Manifesto
Our manifesto contains the principles that guide our work.
v1.0
Our basic principle
1. True solidarity can only be universal
We reject any moral justification of material inequality. Instead, caring for each other and caring for everyone’s needs must be at the centre of social systems. Technologies that serve the needs of everyone require a radically feminist, anti-fascist and decolonial perspective.
The context of digital technologies
2. Digital technologies are never neutral
Digital technologies reflect the political and economic conditions in which they are developed and put to use. Critiquing and changing these technologies must go hand in hand with critiquing and changing the conditions of which they are part.
3. Digital systems are built to concentrate power
Current digital technologies are systematically used to enclose knowledge. They do so via economic and technical means (e.g. by reinforcing network effects) or legal means (e.g. through data regulation and intellectual property design). Instead, digital systems should contribute to a diverse representation of and access to knowledge in order to distribute power.
4. Laws do not equal justice
The law can be a just arbiter of social conflict, but it is also a tool for oppression and injustice because it has been shaped to legitimise structural privileges and the accumulation of power in the hands of a few. Hence, the compliance with current laws such as digital regulation is not a sufficient indicator of whether actions are socially just or legitimate.
5. Fruitful debate requires dismantling captured concepts
With labels like “free internet” and “innovation”, democratic control of technology and its use has been avoided. This has mostly benefited technology corporations that portrayed themselves as progressive social forces. Such framings must be analysed, deconstructed and rejected.
Transforming & transformative digital technologies
6. Public interest requires democratic control
Private ownership of digital systems puts the extraction of profit over public interest. The digital infrastructures underlying these systems should be transformed into radically needs-based and democratically controlled infrastructures. For this, it is necessary to democratise, collectivise and dismantle.
7. Collective control goes beyond digital rights
Digital rights constrain the use of technologies in order to protect individuals from corporate and state abuse. While this is important, individuals in their roles as citizens or consumers will not be able to develop meaningful counter-power. More collective protection and empowerment is needed to change the social and economic conditions that technologies are part of.
8. Digital technologies should serve to democratise our social systems
Digital technologies can contribute to a democratic and egalitarian future. They can empower communities to democratically manage resources and fulfill needs in addition to or instead of profit-oriented and market-based economic systems. We are committed to actions that push the discourse and the practice in that direction.