It never hits closer to home than when it happens to someone you know. Syria has never been further from most of our minds for us living Taiwan except for my good pal Christopher Adams, whose fear came true when Bassel Khartabil was detained in Syria this March 2012.
"Bassel was important for bringing internet sharing ideas to the Arab world and was also important for getting internet people in the middle east to work together and he used the Internet and free culture to help get him out of Syria and to co
llaborate with the rest of the world.
“Think, if the Internet had existed during martial law in Taiwan, how would people have used it?”
- Christopher Adams
Up until this March 2012, Chris had been trying to secure ways for Bassel to leave the conflict stricken country but Bassel refused, saying he wanted to stay in his country so he could help his country by letting international news media and his friends outside know the truth about what was going on. We will be hosting an event to take action in solidarity to understand the conflict in Syria by understanding why Bassel gave and trying to give him a voice when he has given us so much without us knowing.
Date/Time: October 23rd (Tuesday) @ 19:00
Location: Insomnia Cafe
No. 8, Lane 60, Tàishùn Street (Shida area Taipower Station MRT exit 3)
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Lane+60,+T%C3%A0ish%C3%B9n+St,+Daan+District,+Taipei+City,+Taiwan+106&hl=en&ie=UTF8&client=firefox-a&geocode=FTbQfQEdqWY-Bw&hnear=Lane+60,+T%C3%A0ish%C3%B9n+St,+Daan+District,+Taipei+City,+Taiwan+106&t=m&z=16
Rundown TBC but Chris will give us his side of the story and tell us about Bassel and exactly what he was doing and what happened, introduce and see the status of Syria, and we will take action in forms of letter writing, take pictures with a life-size cardboard version of him, and using the power of social media which Bassel was so integral in engineering for free sharing of information for others to for others to use to save him.
OTHER WAYS TO TAKE ACTION IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND:
- Sign the online petition: freebassel.org/
- Write a letter and not only send it to the relevant representatives
- Take a picture of your letter in solidarity and email it info@freebassel.org and hashtag #freebassel
- Share this event - join the event - get the word out. Keeping Bassel alive in our hearts will give him a chance in detainment!
*guidelines for letters available on Amnesty link below
** Bassel has become known worldwide for his strong commitment to the open web, teaching others about technology, and contributing his experience freely to help the world. Bassel is the project leader for an open source web software called Aiki Framework. He is well known in online technical communities as a dedicated volunteer to major Internet projects like Creative Commons (sharism.org).
For more information:
amnesty.org/en/library/asset … 012en.html
amnestytaiwan.org
freebassel.org/
Event on Facebook here! https://www.facebook.com/events/119143238237926/