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Global Forecast
Securing Our Well-Being and Making
Our Organizations More Equitable
Lindsay Beck
Deputy Head of Team
The 2022/23 edition of Team CommUNITY’s (TCU) Community Health Report provides an overview of the emerging challenges that digital rights and Internet Freedom networks across the globe are facing, while providing vivid insights into the experiences of digital rights defenders in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.
The report is based on diverse community building work carried out by TCU’s Community Leads in 2022, such as weekly gatherings and monthly Regional Briefs that covered community news, perspectives, developments, and trends in their respective regions. The 2022/23 report follows a different format than our two previous editions: "The Case for Mental Health Support for Digital Rights Defenders 2020/21", and "Pathways to Organizational Recovery 2021/22”.
The Current Situation: Managing What Feels Like a Sisyphean Task
The challenges of day-to-day living under a global recession and ongoing pandemic, coupled with the surge of repressive laws and actions designed to curtail the rights of individuals because of their identities, are all compounded by the widening gap between the technical capabilities of repressive entities and the affected public.
Despite what often feels like a Sisyphean task, those working to defend digital rights continue on: not because it brings glamor, wealth or prestige, but because there is a sense of duty to contribute to the greater good in the digital rights space. However, with this sense of duty, comes self-sacrifice that can veer into unhealthy work and personal practices: working repeatedly longer hours, taking pay cuts, little to no time off, and more.
Over time, this becomes impossible to sustain, and veers into the efficacy of work and the self: little rest leading to mistakes in security practices, guilt and/or shame in the reduced capacity to contribute to ongoing projects, turning to unhealthy coping mechanisms in lieu of adequate vacation or time off, and more.
Tackling Challenges through Community Programming
We’ve noted these trends through our work, and we have offered solutions to foster more healthy work environments through initiatives like our Digital Justice Every Day Toolkit and our Community Mental Health Program. We also tried to tackle these issues through the various asynchronous and synchronous ways we bring our community members together on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
We Deserve the Security of our Well-being
Yet, the state of the digital rights space outlined in the reports below show that there is little easing in the tactics of repressive entities, to open the digital rights space worldwide. So, we must continue to fight on.
However, as the fight continues, we must include ourselves into the protection of digital rights and digital rights defenders: we deserve security of our well-being, we must do what’s needed to remain resilient against external threats, and we must lead the change to a more equitable movement in our structures and practices.
What is Coming up for Team CommUNITY in 2023
In 2023, you will find the TCU staff very busy. More than ever, our work of fostering and nurturing a healthy, resilient and inclusive ecosystem in the digital rights field is needed more than ever. This means you will continue to see us evolving our numerous offerings such as our VPN Community Initiative, Digital Rights Job Board, weekly “Glitter Meetup” Town Halls, and monthly regional meetups, among others.
A central piece of our work in 2023 is the launch of our first in-person Global Gathering post-pandemic. For many of us, this is the first time we will be gathering face-to-face.
For our staff, this is an exciting time to bring our community together to co-design future instances of our beloved event to ensure it both meets our collective needs, but also continues to offer the warm, solidarity-focused, collaborative, and joyful environment we loved. In 2023, we will also continue tackling the various structural issues that are affecting our field - from organizational and community health issues to equity challenges brought on or worsened by the pandemic.
For TCU, 2023 brings hope, and presents a new opportunity for us to create together in a more meaningful way based on practicality, collaboration, and empathy.
We hope you will join us in this adventure!
Global Review
Transcendental Exhaustion:
A Year in the Life
Danae Tapia
Global Community Manager
The beginning of 2023 finds me energized. Looking back and reflecting on the many adventures of the past year does not tire me. In fact, the realization of well executed work, even if it involves an exhausting process, leads me to a good place when the moment of rest is experienced at a more transcendent level.
Our monthly Regional Briefs dispatched by our leads from Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America (LATAM), and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), were a crucial part of our work last year, allowing us to take a critical look at developments in digital rights in the regions.
Our Regional Community Leads produced high quality resources that not only report on news and human rights but also intersected it with the implementation of tech tools that advance the protection of digital rights and digital rights defenders.
