CYBER violence against women cultural activists worryingly affects cultural practice and events, as New Age reported on January 17, especially riding on the inaction, if not unwillingness, on part of the government or relevant public agencies to deal stringently with the issue. Activists allege that cyber violence against women cultural activists started rearing its head during the July uprising, which overthrew the authoritarian Awami League regime on August 5, 2024, but the incidence increased after the uprising, especially with the post-uprising rise of right-wing groups. And the interim government, which assumed office three days after the fall of the Awami League government, could not effectively handle such issues, either immediately after the uprising or seemingly even now, with its tenure set to end after the national elections scheduled for February 12. Whilst the right-wing mobbing that emerged in the changed political context took place on the ground, cyber violence against cultural activists emerged as an almost regular online phenomenon. The attackers have bullied the cultural activists online and labelled them as ‘anti-Islam’.
The attackers often create fake photo cards, AI-generated images and videos with irrelevant events to spread misinformation on social media. Organised attacks with hordes of users of social media platforms with forged identities have become a common tool to make negative comments or give misleading reactions, often by sharing Facebook postings of cultural personalities on various political, social and religious issues. Such a situation has negatively impacted the cultural arena and has forced many cultural activists to go offline or maintain a low profile even outside the digital space. The women activists harassed online say that the objective of such cyber bullying is to limit women’s activities in public spaces and cultural activists are ‘soft targets’ as they are often not connected to any political parties. Some say that online attacks on cultural activists and educationists take place as they often do not have a huge fan following to fight online bullying. In the event of such attacks, most of the young activists do not protest against such bullying out of fear of renewed, further reprisals. Attackers also target senior cultural activists to demoralise their fellows and followers and to discourage young activists. Some blame the absence of safeguards and the inaction of law enforcers for the increase in online attacks on cultural activists.
Many of the victims, who sided with the July uprising, were harassed by the activists of the fallen Awami League and now many of the victims are harassed by the people who claim to have been part of the July uprising. Such a situation warrants earnest law enforcement measures, coupled with social awareness and a movement against cyber bullying of women cultural activists.
