Take Back the Tech; after reading this tag line the first question that came to my mind was; that why in era of technological revolution a group of educated individuals urging us to take back the technology? Do they want us to go back to the medieval age when technology was still a fantasy of few crazy scientists with blur ideas? Or the (ab) use of technology has provoked them to come up with such a strong stance? Any of the two cases but the message that they are sending across with just their campaign title is powerful enough to make us all reflect.

So what is Take Back the Tech Campaign all about?

“TAKE BACK THE TECH! IS A COLLABORATIVE CAMPAIGN THAT TAKES PLACE DURING THE 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE (25 NOV - 10 DEC). IT IS A CALL TO EVERYONE - ESPECIALLY WOMEN AND GIRLS - TO TAKE CONTROL OF TECHNOLOGY TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN”

Ok now a strong campaign title (Take Back the Tech) makes sense to me. For the last ten years we either have heard or seen the misuse of cell phone and internet technology to abuse the female gender. If you are a cell phone owner or a regular internet user, chances are that you have seen the photos or clips of (non celebrity) young girls distributed over the internet or cell phone network. Most of the time you have been guilty of further forwarding that email or mms considering the girls in that message were completely unrelated to you. So somehow if a woman whose individuality was compromised by a pervert and forwarded to you using technology, it shamefully became an acceptable obligation not only to enjoy the spectacle but to pass on the message to other perverts of your male community.

But I refuse to become a part of this perversion, not only as a brother, a son or a friend but as a responsible member of a society. I refuse to be a hypocrite who shows respect to women in public gatherings while in private life my actions prove to be completely opposite.

How can you be the part of this campaign?

Contribute by:

1) Writing Blogs (links)
2) Creating Banners & Logos (link)
3) Digital Podcasts (link)
4) Print Screen & Videos (link)
5) Organizing Campaigns (link)

How the Pakistani Blogging Community is participating in the campaign:

• Follow Jehan Ara President of Pasha on her blog and twitter account for latest blog updates.
• Follow Fariha Akhtar on her blog for daily action items and insightful posts on how women can secure their online existence using ICT
• Watch the Laid Back Show episode 7 where Faisal Kapadia and Dr.Awab interview Jehan Ara about Take Back the Tech campaign
• Read Dr.Awab, Sana Saleem, Jamash, Talha Izhar, Rai Azlan and their take on the TBTT campaign

The idea is to create awareness and make the virtual existence in our society better and safer.

Popularity: 23% [?]

The New York Time video report ‘Tuning Out the Taliban’ after its release started a new debate in the Pakistani literary corner. Are we living in denial? Is Taliban not Pakistan’s enemy number # 1? Are the newcons trying to de Islamize Pakistan? Has Ali Azmat gone nuts? These are few of the many questions that we all ask ourselves in the current situation. But one apparent trend that can easily be spotted among these pseudo intellectual debates, is the thirst for change in our masses especially in the thinking young generation. The generation before us gave us the legacy of nothingness. The oldies were married to their traditions; they made no significant change in their time and the mess that we live in today is the gift of their laziness and pseudo-traditional-religious bull crap.

But wait, if the new generation hates all that then why people like Zaid Hamid are attracting these young minds. Why the man in the red cap who is the Wikipedia of “Islamic historic achievements” and the google of conspiracy plans (cooked by the Zionists against the great Muslims) is getting popular among the masses with his rhetoric narrations. One theory states, that for every nation that wants to evolve from the ruins should be reminded of the very foundation the nation stands on. Therefore the young minds should be reminded repeatedly of Islam’s past achievements and traditional enemies. Even for a second if we approve the mentioned theory, even then Zaid Hamid’s rhetoric’s falls flat. Because we can’t hide the fact that Islamic history despite its achievements had a brutal not so pleasant past. One big example is the assassination of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) grandson in the hands of men who claimed to be Muslims, that one incident created a rift that resulted in the number of sects the religion has today. But was this predicament ever address by Zaid Hamid or any religious cleric or critic for that matter?

This negligence resulted in another apologist point of view that allowed an individual (who claimed to be religiously righteous, wore a long beard and pointed every apposing entity haram or biddat) to be supreme even if that person committed great crimes including the killing of innocent lives. One historic example is Mughal King Aurangzeb who put his father behind the bars, and killed all his brothers just to be on throne. Aurangzeb just because of his apparent religious inclination is considered to be righteous and humble. The same apologist theory was preached during Zia regime in Pakistan and the American aided Afghan war was labeled Jehad. The same apologist theory today is endorsed by people who believe that a Muslim cant carry out a suicide attack and in other words these terrorists are not Muslims neither Taliban. It’s a big black (water) American/Zionist conspiracy. If you ask me today how many people in Pakistan support Taliban; my answer would be 1 out of every fourth individual is a Taliban supporter one way or the other. Reason, pointing fingers is easier then solving the mess in your backyard.

We are desperately in need of a practical leader who will be an example and lead us out of this mess. Yes Islam had a glorious past but the inglorious part of Islam which was never addressed in the past has now become the ugly part of our everyday life. We find justifications for Taliban if they blow up girl schools or conduct a suicide attack in Peshawar every day. People like Zaid Hamid or Israr Ahmed never in their own lives did anything practical that changed the lives of others for good.

If we look up the recent history:

I would like to play the role that Zaid Hamid plays in his programs but instead I will look up the history that actually matters today, and not the one that can only make me feel good.

In January 1996, two Stanford University PhD students Larry Page and Sergey Brin changed the minds of every internet user with their research project which they named “Google”. On October 23, 2001 Apple Computers publicly announced their portable music digital player the iPod, which for every one surprise changed the life style of millions and expectations of an average user from electronic gadgets. YouTube (an online video sharing and viewing community) was named Time Magazines Invention of the year in 2006, nobody at that time knew that one website will completely revolutionized the preferences of tele viewer in the coming days.

These are the few inventions that made it big among the masses in the past 10 years. Ten years is a long period to decide the future trend and historical influences that led to these inventions. All the mentioned achievements came out of west, by individuals who spend their lives in a modern environment and getting education from the west, where religion played little or no role. In contrast we gave the world Al Qaeda and Taliban. Moon sighting is still an issue in our country. When these religious sheriffs cant solve a simple issue, why should we allow them to decide the fate of our lives?

Popularity: 43% [?]

The Film: Trainspotting (1996)

The Line: “Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a f***ing big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance.

“Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of f***ing fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the f**k you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing f***ing junk food into your mouth.

“Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, f***ed up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life.

“But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin’ else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you’ve got heroin?”

[ Courtesy: Total Film ]

Popularity: 26% [?]