While each Region has unique strengths and challenges, common trends we are witnessing are new challenges related to the use of artificial intelligence; the increased use of laws and policies to curtail digital rights; continued issues related to platform accountability; and the lack of labor rights protections affecting technology workers. However, we have seen that our community knows how to mobilize around collective action, innovate, and are incredibly resourceful.
The Critical Need for Better Work Life Balance
Improving Labor rights in the field has become even more critical. Digital Rights Defenders have a deep desire to better balance work and life, with many noting the need for rest and restoration in 2023 to combat the transcendental exhaustion they are experiencing. This shows maturity in the field, with many community members beginning to focus on creating long term sustainability versus constantly being in a reactionary state to solve short-term problems or fires.
The Regional Reports show that despite the various challenges our community has gone through, they are still finding ways to engage in challenging debates, innovative tech proposals, and cultivating joy in their life. Expect more of this in 2023!
Mardiya Siba Yahaya
Africa Community Lead
Emerging Topics in Africa: Artificial Intelligence (A.I) - Alienated Labour, Issues of Trust, and the Development Snake Oil
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is creating new opportunities for African women, but causing challenges stemming from the embedded biases of machine-learning models.
However, one of the most important conversations that gave rise in the African digital rights community in 2022 was how can civic trust and engagement be used for AI deployment in the region, given the significant issues arising from the use and popularity of AI generated tools like ChatGPT.
Notably, many data collecting and processing “sweatshop” centers in Africa are being opened to support AI products and are leading to serious labor exploitation - data trainers are underpaid and overworked with no benefits, while African artists, writers and gig workers are being exploited.
Despite these issues, multiple African States and decision makers continue to push for AI as a path forward to advance and develop the region. In contrast, African researchers have begun exploring how to use Ubuntu’s governance philosophy for AI deployment, yet are still unsure what this would look like in practice.
What is clear, however, is that trust must be put into the users versus creators of these technologies. In addition, teams behind public interest AI technologies must improve their understanding of what factors alienate the very users whose labor their tool depends on, and the multi-level threats they face as a result of using their tool.
Meanwhile, in 2022, Big Tech continued to ask African users to trust their policies and features, meant to protect them, yet designed with minimal user feedback, and with their decision making remaining opaque. This is having a significant negative impact in the region. For example, social media platforms failed to curb misinformation after the Kenyan election, and the deployment of surveillance and identity technologies in places like Zimbabwe continue to increase.
The Need to Move From Localization to Contextualization in Tool and Strategy Development
In 2022, the African digital rights community began developing concepts of privacy, security and surveillance to address and show how threats manifest differently in diverse African contexts, and ultimately dispel the myth that the African continent is homogenous.
Given the size and socio-political and economic diversity of the region, digital threats show up differently in the 54 countries that make up the region. Notably, however, in 2022 the region saw the rise of threats like moral shaming by digital loan apps in places like Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana, with Kenya, however, passing promising data protection regulations to better protect personal data.
The African continent is not homogenous.
Digital threats show up differently in the 54 countries in the region.
Similarly, digital rights defenders (DRDs) shared that a large percentage of individuals experiencing censorship in the region usually lack the education and/or skills to properly use alternative open source solutions like Pluggable Transports in the form of Snowflake and Tor.
African DRDs also shared concerns regarding the field, noting that it continues to be mostly masculinized, blind to the diverse contexts in the region, and with digital rights tools and strategies still inaccessible to grassroot organizations, journalists etc. They recommend organizations conduct more targeted research and invest in co-design processes, as well as in education, training and community engagement that helps offset digital gaps.
New and Old Forms of Online Violence Causing Real Consequences in African Societies
In 2022, we saw an increase in research focused on providing empirical evidence of the online violence being experienced by diverse groups of minorities, which is having both digital and physical ramifications, and being executed in new ways. Digital lending apps, for example, use personal data collected to shame borrowers, many times leading to real social and physical consequences for those users.
