By Tech is politically-biased. That needs to be at the front of our awareness as we use social media.
I had the opportunity to attend a wonderful webinar on the E-Occupation that people are experiencing all around the world with the attacks on freedom of speech, as well as people’s very livelihood and lives, due to the Islamophobic tendencies of tech.
Academics and speakers shared the impact that biased tech has had on them, including deleted Facebook accounts, and other impacts such as political targeting due to speaking against occupations in Palestine and Kashmir. Recent protests at Facebook connected to this have been happening as well.
One of the points made is the immense increase in connections between Big Tech and the Military-Industrial Complex. An interesting and important point is that policing and censorship are NOT NEUTRAL; they’re TARGETED AT MUSLIMS.
For example, Ramah Kudaimi shared the fact the attack on the mosque worshippers at Christchurch was directly inspired by right-wing racism and Islamophobia on social media, as was the January 6 violent attack in Washington, and their business model supports racism, white supremacy, and alt-right groups generally.
The issue of the occupation of Kashmir is similar to the occupation of Palestine. There is a frightening silence that is coming from the government that is often otherwise quite progressive.
Dr. Huma Dar, a professor at UC Berkeley, in contrast, shared that her entire Facebook/Meta account was deleted due to a simple post about an extrajudicial killing of a Kashmiri activist which was actually outright terrorism by the Indian government.
There is a significant amount of information on this E-Occupation available at www.standwithkashmir.org.
Ifat Gazia spoke on the demands of the report, including greater scrutiny of Islamophobic and terrorist posts in Hindi, as well as the ones written by those who support the oppression and the genocide of Kashmiris. Gazia also provided greater transparency about why Muslim posts are being removed and accounts are being deleted, along with posing other demands.
The relevance of the report is vast for many reasons, including the global impact of Islamophobia and the ramifications of anti-Muslim terrorism. Dr. Dar reported the oppression being experienced by Kashmiris, and that it is our responsibility to stand up against Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter’s complicity in the oppression of Muslims globally — if complicity is even a strong enough word.
Part of the work is to pressure government officials in governments around the world to speak out about the oppression that Kashmiris and Palestinians are experiencing. Pushing harder on the government progressives is necessary.
Of course, part of the strategies of resistance to E-Occupation and the activism needed is the widespread dispersal of the report. Kudaimi brought up the intense connections between the military and Big Tech including Amazon, and that we need to encourage regulation and resistance of the monopolies of Tech so that government can reduce the impact of the racism and white supremacy they create.
The issue of the occupation of Kashmir is similar to the occupation of Palestine. There is a frightening silence that is coming from the government that is often otherwise quite progressive.
Part of the work is to pressure government officials in governments around the world to speak out about the oppression that Kashmiris and Palestinians are experiencing. Pushing harder on the government progressives is necessary.
Kudaimi spoke about the importance to use our power to organize against tech because “They cannot exist without us.” She shared the website: Big Tech Sells War – How Big Tech Sells War on our Communities and encouraged standing up and speaking out.
Dr. Dar encouraged increased awareness, both in India and Israel, adding that such awareness can potentially restrain the unlimited biased use of tech for Islamophobic terrorism and oppression of Muslims.
Gazia encouraged solidarity between causes and encouraged people to learn and involve themselves with www.standwithkashmir.com to help operationalize this solidarity.
Dr. Hatem Bazian encouraged sharing the report widely, as well as using our position in the world to increase awareness, which might help.
All the speakers touched on the vastness of the problems we face, and call for action, and transnational solidarity.
The report can be found here: Report _Social Media Censorship_Sept 2021 (standwithkashmir.org)
SHARE WIDELY AND TAKE ACTION! #standwithkashmir #standwithpalestine