During the Arab uprisings of 2011, onlookers celebrated the
democratizing effects of DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL MEDIA. However,
the rise of DIGITAL AUTHORITARIANISM ACROSS THE REGION NOW CASTS DOUBT
ON OLD NARRATIVES, showing how authoritarian regimes can wield
technology to consolidate their power and clamp down on opposition.
What many once saw as an equalizer appears to have become yet another
tool of repression.
Please join MENA Forum for a panel on the rise of DIGITAL
AUTHORITARIANISM IN THE MIDDLE EAST WITH ELIZA CAMPBELL, Mohammed
Soliman, and Robert Uniacke, who are researchers focusing on
technology and governance in the MIDDLE EAST. The event will begin at
12:30pm on Friday, February 28 in ICC 108 and last until 2:00pm.
Lunch will be provided.
RSVP on Eventbrite.
Learn more about our speakers below:
Eliza Campbell is the Co-Director of the Cybersecurity Initiative at
the MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE, and a researcher in technology and human
rights at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown
University. She was a 2017-18 Fulbright researcher in Bulgaria, and
previously worked in the human rights sector in Jordan. She holds a
bachelor's degree in political science and Arabic.
Mohammed Soliman is a Non-Resident Scholar with the MIDDLE EAST
INSTITUTE. His work focuses on the intersection of technology,
geopolitics, and business in the MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA (MENA).
A native of Cairo, Egypt, Mohammed appears frequently on
Arabic-language television to provide commentary on unfolding events
in the MIDDLE EAST AND HAS PUBLISHED ARTICLES FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS,
Daily News Egypt, the MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE, the WASHINGTON Institute
for Near East Policy, and Open Democracy. Previously, he worked as an
analyst and columnist for Tahrir News, al-Maqal, and al-Masry al-Youm
in Egypt. @Soliman91
Robert Uniacke is a Researcher at Navanti Group and Master's candidate
at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. For Navanti, his work
monitors the social media space in Libya and Tunisia, specifically
analyzing the online messaging of Libya's militias, political actors,
violent extremist organizations, and international actors such as the
UAE. His academic work has focussed on authoritarianism, propaganda
and disinformation with geographic focuses on the Gulf and Libya. His
essay entitled "Authoritarianism in the information age: state
branding, depoliticizing and 'de-civilizing' of online civil society
in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates" is due to be published
in the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies.
culture
618
Views
29/02/2020 Last update