The rising online violence in the region is having a broad and deep negative impact on African societies. In 2022, African feminist groups were leading the strategies to address online violence, focusing on policy changes, as well as working on addressing engagement and moderation issues. Many note that any effective strategies must be based on the actual experiences of the people facing online violence.
Illustration: Kelsey Borch.
Unique issues in the African Region
2022, The Year of Being Caterpillars: Building Transformational Foundations
Burnout, exploitation and lack of trans-national support were key trends throughout 2022, which directly dampened overall engagement and hope among African DRDs. Many reported being at capacity because of grief, physical and emotional exhaustion, and managing increasing anxiety and personal challenges.
African DRDs also shared that they are receiving little support to confront mounting digital rights issues, let alone flourish. Many feel as though they are unable to advance their work beyond what they describe as the “reactionary nature” of the digital rights field.
They would like to see more investment in proactive, offensive approaches and the sustainability of their networks, versus constantly responding to short term issues or emergencies. In addition, they noted the need to build more nurturing spaces that support younger, emerging voices within the field, to infuse “new talent.”
At the same time, 2022 presented a year of learning and foundation building. As an example, ahead of protests in Eswatini, the African digital rights community came together to support local activists with security training and resources, but encountered many challenges because they were located throughout the world. As such, they took an opportunity to rethink how the African DRDs community might improve capacity to better support these types of scenarios.
2023 Forecast for the African Region
The Butterfly Year: Building Joyful Spaces for Community-led Action and Growth
Many African DRDs are finding new ways to re-balance work and home life. They are expressing the need for rest, a more stable work pace, and time to reflect on achievements and failures. In 2022, it was not uncommon for members to share “in 2023, I really just want to rest.”
DRDs are also expressing the need to shift to more nurturing and kind working environments with practices that ensure long-term sustainability in the field. This means ensuring that the organizations they are part of have internal policies in place that reflect good labor practices and protect employees from exploitation and burnout.
In addition, African DRDs are hoping for more positive, joyful community spaces where they can de-stress and connect with others. They also noted that it is important to reject “purity narratives” where efforts or advancement are not celebrated or canceled out because of a single error or setback. In other words, progress means holding space for mistakes, flaws, partial victories, and unfinished projects.
While in 2022 community management was challenging because of the exhaustion being felt by community members. As the African Community Lead, at times I felt as though I was speaking into the void. However, end-of-year community feedback overwhelmingly showed that facilitation and safe spaces created in 2022 were not only appreciated but needed. The feedback also showed that community members are hopeful, and want 2023 to be a year of joy where mental health is prioritized, and digital rights work done more thoughtfully.
“In 2023, I really just want to rest.”
A Project to Highlight for 2023
The Digital Society of Africa was a great example of hope in 2022. They are actively working on challenging the current narrative which is that the African continent is a “homogenous” continent by creating structures and services that address the diversity of the region. Currently, they have 50 practitioners, with different cultural and language skills, who conduct security training of trainers across the region. In 2023, they are also launching a helpline to provide on ground support in places like Zimbabwe, South Africa, Eswatini, Zambia, Mozambique, and eventually Angola.
Astha Rajvanshi
Asia Community Lead
Emerging Topics in Asia: New Laws and Internet Shutdowns
In 2022, governments across Asia tackled new draft legislation for regulating private data – and in turn waging a battle for control over data between the government and the private sector. As a result, there is now a slow shift from consent-based models to a focus on accountability for data companies.
In India, the government released a comprehensive Data Protection Bill last year which one expert described as a “mixed bag for privacy” after it failed to protect individual consent and rights alongside the government’s access to data.
Meanwhile, in China, a new Data Security Law was introduced in September 2021 that helped define which data could be transferred outside of China without the state’s approval. China is also expected to release a Personal Information Protection Law in the next year in line with the European Union, which experts say will have far-reaching implications for its digital economy.
Other Asian jurisdictions had previously updated their data protection regimes, too: Thailand, for example, introduced a bill in 2019 that imposed data use restrictions, civil liability for misuse, and sanctions.
