Making a feminist internet: Movement building in a digital age

Hello friends,

We are very exci­ted to share with you a colla­bo­ra­tive event that APC is
plan­ning with Mama­cash, CREA, FRIDA, UAF, Astraea and AWID.

The conve­ning is to unpack and to unders­tand how has the inter­net
affec­ted femi­nist move­ment buil­ding – what are some of the new dyna­mics,
actors, ways of orga­ni­sing, as well as challen­ges. And also to have a
very speci­fic track on unbo­xing and hacking digi­tal secu­rity from a
femi­nist move­ment buil­ding frame­work, so that we can locate this work
for stron­ger and more resi­li­ent networ­ked acti­vism.

Please do apply. The dead­line is: 8 Sept 2017. More details below. And
help spread the word!

Appli­ca­tion form: https://www.apc.org/lime­sur­vey/index.php/931275/lang-en

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MAKING A FEMI­NIST INTER­NET: MOVE­MENT BUIL­DING IN A DIGI­TAL AGE
Port Dick­son, Malay­sia. 3–6 Octo­ber 2017
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On April 24th 2016, more than 70,000 tweets through multi­ple hash­tags
coales­ced into the largest street protest across multi­ple cities in
Mexico against gender-based violence. In India, Dalit women are
fore­groun­ding their reali­ties on the agenda for change, forging
poli­ti­cal kins­hip between move­ments and distan­ces by deftly employing
social media and art in their stra­te­gies. In South Africa, univer­sity
students across the country orga­ni­sed one of the largest post-apar­theid
move­ments under the banner #Fees­Must­Fall to tangibly shift the discourse
in the priva­ti­sa­tion of post-secon­dary public educa­tion and addres­sing
struc­tu­ral and syste­mic inequa­lity.

In all of the cases, the move­ment buil­ding happe­ned through late­ral and
diffu­sed orga­ni­sing and collec­tive imagi­na­tion, co-crea­tion and action
by multi­ple nodes in a vast network of agents for change. What these
stories demons­trate is the shif­ting terrain of our move­ments, and the
flui­dity of spaces for our poli­ti­cal acts of expres­sion, occu­pa­tion,
re-terri­to­ri­a­li­sa­tion, soli­da­rity and resis­tance. Inter­net tech­no­lo­gies
have become stit­ched into the lands­cape of our orga­ni­sing and poli­tics
of enga­ge­ment. Howe­ver, this lands­cape is rapidly chan­ging, with new
oppor­tu­ni­ties, hori­zons, possi­bi­li­ties, and also challen­ges.

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WHAT
********
To respond to this emer­ging reality, the Asso­ci­a­tion for Progres­sive
Commu­ni­ca­ti­ons is colla­bo­ra­ting with Mama­cash, CREA, FRIDA, Urgent
Action Fund and Astraea to orga­nise a 4-day conve­ning to bring toget­her
actors who are diffe­rently loca­ted within move­ment buil­ding work to
reflect, ques­tion, imagine and create by asking oursel­ves and each other:
● How is move­ment buil­ding in a digi­tal age expres­sed in diffe­rent
loca­ti­ons?
● What are the connec­tive junc­tu­res of shared concerns, needs and lear­nings?
● What must we pay atten­tion to as back­lash and attacks occur in the
diffe­rent spaces we occupy?
● How do we strengt­hen safety and agency in the face of online
gender-based violence, censors­hip and survei­llance?
● How do we engage with the inter­net through a poli­tics and prac­tice of
femi­nism?
● How can we imagine and make a femi­nist inter­net one that is suppor­tive
of the resi­li­ent and strong move­ments, and that is both a site of, and a
space for our acti­visms?

We are invi­ting the parti­ci­pa­tion of acti­vists and actors who are
diffe­rently loca­ted in the social justice lands­cape to bring valu­a­ble
pers­pec­ti­ves, know­ledge and expe­ri­en­ces to:
● Deepen the unders­tan­ding of how the digi­tal lands­cape has affec­ted
femi­nist, women’s rights, sexual rights and inter­sec­ti­o­nal move­ment
buil­ding work;
● Strengt­hen the capa­city of femi­nist, women’s rights, sexual rights and
digi­tal secu­rity acti­vists to respond to emer­ging challen­ges and thre­ats;
● Engage in the crea­tion of colla­bo­ra­tive ideas and stra­te­gi­sing between
diffe­rent actors on how to make a femi­nist inter­net and a femi­nist world
that can contri­bute towards buil­ding strong and resi­li­ent move­ments.

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WHO
********
● Are you a femi­nist, women’s rights, sexual rights or inter­net rights
acti­vist?
● Are you curi­ous about how digi­tal plat­forms and inter­net tech­no­lo­gies
have affec­ted and impac­ted on how we orga­nise for change? Whet­her this
be new actors, stra­te­gies, issues, dyna­mics, thre­ats, challen­ges or
oppor­tu­ni­ties?
● Do you have expe­ri­ence in strengt­he­ning and buil­ding move­ments? Such
as deve­lo­ping commu­nity-based stra­te­gies, orga­ni­sing cross-move­ment
conve­nings or campaigns, mobi­li­sing resour­ces to support emer­ging or
inter­sec­ti­o­nal issues, or strengt­he­ning networks in orga­ni­sing?
● Do you orga­nise or engage in trai­nings for and support the
strengt­he­ning of women’s rights, sexual rights or femi­nist networks and
commu­ni­ties on digi­tal secu­rity or safety?
● Do you share our vision of loca­ting our acti­vism and work towards
crea­ting change through move­ments? And, do you do this formally or
infor­mally through collec­ti­ves, coali­ti­ons, social media, orga­ni­sa­ti­ons,
or as a node that connects between seve­ral diffe­rent issues-based move­ments?

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HOW
********
If you see your­self reflec­ted in most of the ques­ti­ons above, please
apply by filling in this appli­ca­tion form by 8 Septem­ber 2017:
https://www.apc.org/lime­sur­vey/index.php/931275/lang-en

Join us in unbo­xing and re-imagi­ning move­ment buil­ding in the digi­tal
age, and to make a femi­nist inter­net that is thre­a­ded through our
collec­tive work for change.

For further infor­ma­tion/ques­ti­ons: seko­et­laneapc [ punto ] org (seko­et­lane[at]apc[dot]org) or erikaapcwo­men [ punto ] org (erika[at]apcwo­men[dot]org)
http://femi­nis­tin­ter­net.org/en/Makin­gA­Fe­mi­nis­tIn­ter­net­Mo­ve­ment­Buil­ding