Can the Internet Prevent Another Aisha?
Yesterday I attended an Internet and Politics conference convened by Harvard’s Berkman Center. Berkman’s mission is to “explore and understand cyberspace; to study its development, dynamics, norms, and standards.” I was on a panel to discuss various aspects of online mobilization. I relayed some of my experiences working with Hillary Clinton and the challenges (and opportunities) for campaigns and organizations communicating, fundraising and organizing using the web. Toward the end of the panel discussion, I said there’s a tendency to expect too much of the medium and that despite the dramatic growth of the Internet as a political tool, we have a long way to go before it becomes a lever of true power for individuals and a mechanism for sweeping reform. As an example, I recounted the horrific story of Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow, a 13-year-old Somali girl who was gang-raped and then stoned to death in a packed stadium as “punishment” for adultery, an unfathomably cruel fate for this innocent
