Authoritarianism is not new—even societies that embraced democracy years ago still do not apply fully the democratic processes in their governance. With the rise of the Internet which was always intended to provide individuals more importance, there has been a rise of online authoritarianism. For a community like Global Voices that is deeply invested in researching and reporting about the digital rights of individuals around the world, the first ever Global Voices Asia-Pacific Summit helped bring researchers, journalists, activists and digital rights watchdogs under the same roof to help each other understand the nuances of the current trends in digital authoritarianism.
Our Subhashish Panigrahi participated in this two-day forum in Taipei city, Taiwan to discuss about the issues in India that largely affected the marginalized community. Subhashish shared our learning and experiences the past work which have largely been on media and open resource development in the domains of linguistic, cultural and social issues of marginalized communities in South Asia. Below are some of the highlights of his talk captured on Twitter—they were a part of a keynote panel moderated by Ivan Sigal of Global Voices and other panelists in this discussion were Lotus Ruan of CitizenLab, University of Toronto, Pongpan Chumjai of Prachatai, Thailand and Cédric Alvani of Reporters Without Borders East Asia Bureau.
Our @subhapa spoke today at #gvapsummit2019 and reflected how our societal values (and repressiveness) are being reflected online. https://t.co/bGCQ4LbnAW
— O Foundation (OFDN) (@ofdnorg) June 2, 2019
Now happening: Panel discussion on the rise of digital authoritarianism in the Asia Pacific by @lotus_ruan from @citizenlab; Subhashish Panigrahi (@subhapa); Pongpan Chumjai from @prachatai; Cédric Alvani from @RSF_eastasia, Ivan Sigal @ivonotes from @globalvoices #gvapsummit2019 pic.twitter.com/ASfCHG2hOd
— EngageMedia (@EngageMedia) June 2, 2019
Subhashish Panigrahi: Internet Society Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau (India) speaking on rise of digital authoritarianism
@subhapa
#gvapsummit2019— Global Voices (@globalvoices) June 2, 2019
Subhashish Panigrahi: Participation and rights of speakers of minority languages, spoken by millions, overlooked
@subhapa
#gvapsummit2019— Global Voices (@globalvoices) June 2, 2019
“Let’s not forget about minorities and ensure that everyone has the right kind of access to the #internet" @subhapa at the @globalvoices Asia Pacific Summit #gvapsummit2019
— Viet Tan (@viettan) June 2, 2019
Subhashish Panigrahi: Digital accessibility major issue in India
@subhapa
#gvapsummit2019— Global Voices (@globalvoices) June 2, 2019
Subhashish Panigrahi: India no longer behaves like a democratic country – thousands of trolls, bots targeting people to suppress their views @subhapa #freedomofspeech #gvapsummit2019
— Global Voices (@globalvoices) June 2, 2019
Subhashish Panigrahi: Upper class interests rule country through dominance of official language @subhapa @RSF_AsiaPacific #gvapsummit2019
— Global Voices (@globalvoices) June 2, 2019
Good practices for tech companies confronted by authoritarian countries? Cédric Alvani: Google's dragonfly project stopped by whistleblowers and journalist pressure and citizen actin@subhapa @RSF_AsiaPacific #gvapsummit2019
— Global Voices (@globalvoices) June 2, 2019
Subhashish Panigrahi: Put individuals, those neglected in the society and our shared human values first @subhapa #gvapsummit2019
— Global Voices (@globalvoices) June 2, 2019
ভারত গণতান্ত্রিক দেশের মত আচরণ করে না। অজস্র ট্রল, বটের মাধ্যমে দমন করা হয়। @subhapa #gvapsummit2019
— pantha rahman reza (@pantharahmanrez) June 2, 2019
#India #digitalfreedom #freedomofexpression #gvapsummit2019 https://t.co/aGKdjHQe7W
— Emma Lewis (@Petchary) June 2, 2019
আমরা যেন প্রান্তিক মানুষের কথা ভুলে না যাই, তাদের ইন্টারনেট এ প্রবেশাধিকার দিতে কাজ করি। @subhapa #GVAPSummit2019
— pantha rahman reza (@pantharahmanrez) June 2, 2019
"Websites need to be accessible, vital online information needs to be available in all languages” @subhapa #gvapsummit2019
— Viet Tan (@viettan) June 2, 2019