A Rise in Internet Shutdowns
Internet disruptions by governments attempting to block access to critical information, undermine democratic expression and hide human rights violations have become more and more frequent across Asia.
This tactic trickled down from India, which led by the number of internet shutdowns in the world. Other repressive regimes in China, Myanmar, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan also restricted citizen access to the internet. In early January 2022, for example, the government of Kazakhstan cut people off for weeks after the eruption of civil unrest, preventing many from being able to access internet-enabled banking and healthcare facilities.
Digital darkness is a deepening global trend towards digital authoritarianism weaponized by the government against their own people and has the capacity to spread. For example, when Myanmar separately instituted Twitter blocks, leaks occurred in local telecom providers redirecting traffic. Myanmar’s provider Campana inadvertently shut off access to Twitter in India and Bangladesh, too. The temporary disruption impacted at least 500 million internet users.
VPN Service Providers Targeted
VPN services that allowed users to browse the internet anonymously and bypass censorship in countries like China and India are now seeing a crackdown by governments.
In June, Indian authorities implemented new rules allowing law enforcement to track down perpetrators of cybercrimes, which privacy advocates said were draconian in their requirements to collect swathes of customer data.
But VPN providers weren’t afraid to push back: four companies pulled out from operating in India. If the collection and storage of VPN user data is allowed, authorities may be able to crack down on journalists and activists and further aggravate attacks on media and internet freedoms.
Similarly, Myanmar’s 2022 cyber bill was described as the “most oppressive piece of legislation related to digital rights proposed in Southeast Asia”, especially in its provisions on criminalizing the use of VPNs. It also makes the promotion or education of VPNs us as a criminal offense.
Unique Issues in Asia
For many digital rights defenders in Asia, online censorship, digital surveillance, and harassment have become the daily norm.
Those who speak up online are increasingly having to contend with the digital and physical threats against their activism. As political unrest continues, digital safety is paramount in the region. Many people increasingly rely on the use of social platforms to organize and cross-collaborate.
Activists and defenders have stressed the importance of building such coalitions to help shape policies and mechanisms that can further promote rights and civil liberties. To this end, it is also important to foster a sense of solidarity amongst digital rights organizations to further make sense of the different contexts that each country is operating under.
The Milk Tea Alliance is a good example of how digital rights defenders have successfully made use of collective action to raise awareness of internet freedoms.
Another instance is the continuing struggle of the people of Myanmar to push back against the junta, nearly two years after the February 2021 coup. This cannot be done in isolation. By amplifying the struggle and bringing updates from Myanmar on digital platforms, the international community has helped support efforts and curb the digital control of authoritarian regimes. At the same time, it has also opened up another avenue for attack, with physical assault and arrests already taking place in the Philippines and Myanmar.
As such, collaboration and building coalitions are essential to the needs of rights defenders especially through engagement in broader forums that go beyond the usual digital rights spaces.
One example of this is how the production of art and artistic freedom enabled artists to have the freedom of expression on both physical and online platforms to critically engage with their contexts. At the same time, as PEN America notes, there is also a “growing anxiety among artists and creative practitioners across Asia around stringent security laws… and the impact of authoritarian measures to crack down on artistic production.
Looking Ahead at 2023
As TCU’s Asia community lead, my goal for 2023 is to zero in on connecting digital rights defenders from across the region to further explore possibilities for regional solidarity and collaboration, especially in helping raise awareness against the threats they may face. There are a few ways we at TCU hope to achieve this for the Asia community:
More resources: By bringing more digital literacy tools, resources and trainings, we hope the community can feel supported by TCU’s efforts to help deter attacks and harassment as they carry out their work.
Every month, we are hoping to include more tools in our programming that identify potential threats faced by digital rights defenders against news developments to help them prepare and deter.
Some examples of past guests include Totem Project and Tactical Tech’s Digital Enquirer Kit, as well as the Open Briefing’s Holistic Security Toolkit and the Digital First Aid Kit. Notably, Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM) that runs workshops on digital rights and the nonprofit Security Matters that provides digital safety training alongside real-time assistance via a helpdesk for those in Thailand and Malaysia.Highlighting the key achievements of various digital rights organizations: solidarity must also bring cause for celebration.
