Kicking off on Tuesday, May 19th, our MediaJustice Network, in collaboration with Peopleshub and Tiny Gigantic, will host a series of conversations and workshops entitled Defend Our Movements in the time of Covid-19. The series is part of our Defend Our Movements work (in collaboration with May First Movement Technologies) to assist organizations and organizers to build their analysis and technical know-how, and to make strategic decisions around their digital presence and safety.
To kick off the series, our first workshop, The Circle, was an intergenerational dialogue on the history and impact of surveillance and harassment on organizers. We explored what’s at stake now that most of our organizing has shifted online. The conversation concluded with a one hour peer strategy clinic to go deeper into the threats, risks, and community care strategies we need to respond to the moment. Thank you to everyone who joined the conversation!
The Circle is followed by a series of workshops this month and in June on digital self-defense strategies for organizations and organizers.
Register to Attend Workshop #1
Using Zoom Now: Risk assessment and best practices for organizers
Wednesday May 27th
12pm-2pm PST/2pm-4pm CST/3pm-5pm EST
With more types of people relying on Zoom for a wider range of purposes, Zoom has been under increased scrutiny for their data practices and technical security and Zoom events are increasingly targeted and disrupted or “zoombombed.” This has specific implications for organizers and activists. In this workshop, we will:
- Reassess the risks of using Zoom for organizing based on known and newly known privacy and security risks
- Share and develop best practices for using Zoom
- Experiment with alternative video conferencing platforms
- Become familiar with current campaigns pushing Zoom to address both technical security and privacy issue
Register to Attend Workshop #2
Digital Safety in the 2020 Uprisings
Wednesday, June 3rd
12pm-2pm PST/2pm-4pm CST/3pm-5pm EST
Safety is political; it changes based on who you are and the socio-historical context. We will use this time to learn and share what we know about digital surveillance technologies and practices in the U.S. right now and how these technologies are being used against activists and organizers here and around the world. We will share examples of how our movements and allies are resisting these practices and what we are doing to stay safe in this moment when so many people are out rising up against racist police violence and white supremacy or at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Register to Attend Workshop #3
Review and transform: Digital safety review, collective care online and thinking spatially and socially
Wednesday, June 10th
12pm-2pm PST/2pm-4pm CST/3pm-5pm EST
We’ll begin this webinar with a role playing activity to assess our own digital safety practices, make a to-do list for ourselves, and review the basics of taking care of our accounts and our devices. We will review topics in account management including passwords, password managers, two-factor authentication (2 step verification); taking care of our devices including encryption, cameras, antivirus, updates, biometrics, location. We’ll talk about how taking collective care, thinking spatially, and socially about the internet can help us use the internet more safely and be a part of making transformative space online.
The workshops will have limited capacity so please sign up early to reserve your spot. If you have any questions about the Defend Our Movements series, please contact Teresa Basilio, MediaJustice Network Strategies Director at [email protected].
