The Macedonian version of the mapirajnasilje.net platform for mapping of violence against women was launched on December 6, 2013 in Veles, under the auspices of the regional “Take Back the Tech” campaign, part of the global 16 Days of Activism Campaign.
The launch took part under the auspices of the Feminist Tech Exchange – FTX that the Veles-based FOKUS Foundation, the Foundation OneWorld Platform for SEE and the Ženskaposla.ba portal organized in Veles (December 4-7, 2013). The FTX event included a series of lectures on the subject of using of multimedia tools for activism and promotion of women’t human rights.
The FOKUS Foundation, OneWorldSEE and Ženskaposla.ba joined forces in the campaign focused on the power of technology to influence public awareness about this problem.
The Take Back the Tech (TBTT) campaign creates actions, educates, promotes discussion about violence in the digital domain which remains largely invisible, often not even defined as a form of violence and is almost an absolute “taboo”.
“The main goal of the campaign is to prevent the violence against women through the use of information and communication technologies. Map it!! Join the initiative!”, say the organizers of the campaign in Macedonia.
TBTT calls on women and girls to take back the control over the technology to tell their personal stories, present themselves and take the initiative to shape the story of violence faced by women and girls all over the world.
“We demand from the world to see what it wants to ignore, or wants to view it only as something that needs to shock or horrify us. And to hold accountable those involved in the creation of a world in which violence against women is possible”, say the organizers of the campaign in a joint statement.
The 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence is an international campaign observed by 1,700 organizations in more than 100 countries in the world. The campaign starts every year on November 25, the International Day for Elimination of the Violence against Women and concludes on December 10, the International Human Rights Day.