Hamza Al-Tarjumi, one of the youth leaders in Combating Information Disorder Youth Initiative in Yemen, believes that the lack of awareness of the importance of media education in Yemeni society is one of the most important reasons for its absence, which prompted him to start voluntary activities to transfer the knowledge he gained in the project of Combating Information Disorder Youth Initiative in Yemen which was implemented by the Sheba Youth Foundation, to the others.
Hamza says: “Before joining the program, I did not have much experience or basic means and tools to work according to my continuous desire to combat disinformation and educate people about the importance of verifying news before believing or publishing it,” noting that the project gave him “the necessary information and sufficient experience, in addition to tools and training.” The skills we have learned are able to launch into my goal of protecting society.”
Border-crossing Effect
He was not satisfied with acquiring knowledge, as he began to transfer it to the environment in which he lives, and by the means he found available. Hamza says: “Immediately after the end of the project’s training program, I began to transfer knowledge and experiences to the environment in which I live, using the available means, realistically or digitally.”
Hamza’s initiative enabled him to implement a number of voluntary training courses in the field of combating misinformation and digital security for many young men and women from his local community, but his broader launch is the one in which he crossed the borders to be able to transfer knowledge to the youth of other Arab countries, which he talks about by saying: “Perhaps the most prominent These courses are a training course in digital safety and combating misinformation, which was implemented in cooperation with the Arab Youth Academy, where approximately 53 young men and women from about 13 Arab countries participated in the course.
Youth Responsibility
Hamza attributed his joining the project to his desires resulting from the reality in which he lives in a society full of great chaos with false and misleading information in general. Among these battles they are fighting is the media war, in which each party seeks to win public opinion and spread rumors and information that may often be false or fabricated, and there is no doubt that this has negative effects on society and people in general.
He stressed: “We are facing a population whose social media is owned by more than half of the it, and within one click, false and misleading news can be spread with ease. From false health reports to misleading religious and cultural concepts, to violence against individuals or groups, misinformation spreads and continues to spread, through All digital means, so my desire was launched from a youth responsibility to stop these rumors and misinformation and limit their spread. To combat misinformation and protect society from its spread.
Great Response and Need
Hamza received a great response from the young people he trained or from the parties that cooperated with him to spread awareness of the importance of combating misinformation, pointing out that this impact was positively reflected “through their desire and request to repeat such trainings with other young people, and many interacted by spreading some of this knowledge on social media. Social media and some were sending me messages that he shared in WhatsApp groups.
The positive impact that Hamza felt made him believe in “the impact of all that I provided in order to achieve my goals in the field of combating misinformation and protecting society.”
“The results that I saw in all of what I mentioned above generated in me a greater desire and a stronger ambition to continue in this field while expanding the horizon of my ambitions and continuing to acquire the necessary experiences and knowledge in order to continue the journey,” says Hamza, concluding his speech with certainty by saying: “My motivation has become to continue with this project.” The Anti-Information Anarchy Project is more serious and enthusiastic, hoping that we will actually contribute to achieving its great goals.
