Author: iHeartPodcasts

Esra’a is a Bahrani human rights activist and founder of Majal, a multiplatform organization that amplifies underrepresented voices in the Middle East and North Africa. She works collaboratively with technologists and designers across the world to create alternative digital spaces that are safe from censorship and trolling. Utilizing gamification and music, Majal’s platforms offer a safe space for people who face persecution based on their identity and politics.

Guest: Esra’a Al Shafei

Bio: Founder of Majal, Migrant Rights, and Mideast Tunes; civil rights activist dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ+ youth in the Middle East. 

Online: Majal website; @ealshafei on Twitter

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ACTIONS

 

- PERSONALLY REFLECT 

Personal Security

When have you felt concerned for your safety and security online? What features online made you feel vulnerable or exposed? Was it something you could control or was it outside of your control? If you’ve never felt insecure on online platforms, why do you think that is?

 

- BECOME INFORMED

Question Scale in Philanthropy

Check out Majal.org and look at the platforms they operate. 

When you are engaging with nonprofits and philanthropy, look at who founded and runs the groups you support or amplify. Find ones that are run by those closest to the problem, which are often people from marginalized communities. Start your learning journey by reading Decolonizing Wealth by Edgar Villanueva. 

 

- PUBLICLY PARTICIPATE

Challenge the philanthropic norms. 

Instead of supporting large organizations that emphasize scalability and unsustainable growth, consider getting as local and grassroots as you can in terms of your time and resources. Often smaller, on-the-ground, and grassroots organizations have a more direct impact despite far fewer resources. And make the How To Citizen community look good: donate over at Majal.org so they can keep supporting the important platforms serving activists and LGBTQ youth in the Middle East. 

 

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School boards have quickly become one of the main frontlines for pushing far-right ideas into the zeitgeist. This episode we discuss how online organizing is accelerating the acceptance of violence at these meetings.

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At the height of its success, Canada's QuadrigaCX was the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the country, perfectly positioned to ride the booming mainstream interest in Bitcoin and altcoins. On the backend, the operation was largely run by a single man: Gerald William Cotten. Yet there was more to the story; facts that, once revealed, indicated Quadriga was a Ponzi scheme. As the authorities closed in, Cotten took a trip to India in Decamber of 2018, where he suddenly passed away, taking with him access to millions of dollars in crypto. At least, that's the official narrative -- you see, many people seem convinced, to this day, that Gerald Cotten never actually died.

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They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

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In part 2 of our interview with Genean and Abrar from Common Humanity Collective we discuss building deep rooted and resilient organizations and how mutual aid transforms the people and communities involved in ways more powerful than electoral organizing.

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How often do you think news outlets bury, skip or distort an important story? The answers -- or, at least, the accusations -- might surprise you.

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They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

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Genean and Abrar from Common Humanity Collective join us to discuss the history of their mutual aid work, building communities through organizing, and how studying the history of struggles in the Spanish Civil War and beyond helped expand and transform their work.

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The US once again declines to declassify documents related to the JFK assassination, citing fears of 'identifiable harm.' Scammers get away with an audacious crypto-related heist using a fake food delivery service. Robot artist Ai-Da is detained by Egyptian authorities at the border. All this and more in this week's Strange News.

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They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

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Book episode, in which Robert and Garrison find out what Dr. Billye Dymally thinks Halloween is.

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All of this week's episodes of It Could Happen Here put together in one large file.

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Have you ever followed a ghostly light into the woods? For many, it sounds like a story straight out of the world of folklore -- yet these strange lights have been reported across the world. In Mexico, they're sometimes considered evidence of witchcraft. So what exactly are these things? Tune in to learn more.

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They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

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