9780063257559
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How to Stand Up to a Dictator audiobook

  • By: Maria Ressa
  • Narrator: Maria Ressa
  • Category: Asian, Political Science, World
  • Length: 10 hours 14 minutes
  • Publisher: HarperAudio
  • Publish date: November 29, 2022
  • Language: English
  • (323 ratings)
(323 ratings)
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How to Stand Up to a Dictator Audiobook Summary

Introduction by Amal Clooney

From the recipient of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, an impassioned and inspiring memoir of a career spent holding power to account.

Maria Ressa is one of the most renowned international journalists of our time. For decades, she challenged corruption and malfeasance in her native country, the Philippines, on its rocky path from an authoritarian state to a democracy. As a reporter from CNN, she transformed news coverage in her region, which led her in 2012 to create a new and innovative online news organization, Rappler. Harnessing the emerging power of social media, Rappler crowdsourced breaking news, found pivotal sources and tips, harnessed collective action for climate change, and helped increase voter knowledge and participation in elections.

But by their fifth year of existence, Rappler had gone from being lauded for its ideas to being targeted by the new Philippine government, and made Ressa an enemy of her country’s most powerful man: President Duterte. Still, she did not let up, tracking government seeded disinformation networks which spread lies to its own citizens laced with anger and hate. Hounded by the state and its allies using the legal system to silence her, accused of numerous crimes, and charged with cyberlibel for which she was found guilty, Ressa faces years in prison and thousands in fines.

There is another adversary Ressa is battling. How to Stand Up to a Dictator is also the story of how the creep towards authoritarianism, in the Phillipines and around the world, has been aided and abetted by the social media companies. Ressa exposes how they have allowed their platforms to spread a virus of lies that infect each of us, pitting us against one another, igniting, even creating, our fears, anger, and hate, and how this has accelerated the rise of authoritarians and dictators around the world. She maps a network of disinformation–a heinous web of cause and effect–that has netted the globe: from Duterte’s drug wars to America’s Capitol Hill; Britain’s Brexit to Russian and Chinese cyber-warfare; Facebook and Silicon Valley to our own clicks and votes.

Democracy is fragile. How to Stand Up to a Dictator is an urgent cry for Western readers to recognize and understand the dangers to our freedoms before it is too late. It is a book for anyone who might take democracy for granted, written by someone who never would. And in telling her dramatic and turbulent and courageous story, Ressa forces readers to ask themselves the same question she and her colleagues ask every day: What are you willing to sacrifice for the truth?

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

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How to Stand Up to a Dictator Audiobook Narrator

Maria Ressa is the narrator of How to Stand Up to a Dictator audiobook that was written by Maria Ressa

Maria Ressa is the co-recipient of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for her work defending freedom of expression and democracy. She is CEO, cofounder, and president of Rappler, the Philippines’ top digital news site, and has been a journalist in Asia for over thirty-six years. She was TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2018 and won the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize in 2021. Among the many other awards she has received are the prestigious Golden Pen of Freedom Award from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, the Knight International Journalism Award from the International Center for Journalists, the Shorenstein Journalism Award from Stanford University, and the Sergei Magnitsky Award for Investigative Journalism. She grew up in the Philippines and the United States and currently lives in Manila.

About the Author(s) of How to Stand Up to a Dictator

Maria Ressa is the author of How to Stand Up to a Dictator

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How to Stand Up to a Dictator Full Details

Narrator Maria Ressa
Length 10 hours 14 minutes
Author Maria Ressa
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date November 29, 2022
ISBN 9780063257559

Subjects

The publisher of the How to Stand Up to a Dictator is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Asian, Political Science, World

Additional info

The publisher of the How to Stand Up to a Dictator is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780063257559.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Kimberley Anne

