Esra'a Al Shafei on Platforming Marginalised Voices

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#11 Esra'a Al Shafei on Platforming Marginalised Voices

Esra'a Al Shafei is a Bahraini human rights activist and founder of Majal.org, a network of digital platforms that amplify under-reported and marginalized voices in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond; building communities that celebrate, protect and promote diversity and social justice.

Director’s Fellow at the MIT Media Lab, Esra’a and her team of remote-working women coders and techies across the Middle East and North Africa emerged during the Arab Spring in 2010-2012 with the crowd-sourcing news platform Crowdvoice.org. Since then, they have produced mould-breaking platforms such Ahwaa, an online space built to support and protect the Arab LGTBQ community, and Mideast Tunes, a platform in the Middle East that drives to empower underground bands, one which helped revolutionary bands like Mashrou’ Leila and Justina find new audiences.

Esra'a spends much of her time on initiatives with the unifying goals of freedom of expression and access to information, not just in the Middle East and North Africa but around the world. At the forefront of this is Migrant Rights, advancing the rights of migrant workers in the Middle East and often in direct confrontation with local governments and authorities in the region.

Open/Ended talking points:

What is a political act? How do we find our own voice and stand up for what matters to us and our own community?

Music, the role it plays in contemporary politics, and how singing in your native tongue can be an act of courage and activism.

The financial impact of the pandemic on Majal.org and non-profits around the world.

The lack of resources & fundraising challenges for women entrepreneurs and founders coming from the Global South