Cameras on the street are an everyday reality. We hear more and more stories about welfare fraud algorithms flagging parents, or about youth getting in trouble because of social media posts. We see police drones hovering above protests, facial recognition cameras scanning crowds and digital borders being enforced wherever we are. At the same time, the police are getting more and more power and resources to fulfill its very duty of social control. New technologies at the hands of the police turn into tools of criminalisation of marginalised communities and dissidents. It is hard to understand the extent to which we are under surveillance by new policing technologies, how this affects our everyday realities and what this means for organising. How do we make sense of all these developments and how can we grapple with the impact of these technologies? How can we build on our experiences of organising for social justice to build resistance against new forms of surveillance? How can we seek alternative paths towards justice and safety while refusing control?
In this workshop, we will host a conversation departing from these questions, seek ways to deter police tech harms and get inspired on potential ways of coordinated organising around the issue.
The aims of the workshop
- Unpack and investigate the use of new policing technologies in The Netherlands
- Expand knowledge on historical and context specific roots of policing and tech
- Analyse how to engage with the issue within social justice organising
- Explore practical tactics and strategies for disrupting tech harm
- Build relationships with a diverse set of organisers at national level
The central ideas and practices that we will explore
- Racialised criminalisation and surveillance
- Data-driven policing
- Historical and contextual analysis
- Police and prison abolition
- Dissecting policing tools and power mapping
- Framework of Algorithmic Ecology
- Collective strategising and community power
Who is it for?
This workshop is rooted in an intersectional, abolitionist and decolonial analysis of systemic injustice. The method of the workshop – designed and delivered by the Justice, Equity and Technology Table – is participatory, practice-based and centering lived experiences of racialised communities. You don’t need to have previous knowledge on policing and surveillance technologies. Anyone who is engaged in diverse movement roles working towards a just world can attend.
