Nordic By Nature

In this episode ON CONNECTED VOICES, you will hear from two guests prominent in the world of internet access and freedom of speech. First you will hear from Walid Al Saqaf, free speech advocate and software developer who focusses on the non-commercial use of Internet and its impact on democracy and freedom of speech. After Walid, you will hear from Bahraini civil rights activist, and blogger Esra’a Al Shafei founder of Majal.org, a network of digital platforms that amplify underrepresented voices in the Middle East and North Africa. The World Economic Forum listed Esra'a as one of 15 Women Changing the World, and she was featured in Forbes magazine's 30Under30 list of social entrepreneurs making an impact in the world.

Many thanks to the singer-songerwriter Tamtam for her music on this podcast. You can find more of her music on mideastunes.com.

Show Notes

Walid founded a ground-breaking news aggregation service in his home country of Yemen, which spurred him onto work with tracking Internet censorship and enabling activists and journalists to bypass government-imposed firewalls to access news and social media websites. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Internet Society (ISOC) and co-founder of the Society’s Blockchain Special Interest Group. His work in tech development for increasing Internet Access has earned him international recognition, including a TED senior fellowship, and Örebro University's Democracy Award, and he has been featured by global media such as CNN, the Guardian, and the Huffington Post.

Esra'a is passionate about music as a means for social change, and is also the founder of MideastTunes, where musicians across the world with Middle Eastern and North African origin can share their music that is often censored on mainstream music platforms. She also a senior TEDFellow, and Echoing Green fellow. As an outspoken defender of free speech, Esra'a was FastCompany magazine’s "100 Most Creative People in Business and The Daily Beast one of the 17 bravest bloggers worldwide. 
 
The music you hear with Esra’s is by Tam Tam, the Saudi born pop star who sings about love, solidarity and equity.

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What is Nordic By Nature?

Nordic By Nature is inspired by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess, who coined the term Deep Ecology. Each episode is spacious, mindful soundscape, created for you to listen with your headphones. Transcripts available on imaginarylife.net/podcast and foundnature.org/podcast