FarQuest

June 20: Let’s unite to fight Sexual Harassment

Just late last night I noticed a hash tag #EndSH taking rounds on Twitter. Reading a few tweets made using this hash tag made me soon realize that June 20 is being observed as a day to speak out against sexual harassment, abuse and violence. As reported in this blogpost the #EndSH initiative is brain child of Egyptian startup HarassMap. However, realizing the importance of curbing this menace, people from various parts of the world specially Middle East have now jumped on the bandwagon.

Sexual harassment and similar issues have always been close to my heart mainly because of the number of lives it effects and also because being a woman I have also faced harassment myself not once or twice but several times; most recently on a flight while coming back from New York. While I regularly tweet, blog, write, speak on this topic, today, I would rather borrow someone else’s words to address all the men out there and show support to #EndSH from Pakistan. I believe creating awareness among men about this issue is as or perhaps even more important as it is for women.

During my recent trip to US as part of the IVLP (more on this later) I met Dr. Robert Jensen at the University of Texax, Austin. Wonderful Dr. Jensen, who proudly calls himself a staunch feminist gave me his book “Getting Off - Pornography and the End of Masculinity” after I told him about my interest in ending the various forms of VAW(Violence Against Women). I have started reading this book already and each chapter of it is turning out to be a paradigm shift for me.

Below are the words of Andrea Dworkin who became the force of change for Dr. Robert. How? Read below and you’ll get to know.Andrea told men in 1983:

“I don’t believe rape is inevitable or natural…..Have you ever wondered, why we [women] are not just in armed combat against you? It’s not because there’s a shortage of kitchen knives in this country. It is because we believe in your humanity, against all the evidence……We do not want to do the work of helping you to believe in your humanity. We cannot do it anymore. We have always tried. We have been repaid with systematic exploitations and systematic abuse. You are going to have to do this yourselves from now on and you know it.” -1

If you also wish to eliminate sexual and other forms of harassment from within your society, then start nurturing your human side and encourage others around you to do the same. Let’s live to see the change that we all have been wanting to see for ages.

Footnotes:
-1 Robert Jensen, Getting Off - Pornography and the End of Masculinity,South End Press,2007, p7

Posted in Social Good | 1 Comment »

Koolwall: The cool wall nearest you!

“I am old and at this age I really want to do something for the community than myself” - said Raul and his words resonated with me immediately. I met Raul in the Silicon valley during Eighth Innovation Journalism conference at Stanford. Silicon Valley as most of you may know is symbolically speaking the Mecca for technology companies and start-ups. At places like these, I would often expect people to talk just business and profits. Talks that merely revolve around making more and more money tend to be least interesting for me. I believe in “The People-Centered Model of Business” shortly referred to as the PC-MOB that my friend and mentor Ramla Akhtar introduced to me long time back during my senior years at university. So, it was really pleasant to meet Raul who has similar beliefs as I could sense from his upcoming project Koowall.

Koowall is what can be seen as yet another social collaboration website, however, what makes it different from several social networking websites already out there is the philosophy behind it. Raul looked pretty disturbed with idea of how often a bunch of people gain popularity online, become social media stars and often overshadow the conversation by several others. He believes in living the true sense of community where every member of the community has a voice that can be heard. It is upon this belief that he has created a really cool wall that would encourage people to share information in a communal manner.

Raul gave me a tour of the Koowall community that he aspires to build and walking through the streets and alleys of Koowall made me all excited; because this was something that I have been looking forward to have for so long. Yes, I have already seen the interface of Koowall which is yet to be launched - envy me!

I use twitter religiously and love it but what irritates me the most about it is how I am almost always unable to dig out what I tweeted say two months back or for that matter even a week ago. However, Koowall is likely to make my life easier. How? Naah, I am not going to let the cat out of the bag yet. I would rather want you to wait for the official launch of Koowall or rush to be part of the private beta which is coming out on 27th of June.

I would encourage you to grab a private beta invite by subscribing at Koowall website and see what Koowall can do for you. I already have at least a few things in mind for which it can be used in Pakistan (6) . Yes, envy me again . You might want to follow Koowall on Twitter and Facebook too.

Koowall has got an aesthetically pleasing UI. I also had a discussion with Raul on how they can make Koowalling safe and secure and was glad to see his commitment about doing the same.So, I am positive that all those of you who decide to use it will have fun. Happy koowalling!

Posted in Tech Talk, Social Good | 3 Comments »

Liveblog: International Social Media Summit

Salam Netizens, live blogger is in action once again and will be covering the International Social Media Summit live from Karachi, Pakistan, on June 11, 2011 from 9-6pm local time.

Wonder what Social Media Summit is all about? Read further the introduction to it that I have stolen from the summit’s invite email:

“With the sponsorship and assistance of several major technology companies, Intel and Raffles Systems and media partners Newsweek Pakistan, Express Media Group, City89FM, PC World and the U.S. Consulate General in Karachi, Network! Will gather together Pakistan’s top bloggers, Twitterati, netizens and other experts from the local social media scene with bloggers and social media experts from around the world for a day of interactive sessions designed to spark discussion, forge new connections and showcase the positive force that Pakistan’s active social media is.

Three exciting sessions in the morning of the 11th, on Education & Good Governance: Going Digital, Women & Social Activism in the New Media Era, and Monetizing your Social Media Space, will be followed by several breakout workshops throughout the afternoon. The idea of the summit is to enable a collective gathering of people from the Pakistani Blogosphere and how to enable them as well as understand better on bringing about a positive change through social media.

Joining us for the sessions will be prominent international bloggers, Ong Hock Chaun from Malaysia, Hanny K. and Nonandita P. from Indonesia, Rebecca Chiao and Mohamed El Dahshan from Egypt.”

Posted in Tech Talk | No Comments »