This workshop is part of the conference TERROR FEEDS: Inside the Fear Machine, the 12th event of the Disruption Network Lab,  “Outer Space” Conference series 2017.
14:00-17:00.TICKET: 12 EURO,
MAX 20 PEOPLE
REGISTER AT INFO@DISRUPTIONLAB.ORG

This workshop helps provide a platform of sharing knowledge, shedding light on the communication power of ISIS and its media strategy, by proposing a counter-narrative to its media propaganda, and new routes of opposition. The workshop aims to bring a better understanding of what is happening in Syria and the Middle East in relation to ISIS, as well as in the field of cyber security when contents get blocked or compromised by external sources. In particular, cyber security threats (attacks) and Internet shutdowns will be analysed. Policy makers, human right defenders, truth-tellers, investigative journalists, communication experts, NGOs, and other interested people, are encouraged to understand how to combat extremism by learning how terrorist groups initiate attacks and how to protect ourselves.

Please find info about the conference and its events here: http://www.disruptionlab.org/terror-feeds/

TERROR FEEDS: Inside the Fear Machine highlights the change ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or Daesh. by its Arabic language acronym) represents in how terrorism is conducted and analyses how electronic jihad and strategic messaging affect the worldwide public opinion, both in the western countries and in the Arab world, representing a new icon of „global jihad“.

How can ISIS and its media strategy be analysed? What is the meaning of cyber jihad, its characteristics, its role in shaping the image of ISIS, and identifying ways of confronting with this challenge? Which are the reasons why young people are attracted by this phenomenon, and enroll it as foreign fighters? ISIS makes a profound use of cyber jihad as an instrument for recruitment, radicalisation, and dissemination of propaganda. It has captivated a global network of supporters that articulates, intensifies and disseminates its violent extremist messages worldwide.

On the other hand, in the context of the reflection of openness of communication and freedom of speech, activists and human right defenders risk their life while reporting stories to reveal misconducts by ISIS and document the horrors caused by the terror regime. The conference and workshop analyse how activists are working to circumvent censorship, Internet shutdown and repression of speech in the Middle East – as well as how they find political countermeasures via activist/artist practices, reporting on initiatives to combat extremism and terrorism.
The goal is to understand and to discuss how ISIS unleashed cyber jihad, as well as the strategies activists and human right advocates use to oppose this form of terror, Internet censorship and surveillance.

Workshop guests:
Dishad Otham (Activist and IT security engineer, SY/US), Aymenn Al-Tamimi (Jihad-Intel Research Fellow at the Middle East Forum, SY/UK).