Date: Saturday, 30 May
Time: 13:00 till 17:00
Location: Varia, Gouwstraat 3

Continuing the Miscalculating Risk series, this session focuses on how technology enables the surveillance of communities at both national and global scales, and, crucially, how we can collectively organise to sever the links and ties between universities and companies producing violent technologies.

In recent years, the relationship between everyday technologies and the military-industrial complex has become increasingly visible, particularly in the context of the Israeli army’s technological infrastructure and its ongoing deployment and maintenance. Evidence continues to mount showing the willing participation of companies such as Microsoft, CACI, and others in supporting military operations and the genocide in Gaza, exposing the mechanisms of imperialism and colonisation embedded within corporate tech systems. Importantly, the same tools and their operational logic are deployed in civilian environments, including workplaces and institutions such as universities.

In this session, we will explore initiatives that organise, research, and campaign to dismantle this infrastructure of violence at the intersection of technology and surveillance. Taking a hands-on approach, we will experiment with strategies for exposure, resistance, and even forms of glamorous refusal. We believe that students and researchers have the power to challenge authoritarian tech infrastructures.

This workshop is facilitated by Cristina Cochior, Sofia Boschat-Thorez, Sanne Stevens, and Antye Guenther, with the support of SocTalk.

Soctalk is a junior staff initiative within the Department of Public Administration and Sociology at Erasmus University Rotterdam. The collective organizes workshops and courses both inside and outside the university. Soctalk aims to foster a culture of care that critically engages with institutional structures, while redistributing and collectivizing resources to support communities and initiatives in the city of Rotterdam.