APC Talk
This section is a space where APC's staff, members and readers can open up conversations on topics that are of interest for the ICT community. It is a space where authors get to be themselves – sometimes to express opinions and challenge the readers on issues and topics that are close to them, sometimes to share their personal experience on an event or a current debate. The views expressed in this section do not necessarily reflect the views of APC or its network, but that does not make them any less valuable.
When discussions around access to the internet are raised, our thoughts turn to whether we have sufficiently solved the issues of poverty, health, education and energy to decide that internet access is a needed right in Africa. But COVID-19 has changed our view of the need for connectivity.
Mardiya Siba Yahaya argues that digital surveillance is part of gendered and racist disciplinary structures that manifest in specific forms of online gender-based violence experienced by Black Muslim women influencers.
It is undeniable that our world today is a digital one. It is this world that young Africans are navigating today. Perhaps our play, our natural gravitation towards games, social media and movies, is our way of expressing our desire for mastery, and ultimately our claim on the internet.
Concerned about how digital technologies bring new challenges to fighting censorship, APC member EsLaRed has been defending access to information and freedom of expression in restrictive environments, with a recent study focusing on communication blockades in Venezuela.
For the young person I was, under 25 years, attending the African School on Internet Governance and getting involved in the internet ecosystem in my country was a dream that I will continue to follow.
The 2021 African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) has brought together actors from digital ecosystems worldwide. It has been a golden opportunity for me and my community as I have learnt about several topics on internet governance.
How did I make it to the AfriSIG 2021 fellow if I am not deserving (African child suffering from impostor syndrome)?
The internet may be the same, in some ways, everywhere, but it’s also different everywhere.
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2020
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