Documenting the histories of revolutionary communications and technologies

TITLE	Documenting the histories of revolutionary communications and technologies
AUTHOR	stoopt and hopefully you, you and you!
DAY:	Sunday
NEEDS:
LANGUAGE:	eng, fr, es
DURATION:	2h
DESCRIPTION	Documenting the histories of revolutionary communications and technologies in context of liberation and revolutionary struggles, particularly, but not exclusively, in the “global South” and in anti- post- and de- colonial struggles is crucial. Revolutionary communications and technologies can broadly be understood as happening in context of significant oppression where building communication technologies are not a goal in and of themselves, but rather a means to achieving liberation. Examples include: the use of underground radio in the Algerian war of independence as described by Frantz Fanon in This is the voice of Algeria, the ways in which the Zapatistas cleverly used the Internet to mobilize civil society in the mid-1990s, an encrypted communication system developed during the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s, the use of single band radio by Timorese freedom fighters together with Australians in occupied Timore Leste, among many others. This group conversation will be articulated around three main and simple questions: First, what are the historical examples of revolutionary communication that we can learn from and be inspired by? What kind of revolutionary communication and technologies exist currently? How can these examples better circulate among activists and techies in the “global South” and “global North”? Come prepare to share a story, a case study, a reference (a great book or blog post you have read!) or simply come to listen to extraordinary stories of fugitive communication technologies.