Zacate Congrejo: Una herramiento para la organización social de movimientos sociales

Movements that successfully challenge state or corporate power will face surveillance and repression. As online organizing becomes common place, the choice of tools social movements use is critical. The internet may herald a deep change in democratic communication, but the internet is simultaneously the most effective tool for mass surveillance ever devised. Corporations like facebook and google monitor you closely in order to sell you to advertisers. We think their model poses a grave threat to social movements and have been busy creating Crabgrass, a secure alternative to for-profit social networking and organizing platforms. We would like to present Crabgrass, get feedback, and talk about the tools you use and what tools you wish you had.

The workshop will be in three parts.

1) quick introduction to crabgrass – how it was built and why we think its important

2) A longer presentation of crabgrass in action. We will have crabgrass running live and will show you what it can do and how people are using it.

3) Feedback section from the presentation, conversation with current users of crabgrass, and a conversation on what tools you use and which ones you would like to see developed.