Activism in 2020 has emerged with renewed passion and power. But, will today's action on the streets, and behind screens, finally lead to genuine change? This episode we meet Bahraini activist and writer Esra'a Al Shafei, behind protest media platform CrowdVoice (Index Award 2015 Finalist) and non-profit organisation Majal.

Al Shafei is a celebrated pioneer for social change and has fought for marginalised voices, with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa region, for more than a decade. We talk about the current state of activism and how technology is driving meaningful progress, as well as feeding the dangers of slacktivism and surveillance.

"Social justice advocacy is not a weekend project."

"Things have changed for the better, but also for the worse; everything is trackable, everything is traceable, everything is surveilled, and many things are censored," explains Al Shafei. "We need to look at the pros and cons of every situation and understand that, yes, there are a lot of good things happening, but there's a lot more work to be done.

"Social justice advocacy is not a weekend project, it's not a commitment you can make in a series of tweets—it's a lifelong commitment."

The Series
'Can design save us?' is a series exploring design as a pioneering force for good. We dive into the most pressing problems of our time and meet inspiring people using design to solve them. We explore the good, bad, complex and controversial. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Podimo.

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