Internet Exploiters
April 7, 2011
Creating Social Capital in Politically Restrictive Environments: The Virtual Sphere and Iran’s Weblogistan
April 9, 2011
The Civil Society Zine is published 3x a year. Each time, we focus on a theme. We accept posts that range from 400 words to 4000 words. We are looking for pieces that are provocative, insightful, and filled with ideas. These posts do not need to focus on Iran or the MENA region. In fact, we would love to hear from people with a wide variety of perspectives and experiences.
Our next theme is:
Crime, Security, and Human Rights
Security and safety are often seen as scarce resources. In order for one group to feel safe, another must be watched, suspected, and treated as pariahs. One group gains a sense of security while the other loses it. We can see examples all over the world. In the Netherlands, youth who look Moroccan are targeted regularly by the police. Some get approached a dozen times per week with requests to show identification. In New York City, stop and frisk policies resulted in “hundreds of thousands of unjustified marijuana-possession arrests that flouted state law,” according to an article in the Village Voice. In the UK unrest manifested itself in riots in the summer of 2011. There had been tension between the police and the Afro-Caribbean community for a long time previous. At the Daily Kos, Geminijen writes,”As police repression is the only government response to control joblessness,. working class youth in general identify with anger and resentment toward the police, much as they did in the 1980s.” Read more here.
The question we are asking in the third issue of Arseh Sevom’s Civil Society Zine is about the relationship between crime, security, and human rights.
For this issue, we are not accepting academic-style pieces. We would love to read summaries of research findings, however.
Here are some prompts for pieces:
1) Dealing with false accusations, privacy violations, and profiling. First-hand accounts are welcome.
2) How can we guarantee human and civil rights and safety and security?
3) What makes us feel unsafe? Safe?
To submit or for more information, write to [email protected].
DEADLINE: MARCH 1, 2012
We are also looking for volunteer illustrators for each issue and digitized artwork related to the theme.
