Bystander Intervention: How To Be An Ally When You Witness Online Abuse

In this free, one-hour, interactive training, we’ll give you the tools you need to intervene safely and effectively in online abuse using Right To Be’s 5Ds of bystander intervention. First, we’ll talk through what online harassment is and how to identify abusive tactics. We’ll discuss the severe impact online abuse can have – on well being, livelihoods, and free expression – and how it’s drowning out voices that urgently need to be heard in public discourse. Then, we’ll share concrete strategies for how to distract, delegate, document, delay, or directly intervene in a way that is safe, effective, and centered on the needs of the person being targeted.

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PARTICIPANTS

Gisela Pérez de Acha is a consultant and trainer for PEN America’s Online Abuse Defense Program. Pérez de Acha is a trained human rights lawyer and a journalist focused on digital forensics and investigative reporting on the extremism beat at the Investigative Reporting Program. She was part of an Emmy Award-winning team at The New York Times for her collaboration on the story about The Siege of Culiacán. She has a master’s degree from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, where she teaches cybersecurity for student journalists. In addition, Pérez de Acha is an open source researcher at the Human Rights Center Investigations Lab, and a trainer at Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps, a network of more than 100 volunteers at six global universities who fact-check social media posts regarding war crimes and grave human rights violations around the world. She has specialized in internet studies and the politics of Latin America for over a decade. Born and raised in Mexico, Pérez de Acha speaks fluent Spanish, English, French, and Portuguese.

Born and raised on the Southwest Side of Chicago, Bianca Carbajal is deeply committed to providing communities and individuals access to resources. Her initial interest in education led her to serve as a volunteer AmeriCorps member with City Year Chicago for two years. Through the AmeriCorps service experience, she developed a passion and interest in how nonprofits support a city’s residents and community-led initiatives. She has spent the past three years developing relationships with local Chicago community non-profits to help build their capacity. Her passion for capacity building grows and she is currently focusing on growing her skills in learning and development to bring resources to organizations.

Bianca has been facilitating training for over 5 years now with a focus on educating clients on neighborhood community assets, volunteer best practices, and how to coach and train others in job and small business skills. Before the pandemic, a majority of her work was focused on creating in-person customized days of service for groups of 10 and up to 500 volunteers. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Behavioral Sciences from National Louis University. Her passion for creating facilitated spaces where people can come together to learn something new, experience something new, and build something new together led her to Right To Be (formerly, Hollaback!).

Bianca also loves spending time with her 2 adopted cats (Leo and Luna), playing video games, and going to new places to enjoy new food or activities!