Tarek Loubani

Medical devices are expensive and unavailable in many parts of the world despite being essential to care. In this session, Tarek discusses work on the front lines in Gaza to make medical devices accessible by creating free designs and validating them according to medical industry standards. These efforts have been part of a larger initiative to lay a foundation for a post-liberation Gaza in which FLOSS medical devices must compete against proprietary medical devices.

Free software and hardware are essential to sovereignty among developing nations, and can be used to secure infrastructure and information against sophisticated adversaries. Underdeveloped nations are leveraging Free software for these purposes, including Gaza and the Palestinian territories. This lecture discusses the Palestinian use of Free software and hardware to claim a kind of sovereignty, focusing on the health sector as one example where speaker Dr. Tarek Loubani has experienced and participated in efforts to incorporate Free culture.

Free software and hardware are essential to ensure cultural, economic and military sovereignty among developing nations. Software such as GNU/Linux and GPG are potent weapons used by state and quasi-state actors to secure infrastructure or information against sophisticated adversaries. Several Latin American countries have effectively utilized Free software tools over the past two decades to advance their sovereignty. Today, another wave of underdeveloped nations is similarly leveraging Free software, including the Gaza Strip and Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Territories - and particularly the Gaza Strip - exist in a state of nearly-complete technological, economic, political and military domination. This lecture discusses the Palestinian use of Free software and hardware to claim a kind of sovereignty, focusing on the health sector as one example where speaker Dr. Tarek Loubani has experienced and participated in efforts to incorporate Free culture.