Activism - An Effective Way of Fighting Corruption?

Activism involves efforts to promote, prevent or lead social, political, economical or environmental changes, or stagnation. The different forms of activism range from letters to the editor, boycott and participation in political campaigns to demonstrations, strikes, whistleblowing and hunger strikes. Fraud, bribery, theft of public funds and other unjust actions must be detected and exposed. In this plenary session we wish to shine a light on activism as one of many ways to fight corruption.

The speakers at the meeting are Ti-Anna Wang and Roy Ngerng. Ti-Anna Wang is a Chinese lawyer and human rights activist born in 1989. In 2002 her father, the leading advocate for democracy Wang Bingzhang, was arrested for peaceful protests against communism. He was sentenced to life in prison for espionage, even though there was no concrete evidence. Wang is currently running an international campaign to have him released. Roy Ngerng is a blogger and acitivist from Singapore. In October 2014, he was found guilty of defaming the Prime Minister of Singapore in a blog post. He is also noted for his protests against Singapore's Central Provident Fund,