Solidarity must also bring cause for celebration.
Úrsula Schüler
Latin America
Community Lead
Emerging Topics in Latin America: Widespread Hacking, Pegasus, Loan apps, and WhatsApp Pay
Widespread hacking of Latin American institutions, persistent Pegasus usage to spy on activists and journalists, the WhatsApp pay experiment in the region, facial recognition developments against human rights, the loan Apps abusing users personal data, and the platform workers unions are some of emerging topics in 2022 from Latin America.
These issues highlighted the significance of digital rights organizations and tech tool developments for Internet freedom.
Guacamaya Leakings and Pegasus Usage in the Region
In 2022, the hacktivist group “Guacamaya” hacked and leaked sensitive information in at least six Latin American countries. The organization stated that they are against Global North’s colonization of the Global South, extractivism, militarization of the region, and patriarchy. These hacks revealed a series of digital rights’ violations that had taken place in the region, including persistent Pegasus usage, and the weak level of cybersecurity of many critical Latin American institutions.
The hacks also made clear how valuable tools like The Tor Project are to protect the privacy, security, and digital rights of human rights defenders and journalists.
WhatsApp Pay and Loan Apps
Another emerging topic was the attempt by Whatsapp - the most used messaging application in the world, with more than 2 billion users in 150 countries - to set up pilots of their in-chat payment features, Whatsapp Pay, in Brazil and India.
Notably, these two countries lack strong personal and financial data regulations. With this new tool, Meta will be able to collect social media and financial data through WhatsApp and its two successful social media networks (Facebook and Instagram). It will crosslink these platforms in a vertical and oligopolistic way among their competitors and users.
Another issue that caught attention of the digital rights field was the proliferation of loan apps which demand abusive access to users’ personal data storage in their mobile phones, the outsourcing of Latin American online workers for cash register positions in Canada, and the lack of social safety for platform workers in the region.
A commonality across these cases is that these technologies value profit making over the human rights of Latin Americans, especially its working class.
Unique Issues in Latin America
In 2022, Latin America witnessed both traditional and more contemporary digital rights challenges.
Technological tools for increased surveillance, especially among activists and journalists, raised the alarms of several organizations fighting against facial recognition, migrant human rights, and Internet Freedom for everyone. Internet shutdowns in Cuba and mobile cellphone interceptions in Venezuela also happened.
The region faced important political elections and social demonstrations, some of which experienced strong police and in some cases military repression. In Brazil, Lula Da Silva won the presidential election against Jair Bolsonaro. Colombia elected its first leftist president, Gustavo Petro, Chile wrote a new Constitution -which later Chileans overwhelmingly voted against-, and Perú has suffered a socio-political crisis with a brutal police and military repression.
In addition, economic inflation and funding difficulties for new digital rights projects affected our regional communities as well.
Platform Workers Unionizing
The gig economy is expanding in particular ways in the region. The lack of regulations even for analogous traditional jobs, the weakened unionizing culture after some dictatorships, or anti labor rights governments, make Latin America a dream lab for the next-generation of for-profit experiments.
In mid 2022, the news about a Canadian company outsourcing and underpaying virtual cashiers from Central America was shocking. Canadian Restaurant Freshii hired people in Central America to serve as online cashiers, paying them $ 3.75 Canadian Dollars (CAD) per hour which is technically allowed in Central American countries, but is significantly lower than the minimum wage in Ontario Canada of $ 15 CAD per hour.
In response to these types of abusive labor conditions, Latin American platform workers in companies like Uber, Rappi, and Cabify unionized and mobilized to be recognized as formal workers.
They accuse the platforms of selling a fake dream of being a “free worker” without giving workers a guarantee of meeting the monthly local minimum wage requirement, despite habitually working overtime, and facing high physical risks on their route. In addition, most workers lack insurance for accidents, and rights like healthcare and maternity leave.
