This blog was written by Sonnie Santos, one of the participants of FMA’s Digital Rights Camp held on May 2019.
Believing in digital (human) rights is one thing, defending it is another.
I am not new in the world of activism. I was a political activist in the early part of my college days. But the focus of activism changed when I became a Christian.
I have been exposed to different advocacies, met people from different walks of life, culture and races, and have witnessed, too, how far these people are willing to go to stand by the principles they believe in.
At the moment, I am managing volunteers who make time from their busy work schedule to help us out in our advocacies. But at the end of the day, they have a career to nurture and economic goals to achieve. In most cases, their engagement is only seasonal.
My attendance in the last digital rights camp brought me to the new generation of human rights defenders — they are not only intellectual but equally brave. Their engagement level can potentially take away their limbs, if not their life.
Though this kind of commitment is not new in Christian circles and in the armed underground movement, this is my first time to meet young people who look like and talk like their contemporaries, but also possess the creativity and tenacity to defend human rights.
I may be wrong, but these fellow campers set a bar that the young advocates in my circle may not be able to equal. These young generation of human rights defenders are tech savvy, witty, dedicated, and emphatic.
This, somehow, gave me assurance that the future of digital human rights in our country will be better than today, thanks to these young human rights defenders.
About the contributor
Sonnie Santos is the founder of the Learning and Organization Development Institute, Inc. (LODI Inc).
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