Organized by Color Coded
As part of The Zapatista Wi-fi Rebellion program organized by gloria galvez

Are you an organizer or interested in organizing? Want to explore new ways to use digital tools and networks more rebelliously? Join Color Coded this September 22 for an afternoon workshop on digital organizing and social movement technology in the age of surveillance capitalism and big tech.

While most of our traditional media channels are owned by The Big 6, the Tech industry landscape is not much different though perhaps more lethal. Large Tech companies like Amazon, Google, Palantir, Facebook, etc. are engaged with the state to surveil and control—heightening the risk for bodies of color that do not fit within the state’s vision of bodies that deserve care.

Yet, amidst a Net full of Struggles like Amazon’s cloud partnership with La Migra, Facebook’s mining of user content and facial recognition algorithms, and Palantir’s predictive policing and network weaving capabilities to name a few—black and indigenous communities are resisting by using the web and digital sphere to uplift their own struggles for liberation. In doing so, Indigenous peoples like los Zapatistas and folks at the Standing Rock Uprising, have planted [digital & literal] seeds of resilience for our collective health and liberation.

How do we build a just, democratic and sustainable world despite surveillance capitalism? What role do digital tools play in advancing or impeding movement work in the age of big tech? Together, we will discuss some of the challenges, limitations, and needs we encounter as movement workers who use technology in our work. We will share tactics and strategies to minimize risk and leverage the power of digital networks and tools in hand-ons activities that explore rapid response and alert systems, mass communication tools such as email lists and text blasts, encrypted messaging, social media / meme campaigns, and Twitter blocklists / blockbots. By the end of the workshop, participants will have the basic knowledge to start incorporating one or two of these digital tools into their organizing work.

Deadline to apply: Sunday, September 8 at 11:59PM
Participants will be notified by Friday, September 13

Capacity: 30 people

Everyone is invited to apply, but we will be prioritizing people who have historically been marginalized in art and technology spaces. This includes people of color who identify as trans, non-binary, GNC, femme, and/or a person with a disability.

Sliding Scale: $10-30
No one turned away for lack of funds

Schedule

1-1:45PM: Color Coded intro
1:45-2PM: Break, snacks and zapatista coffee will be provided
2-4PM: Hands-on breakout session

In the first half of the workshop, participants will map out the specific Net of Struggles that they are facing in their organizing work. Together, we will learn about what tools people are currently using, what’s working (the seeds for resilience), what’s not working (the struggles), and what existing tools folx can use or think should exist (the compost / fertilizers needed).

In the second half, we will move into hands-on breakout sessions. Color Coded members will guide small groups through short demos where they will learn strategies and tactics for using digital tools such as rapid response and alert systems, mass communication tools such as email lists and text blasts, encrypted messaging, social media / meme campaigns, and Twitter blocklists / blockbots. By the end of the workshop, participants will have the basic knowledge to start incorporating one or two of these digital tools into their organizing work.

Color Coded is an activist coding collective that amplifies groups and individuals who are uplifting and sustaining communities of color—in Los Angeles and beyond.

Visual designed by Jay Are