The lack of women, queer, trans and diversity in technological fields in general and hacking more specifically is acute. To change this state of affair, critical approaches towards technologies, the tech/hacking culture, among others are needed. Looking at gender issues is admittedly important, but we must compound it with an intersectional analysis to be truly cognisant of existing systems of oppressions. An intersectional approach requires all of us to engage with the diversity of cultures, social status, sexual orientations, ethnicities and other power structures that create various forms and levels of inequality (in access, design, usability, hacking potential, etc.) for different individuals.
Moreover, we believe that to have more feminist and post-colonial activists and practitioners at the forefront of the use and development of liberation and (free)dom technologies requires safe spaces to ignite desires! The THF will focus on doing just that: triggering this desire towards feminist and post-colonial approaches to technology that foster differences, autonomy, liberation and social resistance. To start this process of liberating ourselves from capitalist and patriarchal technologies we will need to push a bit more the boundaries of technologies. Besides, let’s not forget that everybody is an expert in relation to the technologies they use in their everyday life. And as we consider gender as one of the most pervasive social technologies ever created, we bet that everybody has a lot to share on this topic too!
As THFers, we believe we are now at a New Dawn where feminist and post-colonial technological resistance is arising. Join us in creating a venue for women, queer and trans feminist and post-colonial activists to learn, share and connect on technical, theoretical and performative issues with the long-term goal of liberation and autonomy. Join our forces in challenging the systems of oppression we encounter on a day-to-day basis. Let’s not forget that this feminist and post-colonial technological resistance is part of the many demonstrations and struggles that continue to happen all over the globe whether virtually or physically. We as citizens and communities continue to organize against different systems of oppression be it: the so called “austerity” measures, financial system bankruptcy, mass surveillance, infringement on privacy rights, governmental and business appetite for our (meta) data, witch hunts to rule our bodies, criminalization of our reproductive rights, etc.
In supporting THF you contribute in accelerating this trend by providing the conditions as well as the collective, supporting and supportive environment for a feminist post-colonial technological resistance to emerge. Together we will not just reclaim, but take the opportunity to use and develop liberation technologies in a fostering, caring and nurturing environment as far as possible from patriarchal and capitalist behaviours, thoughts and actions.
We are building this from the ground up! Come and join us in imagining, crafting and developing the “opting out” button(s) for feminist and post-colonial resistance.
More concretely at THF we will address the following questions:
How to develop resilient infrastructure for the commons through processes that positively impact the whole ecosystem?
How to set up feminist operating systems. Intriguing? Yes, it is! Come find out what it implies.
How to develop feminist security and privacy in a post-Echellon and Snowden world.
How to set up feminist servers for hosting what businesses and/or governments identify as “controversial” material on the www.
How to hack or bend gender!
An much, much more!