10 tactics premiere screening in Cairo

Egypt's first 10 tactics screening in Egypt was organised by Samia Helmi El-Yamani – ('Hayat'), a project manager from the Egyptian New Woman Foundation which advocates women's rights. Hayat was a participant at Tactical Tech's 2009 info-activism camp. She says her experience at this “amazing camp” was the impetus to screen the film since it allowed her to share the knowledge and experience she gained with others working to promote human rights in Egypt.

The audience of 20 represented a number of NGO's and freelance technologists and photographers. “Some of the participants are already preparing a project to train the civil society and to support a youth cadre of young technologists so they found the screening provided a chance to share and discuss new ideas about how technology can be used,” explained Hayat. Support for Information Technology hosted the event at the Development Support Centre in Cairo. Both of these organisations support the use of information and communication technology to strengthen civil society and promote human rights.

A number of concrete suggestions and proposals came out of the screening from the follow-up discussion:

• The film should be screened in different places and to different group of communities in Egypt.
• It's important to support a well-trained cadre from the local communities on the strategic use of new media tools as well as NGO working group.
• Creating a network of Egyptian young technologists that can provide technical support to civil society groups will provide additional support for NGOs and rights organisations to carry out info-activism campaigns.

Hayat explains that the participants discussed their own experiences “that when digital technology is used in very random way it can lessen the effect.

The film inspired the idea about the way these tools can achieve greater results if their use is well-planned and organised. The participants appreciated the efforts behind making such a film and explained how they find it important to use new media tools to improve their activism work on human rights issues.”

The participants each took away copies of the 10 tactics and pack and other toolkits and guides from Tactical Tech including the Arabic version of Security in-a-box.

Images by Samia Helmi El-Yamani from the Egyptian New Woman Foundation: Both pictures show the discussion after the screening.