Esra'a Al Shafei - Wikipedia

Esra'a Al Shafei - Wikipedia
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Bahraini activist (born 1986)
Esra'a Al Shafei
Avatar used by Al Shafei
Born
1986-07-23
23 July 1986
(age 39)
Organization
Majal
(Mideast Youth)
Website
majal
.org
Esra'a Al Shafei
Arabic
إسراء الشافعي
’Asrā’ ash-Shāfa’ī
pronounced
[ʔasraːʔ
aʃːafaʔiː]
; born 23 July 1986)
is a Bahraini civil rights activist,
blogger
, and the founder and executive director of
Majal
(Mideast Youth) and its related projects, including CrowdVoice.org.
Al Shafei is a senior
TED
Fellow,
an Echoing Green fellow,
and has been referred to by
CNN
reporter George Webster as "An outspoken defender of free speech".
She has been featured in
Fast Company
magazine as one of the "100 Most Creative People in Business."
In 2011,
The Daily Beast
listed Al Shafei as one of the 17 bravest bloggers worldwide.
She is also a promoter of music as a means of social change,
and founded
Mideast Tunes
, which is currently the largest platform for underground musicians in the Middle East and North Africa.
In 2008, Al Shafei received the Berkman Award for Internet Innovation from the
Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
at
Harvard Law School
in 2008 for "outstanding contributions to the internet and its impact on society."
In 2012, she received a
Shuttleworth Foundation Fellowship
for her work on the open source platform CrowdVoice.org.
10
She is also the recipient of the Monaco Media Prize, which acknowledges innovative uses of media for the betterment of humanity.
11
In 2014, she was featured in
Forbes
magazine's "30 Under 30" list of social entrepreneurs making an impact in the world.
12
The
World Economic Forum
listed her as one of "15 Women Changing the World in 2015."
13
That same year, she won the "Most Courageous Media" Prize from
Free Press Unlimited
14
Al Shafei was selected as a 2017 Director's Fellow at the
MIT Media Lab
15
In 2018 she was chosen as one of
BBC's 100 Women
16
Al Shafei was a keynote speaker at
Wikimania 2017
. In December of the same year, she was appointed to the
Wikimedia Foundation
Board of Trustees.
17
In January 2023, she was appointed to the board of
The Tor Project
18
In April 2024, Al Shafei announced that she was joining
SimpleX Chat
, a UK-based privacy-oriented messaging provider founded by Evgeny Poberezkin.
19
She left that position to create Surveillance Watch, which was launched later that year.
20
In 2025, she received a Senior Mozilla Foundation Fellowship to expand upon the platform.
21
Background
edit
Al Shafei (leftmost sitting) at
Wikimania
2018, covering her face with a piece of paper
Esra'a Al Shafei, according to her own account, recalls witnessing inhumane treatment of migrant workers as a child. This, along with stereotypical media portrayals of Middle Eastern youth, prompted her to found the Mideast Youth network.
22
Over time, the network expanded to include other civil rights issues within the Middle East, and branched out to create a diverse range of platforms with a global reach.
We want our humanity and our futures in our own hands and we use the internet and other forms of technology to fight for those rights
22
— Esra'a Al Shafei
In 2006, she started
blogging
with WordPress.
23
She uses Twitter to communicate, but deletes her tweets if they go viral.
24
The consequences of attending a metal or rock event is a topic of discussion that's frequently raised on Mideast Youth.
It isn't just young people but professionals who don't want to put their jobs on the line who are worried. Women, in particular, express concern about harming their reputation.
A lot of times you'll find people secretly arranging to attend these groups.
25
— Esra'a Al Shafei
Her music streaming site is a way for underground music to penetrate isolated markets, such as the
Middle East and North Africa
26
Her sites can push information out to the masses that is not found in mainstream outlets.
27
Al Shafei has blogged for
CNN
and the
Huffington Post
28
Al Shafei does not show her face online and uses an illustration instead because, as an activist in an
authoritarian
regime, she has been threatened with violence and it would put her and her family at risk if she were recognisable.
29
30
References
edit
"Human Rights Tulip 2014 goes to Mideast Youth"
Human Rights Tulip
. 9 December 2014.
"Archiving the world, one protest at a time"
. 22 April 2014.
Archived
from the original on 26 June 2014
. Retrieved
12 June
2014
"TED fellows directory"
. TEDGlobal 2009
. Retrieved
29 April
2011
"Echoing Green fellows directory"
. Echoing Green 2009. Archived from
the original
on 30 December 2010
. Retrieved
29 April
2011
George Webster (12 March 2010).
