Amnesty International Australia Campus groups made the most of the summer sunshine this February and spent Orientation Week bringing Amnesty’s #ToxicTwitter campaign to students and campus communities right across the country.. From Perth to the Sunshine Coast and most places in between, Amnesty Campus Groups got 2018 off to a pretty amazing start.
#ToxicTwitter
Social media platforms should amplify women’s voices – not silence them. It’s time social media companies like Twitter stopped making hollow promises and create a safe space for women online. While Twitter does little to enforce its own policies to protect women from abuse, 3 in 10 women in Australia are experiencing online abuse. Women of colour, women from ethnic or religious minorities, LGBTQI women, non-binary individuals and women with disabilities bear the worst of it – with trolls targeting them with even more hateful abuse.
Taking Action
With some rather sick looking Twitter Bird action cards in hand, they collected thousands of actions calling on Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to stop abuse of women on his platform.
A huge shout out to the crew from the University of Canberra who were first up – and gave the Twitter frames a great test run, and the team from Flinders University in South Australia who smashed their action targets – collecting close to 500 actions in two days.
As well as leading on our #ToxicTwitter women’s rights campaign, campus groups also used the chilled atmosphere of O Week to develop and strengthen relationships with other clubs on campus, welcome new members on board and get planning for the year ahead.
What’s next?
Classes are now well underway, and there isn’t a whole lot of summer sunshine at the moment, but campus activists are just getting started. As part of Amnesty’s #MyNewNeighbour refugee campaign, campus groups will be growing support on campus for a fairer community sponsorship program to bring refugees to Australia. Activists will be asking the Vice Chancellors to make public statements of support for a fairer community sponsorship program.
For more info about what is happening on a campus near you – check in with your Amnesty Action Centre today.
Or join our next national campus catch up on Wednesday 2 May 6:30pm (AEST). Register here
