share, connect, seek help, and release stress by celebrating each other. In addition, it's a time for us to find ways to support each other, and help us understand what is happening in our part of the world. If you cannot attend the monthly meetups, we are taking notes of each gathering and linking to them below.
The MENA community is connected during the week in different ways. Either through various MENA-focused channels on the IFF Mattermost or via different events organized on various topics during the year.
Date: Wednesday, July 27th
Time: 5pm CAT / 3pm UTC (what time is it in my city?)
Who: Facilitated by Islam
Where: The Big Blue Button link will be shared in the Regional:MENA Channel on the IFF Mattermost one or two hours before the start of the meeting.
- Don't have an account to the IFF Mattermost? you can request one following the directions here.
Notes
- Attendance: 7
- Activities: check ins, common music playlist!
Community needs
- To use Zoom rather than BBB because it is not practical and lags especially for users with VPN.
Updates from Sudan
- There is an increase of hate speech in Sudan, new misinformation campaigns. Everyday something new (and violent) goes viral.
- Highlighting BEAM reports: https://www.beamreports.com/ which show the different types of hate speech and how everyone is targeted.
- A need to focus on countering disinformation and hate speech, particularly the ways in which it is used to incite actual violence between communities.
- What do communities in Sudan need right now? They are in need of trainings:
- Journalists, for example, need fact checking training.
- Feminist groups and orgs need digital security trainings and safety training
- Raising awareness and highlighting initiatives such as BEAM reports.
Tunisia
- In Tunisia, the socio-economic situation is getting dire, alongside Tunisia's constitutional refendrum.
- There was a lot of violence throughout, and most importantly, it is not representative of people. It is not structured in a way that represents people. It's very important that everyone keeps on the lookout to see what potentially looks like the end of Tunisia's 'democtratic' path and the ways in which we can support what's happening in Tunisia.
