The first research talk of this semester’s Research in Praxis Discussion Series (RiPDS) will be held Wednesday, February 28 at 6:30pm ET via Zoom. We are pleased to be able to hear from new GSLIS faculty member Dr. Nerve Macaspac, who will be discussing his research on "Digital Civic Spaces." Please see the flyer below/attached for more information and please be sure to register!

https://bit.ly/RiPDSsp24

Please share widely, and we look forward to seeing you all there!

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Nerve Macaspac (he/him) is a political geographer and cartographer. His research examines community-led spaces of peace amid active violent conflict. He is an Asst. Professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at Queens College and a Doctoral Faculty at the Earth and Environmental Sciences Program at the Graduate Center.

Digital Civic Spaces

In the Philippines, human rights defenders face threats and harassment on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) for standing up for human rights and democratic reforms. They face online threats due to their long-standing work against extrajudicial killings, social injustice, and many forms of societal violence. From state counterinsurgency to the government’s "drug war", human rights defenders have documented thousands of cases of extrajudicial executions, illegal detention, gender-based violence, and torture. Many of the perpetrators of these atrocities remain unknown and maintain impunity. Meanwhile, the Duterte government has filed trumped-up charges repeatedly against human rights defenders for alleged “terrorist activities,” which human rights experts refer to as “red-tagging.” Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, reports that red-tagging in the Philippines results in extrajudicial killings and poses a dangerous threat to civil society and freedom of expression. This research asks: How do human rights defenders create digital spaces of peace and protect themselves from online violence? At stake is a better understanding of the challenges and prospects of digital civic spaces in the promotion of human rights and peace.