Solidarity and Disruption Collective Organizing In Computing II

ABSTRACT This workshop responds to the incredible growth of corporate tech power - including during a deadly pandemic - and the growing need for tech workers of all stripes (including researchers/academics) to build grassroots power. This workshop’s twinned themes of solidarity and disruption acknowledge that solidarity is vital but not sufficient to enact the structural changes we need. Disruption— in the form of sit-ins, strikes, refusal, and direct action—has become a necessary condition in the face of technology corporations’ greed-driven expansion towards militaristic, techno-totalitarian futures. In this one-day workshop, we will bring together tech workers, researchers and activists from academia, industry, and community-based organizations to extend conversations that we began in two workshops last year. We will further explore avenues and approaches for action, particularly to support practitioners’ and activists’ objectives, and connect participants with concrete opportunities for on-the-ground action.