"YouTube gives Bahraini youth window to world"
CNN
Archived
from the original on 3 July 2010
. Retrieved
29 April
2011
"the 100 most creative people in business in 2011"
Archived
from the original on 13 August 2017.
"World's Bravest Bloggers"
. Archived from
the original
on 18 November 2011.
Chalfoun, Romeo.
"Mideast Tunes Hosts 1300 Underground Bands from the MENA"
ArabNet
Archived
from the original on 17 November 2015
. Retrieved
11 October
2015
Berkman Award for Internet Innovation for Mideast Youth in 2008
Archived
8 August 2014 at the
Wayback Machine
Shuttleworth Foundation Fellowship
Archived
27 October 2014 at the
Wayback Machine
Andy Plesser (11 November 2011).
"Bahraini Blogger Wins Monaco Media Prize"
Business Insider
Archived
from the original on 23 September 2015
. Retrieved
18 August
2015
William White (7 January 2014).
"Who Topped the Forbes 30 Under 30 List?"
InvestorPlace
Archived
from the original on 4 March 2016
. Retrieved
18 August
2015
Parker, Ceri.
"15 Women Changing the World in 2015"
World Economic Forum
Archived
from the original on 30 September 2015
. Retrieved
10 October
2015
Free Press Unlimited.
"Bahraini journalist Esra'a Al Shafei wins' Most Courageous Media Award 2015"
Archived
from the original on 13 August 2017.
MIT Media Lab (30 May 2017).
"Media Lab announces 2017 Director's Fellows"
Archived
from the original on 29 November 2017.
"BBC 100 Women 2018: Who is on the list?"
BBC News
. 19 November 2018
. Retrieved
21 November
2018
"Esra'a Al Shafei joins Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees"
. Wikimedia Foundation. 1 December 2017.
Archived
from the original on 2 December 2017
. Retrieved
1 December
2017
Albert, Kendra (24 January 2023).
"Announcing new board members"
The Tor Project
. Retrieved
25 January
2023
Esra'a al Shafei (4 April 2024).
"Why I joined SimpleX Chat"
SimpleX
. Retrieved
28 March
2025
"Esra'a (@alshafei@mastodon.social)"
Mastodon
. 14 August 2024
. Retrieved
3 June
2025
"VCs Will Face Their Privacy Reckoning in 2025"
Mozilla Foundation
. Retrieved
3 June
2025
Simon Columbus (19 July 2009).
"Interview with Esra'a Al Shafei on freedom of expression in the Middle East"
. Gulli. Archived from
the original
on 9 October 2011
. Retrieved
28 April
2011
Hicks, Jennifer (3 February 2012).
"Esra'a Al-Shafei Uses Blogs To Create A Voice For Those Without One"
Forbes
Archived
from the original on 5 January 2013
. Retrieved
29 November
2017
Elgin, Benjamin; Robison, Peter (27 October 2016).
"Why Your Tweets Are Incredibly Valuable—and Dangerous"
Bloomberg Technology
. Bloomberg.
Archived
from the original on 16 November 2017
. Retrieved
29 November
2017
Wong, Grace (12 March 2010).
"Death metal rockers raise eyebrows in sedate Bahrain – CNN.com"
CNN
Archived
from the original on 19 March 2013
. Retrieved
29 November
2017
Holland, Jessica (27 October 2013).
"Music of the Middle East: The website and app Mideast Tunes allows users to stream music from across the Mena region for free. Bands can now register for inclusion"
The National
Archived
from the original on 29 November 2017
. Retrieved
29 November
2017
Davies, Catriona (15 September 2011).
"The Middle East's leaders of the future?"
CNN
Archived
from the original on 2 June 2015
. Retrieved
29 November
2017
Al Shafei, Esra'a (24 August 2010).
"Young Muslims must use social media to promote peace – CNN.com"
CNN
Archived
from the original on 14 April 2011
. Retrieved
29 November
2017
"Esra'a Al Shafei, Founder & Director of Majal.org, Bahrain — 2018 Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards Nominee"
The Fem Word
. 10 October 2018
. Retrieved
14 August
2021
Kirk, Danielle (8 April 2018).
"Esra'a Al Shafei risks her own life to bring social justice in the Middle East"
Six-Two
. Retrieved
14 August
2021
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