Bread&Net 2020 Themes
With unprecedented challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and recent catastrophes in our region, the last of which was the Beirut Port explosion, digital rights are under threat. Already, our new reality has impacted the digital economy, shifted the conversation around surveillance, and presented new opportunities for governments to censor online speech. In the MENA region in particular, weak legal protections have made it easier for governments to further encroach on our digital rights.
For Bread&Net 2020, we will be focusing on how these events are changing the conversation around digital rights, across five main themes.
For Bread&Net 2020, we will be focusing on how these events are changing the conversation around digital rights, across five main themes.
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Policy and Advocacy in Difficult Contexts
The online civic space is a shrinking, increasingly surveilled sphere, subject not only to the policies of governments, but to those of private sector companies and tech platforms. Given these complex circumstances and the impact of COVID-19, what are the opportunities to push for positive policy change in our region? Topics Include: Business and human rights, Dis/misinformation in context of conflict and dictatorship, Regional policy trends, Platform accountability, Digital identification, Governance and control of internet infrastructure, Research with minimal access to information, Civic engagement in the digital age: the importance of tech in campaigning, social movements, and legislative change. |
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Digital Security Education and Practice
There are a number of approaches to educating users on digital security, but doing so in a way that supports long-term digital resilience and safety is an ongoing challenge, especially during emergencies and crises. How are communities creating structures of support, mutual learning, and solidarity? How can we facilitate such structures? And what are the urgent threats faced by individuals and organizations in the region? Digital security is a culture that is integrated into our daily practices. How can we promote this culture? Topics Include: Training methodologies, Collaboration and knowledge sharing, Organizational security, Emerging regional threats, and potential ways in responding rapidly, Secure communication and circumvention tools, Online security of political groups and activists. |
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Resilient Communities
COVID-19 changed the way we organize and communicate online. Global lockdowns and curfews have moved much of our work online, and this new landscape of digital labor will leave many people jobless and more vulnerable. Regionally, there has also been a rise in violence and hate speech against marginalized groups, who are forced to navigate a digital sphere that is dominated by censorship, state policing, and religious and ideological fundamentalism. How do these challenges manifest in online spaces, and how can these communities thrive, resist and care for themselves? What sort of practices can communities adopt (or shape) to maintain digital environments which support their free, authentic self-representation and expression? Topics Include: Vulnerable groups at risk in the time of COVID-19, Tolerance and religious freedom, Hate speech from online to offline, Sex and sexuality online, Holistic health and self-care, Online gender and identity based violence, At-risk communities and tech , Supporting and sustaining online networks and communities. |
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Tech-knowledgy
In the aftermath of the explosion at Beirut port on August 4th, locals immediately turned to a range of technologies and platforms to share life-saving information, call for aid, express grief or rage, assemble volunteers or protestors, collect data, fundraise online, and document and archive the damage caused. Digitization has clearly had a profound impact on our modes of expression, communication and governance in both times of crises and peace. It also plays a significant role in the evolution of the modern Arab identity, allowing us to explore, practice, construct, preserve and disseminate our cultural narratives both locally and globally. On a broader level, digitization also provides new avenues for applied research on these very developments. How can we as artists, academics, activists, journalists, internet researchers, and others leverage these tools and platforms to sustainably promote access to information and open culture in the face of a wide range of barriers, including national disasters, censorship, language restrictions, content moderation, and intellectual property rights? Topics Include: Technology and catastrophe, Language and localization, Documentation and archiving, Online education practices, Copyright and intellectual property challenges, Open data practices. |
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Autonomous Alternatives
The consecutive crises that hit our region, including government mismanagement of local economies, COVID-19, revolutions and uprisings have forced us to rethink the tools that we rely on in our everyday lives. This is compounded by our previous concerns around surveillance. What alternative forms of technology and communication can we adopt to restore agency over our digital selves? Topics Include: Democratic practices and decentralization, Open-source and community-developed technology, Communications and management platforms, Alternative media, Internet access and infrastructure, Tools for organizing during emergencies or revolutions. |
Bread&Net is an Arabic-language unconference that will strengthen efforts across the MENA region to defend human rights in digitally networked spaces.
Why Bread&Net?
Over the past decade, civil society has become dependent on access to digital networks and tools. In the MENA region, however, the advantages these networks and tools afford have been mitigated by increasingly restrictive laws, scaled-up mass surveillance, disinformation campaigns, and crackdowns on online freedom of expression. The resulting constriction of civic space has all but neutralized advocacy for digital rights. Bread&Net will reactivate and renew an existing yet latent network of multidisciplinary stakeholders by offering an open and safe space from which to devise strategies and tactics that respond to these challenges.
Why Bread&Net?
Over the past decade, civil society has become dependent on access to digital networks and tools. In the MENA region, however, the advantages these networks and tools afford have been mitigated by increasingly restrictive laws, scaled-up mass surveillance, disinformation campaigns, and crackdowns on online freedom of expression. The resulting constriction of civic space has all but neutralized advocacy for digital rights. Bread&Net will reactivate and renew an existing yet latent network of multidisciplinary stakeholders by offering an open and safe space from which to devise strategies and tactics that respond to these challenges.