2023 Latin American Forecast
The Latin American digital rights community knows how to innovate, keep in touch and organize both online and in a hybrid format. We saw it during this “post” COVID pandemic year and the monthly virtual Latin American meetups. We will continue to see it in 2023.
Some campaigns to highlight from Latin American digital rights organizations in 2022, are #TireMeuRostoDaSuaMira (Get my face out of your target in Portuguese) from Brazil, which called for a total ban of digital facial recognition technologies in public spaces.
The campaign was launched by more than 30 organizations and pointed out that this technology perpetuates discrimination of the black and LGBTQIA+ population, and the criminalization of poverty.
The Latin digital rights community knows how to innovate, keep in touch and organize both online and in a hybrid format.
Other digital rights campaigns included #MigrarSinVigilancia campaign (Migrating without surveillance in Spanish), which gathered more than 35 human rights organizations which demanded the stop of the massive collection and exchange of biometric data in migration contexts.
Also, in collaboration with other Latin American organizations, the JAAKLAC initiative promoted Saga Detox, a campaign that adapted Tactical Tech's Data Detox Kit about privacy, safety and wellbeing to the youth experiences. The result included the resources and backgrounds from Latin American initiatives, such as Hijas de Internet, InternetBolivia.org, Hiperderecho, Conexión Educativa, schools, and youth organizations.
In 2023, the region will keep organizing around causes related to digital rights, human rights, while beginning to more directly address labor rights in the very digital rights organizations that we are part of.
Notably, the digital rights community is progressively meeting in person, with some in-person events already on the 2023 calendar including Mozilla Fest, Rights Con, the Team CommUNITY Global Gathering, and the 1st International Congress of Platform Workers -where Latin American platform workers will be participating-.
These examples forecast a powerful year, when digital rights defenders will be able to push forward the limits of possibilities with creativity, knowledge, and organization.
Islam al Khatib
Mena Community Lead
Emerging Topics in the Middle East and North Africa: Surveillance in International Spaces
This year saw the hosting of international ‘spaces' in the MENA region, which led to the manifestation of digital authoritarianism in all of its forms and for a variety of purposes: from cracking down on activists at the climate summit in Egypt (COP27) to Qatar's 15,000 cameras and facial recognition technology being used during the World Cup.
These two distinct events and contexts shared some tactical parallels. One example is the deployment of mobile apps that extract data from users. Authorities in Qatar requested that World Cup attendees download “Ehteraz”, a Covid-19 tracking app, and “Hayya”, the official World Cup app used to gain access to stadiums and the free Metro in Qatar. Following an examination of the apps' access permissions, the French data protection authority CNIL concluded that the apps endanger fans' privacy and data security.
For #COP27, participants were asked to download an app created by the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information. According to POLITICO's technical review, the app grants permission to authorities to read users' emails and messages.
Additionally, UN Experts received multiple reports and evidence of civil society actors, including indigenous peoples, being stopped and interrogated by Egyptian security officers, as well as local security and support staff monitoring and photographing civil society actors inside the COP27 venue on multiple occasions.
Internet Disruptions and Circumvention Support
In 2022 we witnessed internet outages and blackouts across the MENA region, with civil society focused on recommending tools to assist navigating the situation.
In Sudan, protestors were met with restricted internet connectivity and blocked social media platforms. In Jordan, TikTok and other platforms were blocked several times amid widespread protests against high fuel prices. Following the Istanbul explosion in Turkey, reports of blocked ISPs began circulating. RTÜK, the Radio and Television Supreme Council, imposed a broadcast ban on media, while the Information Technologies and Communications Authority (BTK) restricted access to social media platforms.
In Iran, the government imposed different barriers on internet connectivity, following the murder of Jina Amini (Mahsa Amini). The internet shutdowns and disruptions led to a focus on the uses of VPNs and Tor bridges, such as Snowflake.
For more information on Internet Freedom tools, resources and actions to support Iran's Feminist Uprising, read this blogpost by Team CommUNITY.
Unique Issues in the Middle East and North Africa
Campaigning Despite Grief and Financial Insecurities
In 2022 we saw a worldwide outpouring of support for the release of Alaa AbdelFattah, a blogger, software developer and activist that had been imprisoned in Egypt.