December 31, 2022

Astounding read of the year. This book made me furious, frustrated, cry and feel hopeful.Maria Ressa is an inspiration. I feel grateful and hopeful that people like her exist today. Being from the Philippines myself, I can relate how frustrating our political situation is. The last election actually felt like life and death and the fear that we have passed on a very promising candidate made me really sad. It's scary and quite unbelievable that now in a civilised society that is so advanced, we are arguing over facts versus conspiracies. Instead of arguing ways on how to better the world, we are stuck battling over lies and falsehood that were already proven wrong decades or even thousands of years ago. It was a global pandemic that we did not see coming when technological advances prospered.People from the other side calls it freedom of speech. But is it really freedom when it shackles us from moving forward into a more promising future?Two years ago, when I was redeployed to work in the biggest covid ICU in London, I was so angry and devastated seeing all the covid hoax everywhere especially on Facebook after working tirelessly. It made my mental health suffer and I decided to remove my facebook account. I thought I would miss out but it actually made my life better. With facebook, surveillance capitalism exists and it treats human data as commodities to be bartered and traded in markets.The power of disinformation began to devastate the minds and transform the behaviour. Education determines the quality of governance. A nation's budget line item for education is an investment in its people. The ability to discern and question is also determined by education. As George Orwell said, ignorance is strength. A tyrannical government knows the power of manipulating ignorant members of society. Creating a more informed citizenry is necessary for a democracy to work.Good journalists lean on the side of evidence, on inconvertible facts. Journalists report facts because that creates a shared reality. What are we going to do if our reality were based on lies?"Where is the outrage? Where is the resistance?"We live in this terrifying dystopia: the suffocation of our minds by junk, a loss of clarity of thought and a lack of concentration, and the empowerment of individual over collective thinking.A group becoming a mob - emergent behaviour is unpredictable and dangerous. People do things they wouldn't do if they were alone."Silence is complicity."What are you willing to sacrifice for the truth?"We actually die a little every day. Each day lived is also another day never to be repeated. Now all we ask is to spend our remaining days with significance."Sometimes, I feel like it's a wonder to still believe that the Filipino people can get better, can choose to get better; deserve better even after every thing.

Maroel

December 15, 2022

"We will not duck, we will not hide. We will hold the line." — Maria Ressa in "A Thousand Cuts" a documentary filmed in 2016-2018 during which the strongman Rodrigo Duterte rose to and consolidated power marking the slow death of democracy in my country— the Philippines.How To Stand Up To A Dictator is an essential read for everyone living in this dicey age that is becoming more and more anti-liberal and antidemocratic. It is part-memoir, part-manifesto written by Maria Ressa, a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who depending on whom you ask in her home country can be described as an enemy of the state or a relentless advocate of truth through her fearless journalism in the Philippines.This book traces Maria's early childhood in the Philippines, her adolescence in America, her decision to stay and work as a young journalist in the newly restored democracy in her country of birth, and its slow and almost inevitable descent back to autocracy — an on-going period that sees Maria becoming just one of the many faces of state repression, harassment, and injustice.At the core of this book is the examination of the malignancy of social media and how this technology empowers right-wing governments and endangers the fabric of our society.If there is one thing readers outside the Philippines can learn from this book, it is that what has come for us is coming for you too. Maria explains how the Philippines, a developing country in Southeast Asia, whose more than one hundred million population is on facebook has served as an excellent petri dish for "information operation", a deliberate and systematic tactic employed to destroy facts and corrupt our information ecosystem in order to usurp people's agencies and decision-making. After obvious success that catapulted Rodrigo Duterte to power in the Philippines, the same tactic has since been redeployed in much bigger countries such as during Russia's interference in the 2016 US elections, Brexit, #StopTheSteal narrative that led to January 6th insurrection, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Maria couldn't have painted a bleaker and truer picture of the attacks and threats that plague our generation today. That democracies die not overnight but overtime through thousands of small cuts is a frightening realization yet also a powerful call to arms. In a world where lies are given power to spread faster than the truth, where the outrage at the erosion of freedom and rights is contained in an echo chamber of a minority, it is easy to surrender completely. But as long as people continue to hold power to account then there may yet be a way forward.

Shealea

January 06, 2023

I’m glad that I chose this memoir as my first read of 2023. This was incredibly compelling for reasons that left me fearful of the future and reasons that hardened my resolve to reshape it. A must-read.Full review to follow.

Stefania

December 02, 2022

Essential reading for anyone who uses social media and cares about the future of humanity. I listened to the audiobook narrated with flair and passion by the author (latest Nobel Peace prize recepient) herself. Thank you, Maria.

Dani

January 08, 2023

Wow. Maria Ressa, what an actual badass. Her story is exhausting and upsetting, highly stressful, while also deeply inspirational and moving. She really deserved the Nobel Peace Prize and I am so proud that someone like her was the first Filipinx person to win it. This book really focused on the weaponization of social media and the internet, the ways governments, corporations, policing institutions, and social media companies themselves intentionally sow confusion and doubt in an "easily exploitable information ecosystem". Maria Ressa has fought for freedom of speech and Truth for DECADES. She, along with other journalists and newsmakers at Rappler, have exposed some truly SHOCKING things about the Filipino government, American electoral strategies, the silencing and amplification of certain narratives on social media platforms as political strategy, and political conspiracy in pursuit of power. She has risked everything, and continued to live in a highly precarious situation because she refuses to back down to the intimidation tactics that seek to control and silence her. Maria knows, better than almost anyone, how to rule of law crumbles from within, and this book invites us to a better understanding of that from her direct experiences. This book is a cry out for change, for the freedom of speech and safety of journalists around the globe, and for transparency & justice in the future of social media. I learned SO MUCH in reading this book. I cannot express enough, how important this book is.

