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When Donald Trump gained the keys to the most sophisticated surveillance architecture in the world, it was a wake up call for many to acknowledge what communities of color have known all along: our right to resist is under attack.
Activists of color have long been aware that protecting our data isn’t about privacy, it’s about power; and that the safest community is an organized community.
As organizations deeply embedded in movements for Black lives, immigrant rights, indigenous sovereignty, gender justice, economic equity, disability rights and more — MediaJustice and May First/Peoples Link recognized that our best contribution towards keeping communities organizing for justice safe was to provide activists at the greatest risk of surveillance with culturally relevant digital safety tips, tools and support from our closest movement security allies.
Defend Our Movements is a web based clearinghouse of the most up-to-date and useful information about protecting your devices and data—whether on the Internet, through cell phone communications, or in your home or office.
Given the challenges movements for civil and human rights face, we need immediate and effective digital self-defense strategies. Given the way governments and corporations are willing to disrupt those communications (and steal the information being transmitted), we need data protection. Given the overwhelming amount of protection projects and software available, we need clear information about data security and how to apply it in a way that maintains the values and strategies of our movements.
Brought to you by the MediaJustice, May First Movement Technology, and diverse movement technologists and activists, Defend Our Movements seeks to fill these needs.
How to Use
This is your site. Use it, explore it, and, most of all, let us know how we can improve it. If you want to ask a question about available resources and how to use them, please use our question form (which is linked throughout the site). If we think there’s an answer in our knowledge base that can help you, we’ll point you to it. If not, we’ll write an answer and add it to the library (and let you know … with thanks).
Movement security encompasses many political trends, sometimes contradictory, sometimes contextual based on identity or social position – but the resources and advice found on this site are constantly vetted by a team of movement technology partners across a variety of trends, with primary content management by May First/People Link.
For suggestions about what we have here, how we organize it, or what we should add (as well as for any other administrative issues), reach out to us via our contact page.
Please Note: This website is an ever-evolving resource and meant to be a starting point for your research. But the articles and links featured here are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. If you need specific legal help, please contact a lawyer licensed to practice in your area to get the appropriate assistance.