Tech Learning Collective

Technology education for radical organizers and revolutionary communities.

  • September 7, 2019 12:30 PM – September 7, 2019 1:45 PM
  • 239 Thompson Street New York NY 10012 United States
  • Status: CONFIRMED

Free or donation-based!

Event description

The Tech Learning Collective is excited to collaborate with Shift-CTRL Space in facilitating Network the Revolution: Building Alternative Internets. In this presentation/discussion group hybrid, we will briefly discuss the concept of alternative networking for the purpose of self-hosted, unsurveillable communications, the digital library project as fronted by Shift-CTRL, how Shift-CTRL uses Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) to organize themselves, the process of de-/re-programming Capitalist rhetorics on digital technology, and whatever else should happen to spontaneously arise:

Our situation today is this: every time we use the Internet, we are forced to accept that we are using the surveillance engine of advanced Capitalism in the Necrocene, a corporate-supported machine that consumes everything in its sights for the purpose of re-packaging it as benign. Situated at the brink of total climate collapse, the disenfranchised continue to be given insipid promises that in the Automation Revolution, “learning to code” at a “bootcamp” will set them free.

As Anarchists, we recognize the nature of this false promise from the quicksand on which it is based.

Revolutionaries in the West have either forgotten, corrupted, or else have never had a chance to find out what it might be like to harness the efficacy of digital technology for the benefit of radical social movements; many have abandoned the idea that this is even worthwhile.

But there has actually never been a better time to revisit this assumption: hardware has never been more superfluous and less expensive, with brand new, fully functional computers costing $35 and running Free and Open Source Software, and the prevalence of overlay networks like Tor eking further into the public conscious.

There is no chance now of reclaiming the mainstream Internet in its entirety (and perhaps there never was such a chance). But there has never been more opportunity than right now to create new systems, new internets, informed by new perspectives and approached holistically, for the purposes of revolutionary praxis.

Shift-CTRL, a radical queer semi-elusive hacklab based in New York City, has plunged headfirst into the margins of this electronic dreamland with vicious dedication to the ideal of better potentials for organizing radical spaces, and are peering out now to talk about its humble beginnings and the state of a new intranet connecting radical spaces in the City.

This presentation will take place at 12:30 PM in the Garden room.

As with all Tech Learning Collective events, racism, queerphobia, transphobia, sexism, “brogrammer,” “manarchist,” or any kind of similarly awful behavior will result in immediate removal from class without a refund. Please refer to our lightweight social rules for details on our strictly enforced no-tolerance policy against bigotry of any kind.

About Shift-CTRL Space

We are anti-(techno)capitalists, solarpunks, and radical technologists. Our ethics place us against “Adtech,” “Fintech,” and Silicon Valley. We believe technology is an intangible earth, with which we can and should have an earthly relationship. It is power that we can harness through holistic methods as individuals and cooperative networks for the empowerment of oneself and of one’s actual communities. Our approach stands in contrast to isolationism, sterility, and authoritarianism by being participatory, flexible, and adaptive.

About Tech Learning Collective

Tech Learning Collective is an apprenticeship-based technology school that trains politically self-motivated individuals in the arts of hypermedia, Information Technology, and radical political practice. We offer unparalleled free, by-donation, and low-cost computer classes on topics ranging from fundamental computer literacy to the same offensive computer hacking techniques used by national intelligence agencies and military powers (cyber armies). For more information and to enroll, visit TechLearningCollective.com.

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