Caeden

February 23, 2023

probably more like 4.5 stars but I want people to read it so 5 stars !!

Ilaria

December 30, 2022

This is a manifesto per modern times. The book is as inspiring as Maria. Her personal story is perfectly balanced with the description of the situation of the Philipiness and a global message on the importance of journalism, democracy, information, the challenges big techs are bringing to the infosphere combined with a call to activism. Her humbleness really transpires from the book and how she found her way to fight for her country and find her voice as a woman, journalist, editor, activist and citizen.

ToTo

November 29, 2022

An inspiration. A call to arms. An critically important book for us all. We must listen to Maria Ressa's urgent warning about how Facebook and their heartless, profit-driving algorithms are manipulating society and giving authoritarian governments power to re write history and destroy the integrity or journalism and the meaning of facts.

Hestia

January 16, 2023

Meet a Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Maria Ressa. Seorang perempuan Filipina yg hold her value meski itu berarti harus masuk penjara.How to Stand Up A Dictator adalah sebuah memoir yg ditulis dengan padat namun nggak bikin "gumoh." Pada 1/3 awal, Ressa menceritakan tentang masa kecilnya di Manila dan New Jersey, hubungannya dengan nenek - ibu - ayah tirinya.Begitu masuk 2/3 buku, pembaca langsung disuguhkan cerita bagaimana dia memilih hidup sebagai seorang jurnalis. Karirnya selama lebih dari 30 tahun terbentuk dari kasus-kasus yang ia laporkan langsung dari lapangan. Pada bagian ini, Ressa sudah mulai cerita kalau embracing her identity as Filipino menjadi panggilan hatinya buat balik ke Manila instead of tinggal bersama keluarganya di US.Ressa bertutur bagaimana ia & koleganya berusaha uncover the truth & nggak mau disogok biar nurut. Hingga dia membentuk Rappler, sebuah media berbasis internet yg menolak diatur oleh rezim Duterte.Ressa notis kalau Duterte memanfaatkan Facebook buat ngasih "amunisi" minionsnya. Seakan-akan kebijakan tembak-tembakan itu adalah yg terbaik buat negara. Ressa tried to alert Facebook tapi dia nggak digubris. Alhasil, Ressa menuliskan 3 artikel tentang gimana Duterte gencar mengunggah postingan bersifat disinformasi....dan itulah awal dari hidup "buron" ala Ressa. Dituntut hingga ditangkap polisi.Gila sih. Baca buku ini tuh banyak tercengang & kagum. Kok ada ya orang yg masih kuat jalanin value-nya. Padahal ancamannya tuh beneran kagak main-main 😱Selain karena semangatnya Ressa, aku juga dapat informasi tentang perpolitikan Filipina + kotornya Facebook demi mendapatkan uang. Mirip dg apa yg dilakukan Trump supaya menang pada pemilu presiden AS. Yah, namanya juga satu komplotan kan ya HEHE.So anyway, if you happen to read a SEA author + memoir this year, please make sure you read How to Stand Up to A Dictator. Buagus soro aku gak ngapusi 👍

Honey

January 09, 2023

"Our generation failed you, we are handing you a broken world."And yet Maria Ressa's fight for honest public journalism remains truly inspirational. I can't express how important this book is - not just for Filipinos who idolise her, not just for aspiring journalists/politicians, but for anyone and everyone with vested interest in the quest for truth, transparency, and justice.The author doesn't just present reasons of how tech continuously fails us while shaping political and humanitarian issues on a global scale, she also backs it up with data and fact checking. Reading this compelling memoir has given me pride, nationalistic love, and the desire to fight against the operatives and narratives that conspire to corrupt power. Whilst current events continue to sway towards the negative, I am somehow hopeful because of courageous people like her spearheading change. Shame there is not enough of them.