Alaa began a water strike on November 6th, the first day of #COP27. Details about what Alaa went and is still going through can be found in his family's statement. The family continues to urge people to demand Alaa's immediate release. While writing this report, I had several conversations with community members who discussed how the campaign both rekindled and crushed a different kind of faith, marking that 2022 was defined by hope combined with realistic tactics.
Alaa’s campaign rekindled and crushed a different kind of faith for DRDs
It is important to note that activists in places like Egypt and Lebanon were campaigning tirelessly while also facing a financial collapse, which should not be seen as isolated incidents but reflect a much larger problem of financial corruption and instability in the region.
Issues like inflation, currency depreciation, and financial anxiety, and similar issues continue to be on the mind of digital rights defenders in countries like Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Algeria, Iran, and beyond.
2023 Forecast for the Middle East and North Africa
The Year of Possibilities
For many, 2023 seems to hold a lot of possibilities. The year marked a moment in which 2011 Arab uprisings nostalgia was met with the raw grief of the present and the future. But instead of focusing on the non-presence of protests in some parts of the region, digital rights defenders were focusing more on the question of sustainability of their movements and organizations
Financial concerns and rising authoritarianism created a sense of precarity, prompted digital rights defenders to consider alternative ways of being and working with one another.
Financial anxiety revolves around the cost of internet connectivity and also how they receive and use their income, and what that income means in their context.
Typically, DRDs in the region work for multiple organizations and are increasingly reliant on the gig economy. Many are hoping for more contextualized approaches to fair work, and are building out various initiatives to assist in dealing with extremely difficult situations, ranging from mapping out ways to securely pay workers in the region to increasing mutual aid available for marginalized communities.
These initiatives need to be documented and archived as part of the movement and the collective work and not merely a survival mechanism.
Conclusion
Where do we go from here?
Sandy Ordonez
Head of Team
Enjoy the sounds of ocean waves from Nazare in Portugal, one of the largest waves in the world. Its intense waters are a reminder that even during the most scariest moments, there is beauty.
The world is currently in turmoil. We see it everyday when reading the news, talking to our social networks, or even walking in our neighborhoods. When this happens, the work of human rights defenders doubles because they are the ones on the frontlines, doing the best that they can with limited resources.
It feels like being a speck of sand in a turbulent ocean.
For Internet Freedom and digital rights defenders, witnessing the current socio-political winds is even harder because they can see into the future.
Via their formation, they have already taken the red pill and understand the far reaching impact the Internet and technology will have on human rights and civil society in the decades to come. Most importantly, they clearly see the real life impact this will have on the lived experiences of all of us, regardless of what country, communities, or background we come from.
How do you fight adversaries that, through weaponizing technology against you, know who you are, what you are going to do before you even do it, and collect your personal data to use it against you. In addition, how do you fight these adversaries when the community tasked with protecting societies from these threats - the digital rights community - is an emerging field, with young organizations, who continue to be under-resourced, and are now facing a mounting burnout epidemic.
Looking at this context, the next question is “where do we go from here? What can truly be done?”
This is
a multi generational fight.
A few weeks ago, I heard the only words that to-date truly helped me make sense of and contextualize the situation, which were shared by Matt Mitchell of Cryptoharlem: “This is a multi generational fight. This will not be resolved in our lifetime.” His wisdom, based both on reality and hope, was what I needed to hear at that moment.
It reminded me of the importance of investing in future leaders; of the change in perspective I need to make in thinking in 30- year versus 1-year blocks. And, most importantly, it reminded me that decision makers need to set realistic expectations of what can be accomplished by our teams. We can’t sugar coat the current realities but we can all strive to be like the meme sensation Dogg Face, and accept every situation with grace, practicality, and joy.
However, I was also reminded that when millions of specks of sand are combined, they create dunes that protect flora from the effects of turbulent waters. It's the time now to build those dunes together, knowing that future generations will benefit from those constructions, and will have an easier time creating impact from where we leave off.
