Movement Technology For Movement Success

Talk given at #ColorOfSurveillance at Georgetown Law Center in June 2017

Transcript

1. Movement Technology For Movement Success Ken Montenegro, JD Technology Director, Advancing Justice Los Angeles National Vice President, National Lawyers Guild @kmontenegro
2. About Me Who I Am: Child of migrants Born & raised in a community of migrants Moment of political awakening was anti- Prop 187 work Nonprofit technologist for almost 20 years Extensive experience working with both funded and unfunded groups Professional Affiliations: Technology Director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Los Angeles National Vice President of the National Lawyers Guild Board Member, Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) Board Member, Immigrant Defenders Law Center Co-founder Stop LAPD Spying Coalition
3. Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world. -Archimedes
4. An interdisciplinary approach for migrant rights means academicians, lawyers, organizers, artists, mental health professionals, researchers, AND technologists must be engaged in this struggle at this time.
5. We must stop using siloed approaches to attack structural problems
6. Social movements know that victories are ultimately won through people power; when it comes to leveraging technology, social movements are often skeptical.
7. Social movement’s scepticism of technology is often born from the exclusive nature of technology (both sheer economics & design).
8. At the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, we developed Power, Not Paranoia as a framework to talk about tech & security.
9. Movement technologist are individuals willing to use specialized skills to build relationships with social movements & will go only as far & fast as the movement
10. Applying systems thinking to movement challenges opens the possibility of replicable victories; skill sharing; and relationship building which leads to people power.
11. Using systems thinking also invites movements, and technologists, to look at the historical context & base a response or “solution” that lifts up folks who came before us.
12. At this critical time, movement technologist are needed!
13. Identifying movement technologists also addresses the security fever sweeping the migrant rights/protection movements.
14. Security tangent: trust, infrastructure, process, and intentionality are elements of security and they cannot be outsourced.
15. A movement technologist is more than your lever: they are your comrade, co-conspirator, and factotum.
16. Funder & nonprofit program folks: if you aren’t funding for long-term technology strategy, infrastructure, & staffing, you’re not really funding for long-term data/digital security.
17. Let’s remember that all the skills we can muster for this fight are what will help us win; but the relationships we build along the way will help us remain engaged & innovative.
18. Movement technology is not about creating a religion around “innovation”, “security”, or “disruption”. It’s about creating people power. It’s about advancing the work.
19. Creating a shared understanding & multidisciplinary response is how we can beat back the surveillance juggernaut without sacrificing any communities.
20. “Our awareness in solidarity of this oppression that touches us all is the starting point of a new and necessary impetus for the struggle…. because only struggle will make us free.” -Oscar Lopez Rivera
21. Colophon All images used in this presentation are licensed under a Creative Commons CC0 license. Thank you to organizers across the country who have helped me become a better listener. Make new & bold mistakes, not old & shame-laden ones. I believe that we will win.