Beatrice

January 07, 2023

My first book of 2023 rendered me speechless. Ms. Ressa’s life journey is truly admirable. Her contributions in Philippine journalism for standing up for the truth, she’s an icon we should look up to.Her unbiased and transparent outtake about the Philippine politics served as an inspiration to future journalists for delivering authentic information to our nation. In this book, she also talks about the impact of social media in the modern day society. Its pros and cons and how it can affect people’s perception. It is a reminder to seek out information on reliable sources and do fact checks to avoid believing in fake news circulating everywhere. I highly recommend the audiobook because Ms. Ressa herself narrated it. I had an amazing reading experience.

Laura

February 13, 2023

This was excellent. I think we all are a bit frogs in the pot living through the last two decades, but Ressa writes with such moral clarity about the intersection of tech, privacy, data, power, and democracy, that seeing the truth becomes inevitable. I wish more members of Congress would read this.

Margrete

February 01, 2023

Maria Ressa. WHAT an inspiration. It's people like her who quite literally save the world. This is probably going to be the most important book I've read this year. I urge anybody and everybody to read it.

Esther

January 03, 2023

Wow. Brilliant, insightful, and compelling. It’s part inspirational memoir of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and part Netflix’s “The Social Dilemma” (but from someone who saw it all and sounded the alarm way before the documentary). When I read the details of her arrest in chapter 10, I cried. I listened to the audiobook version (on Libby) while following along in the hardcover. Hearing Maria Ressa read her own words made the book even more moving.

Zachary

February 18, 2023

“Free speech is being used to stifle free speech”Maria RessaThe author Maria Ressa is a dual American-Filipino national. She was formerly a News anchor for CNN in the Philippines. In recent years she co-founded the news reporting site Rappler with the objective of supporting independent journalism in the Philippines. At the time of writing the Government of the Philippines has filed 7 criminal charges against her relating to her journalism. In 2021 she won the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in independent journalism.In books such as this one, I feel the sheer intensity of the personality of the author bursting through the pages. The pages almost burst with righteous anger and determination to fight against tyranny and falsehood. The tone, the immediacy and the passion in it has clearly been boiled up by the author’s recent experiences of the Government of the Philippines directing “lawfare” at her personally and Rappler.Maria Ressa uses the pages of his book both as a memoir, but also as a framework to build up a picture of her personal values. She argues that such values are needed not only to be an independent journalist but to also to help ordinary people navigate the blizzard of disinformation that blights our world and threatens democracies (developed and undeveloped) within it. What is the main culprit mainly for this spread of disinformation? Maria Ressa is very frank: Social Media and the companies behind them, chiefly Facebook, are to blame.The author very early on charts the early idealistic hopes that she had for Social Media. Originally her and Rappler’s relationship with Facebook was quite collegial and at least superficially cooperative. However, she alleges that very soon after the start of this relationship Maria Ressa presented data her and her colleagues gathered to Facebook showing how Social Media was being manipulated by professional operators in a grey market in the Philippines to bludgeon independent journalism with disinformation and threats. This trend noticeably picked up with the election of President Rodrigo Duterte. This led to the opening up of “lawfare” by the government on Rappler and Maria Ressa.Maria Ressa does not mince words on her opinions on Social Media and the companies that run them. She charges that Social Media companies are not sufficiently regulated to prevent extremist groups and authoritarian governments from spreading lies, recruiting new followers or marking out certain Human Rights individuals for vigilante justice in a practice known as “red flagging”. Mark Zuckerbeg in particular is singled out by Maria Ressa as being both ruthlessly profiteering from people’s private data, but also only taking token action to prevent Facebook being a global megaphone for destroying facts. From the way she presents her argument it is hard not to disagree with you. How are you doing Facebook Community Standards reading this on Facebook wall?I believe this book is important for many reasons. It is a strong rallying cry for independent journalism, liberal values and for standing up for facts. It also does put one on the spot for someone who lives in a developed country and has been using Social Media with little thought to it’s wider impact on the world. In the Philippines 97% of the population is on Facebook and rely on it to receive news. I do wonder more about how much information I can and should share on Social Media. I go by the standpoint that I don’t put anything on there that I wouldn’t say in public. But after reading this I feel that I may have to proceed with caution nonetheless. I do tend to agree that national and international regulations need to change to hold Social Media companies to account. The killing of the truth should be everyone’s business.The end of this book is a warning, not a happy ending. Her own family that lives in the US has been swayed by Social Media disinformation campaigns supporting Trump. Her former High School got a passing mention by a Far Right Mass Shooter radicalised online. But through technology driven and community centred efforts our heroine fights on.

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