Program 2018

In the 2018 edition of the Mobile Social Congress, the first day will be dedicated to solutions from the social and solidarity economy for recycling and reusing electronic products. We’ll also hold a Restart Party, where a team of repairers will help registered participants lengthen the lives of their broken electronic devices.

In addition, we’ll talk about technological sovereignty from a feminist point of view, we’ll discuss how experiences and initiatives can be built to develop freedom, autonomy and social justice in technology. Along these lines, we’ll debate on the transformational capabilities of technological tools with open licences, and the role of women in this process. A specific workshop will provide clues on how to protect our security online.

We’ll interview Som Connexió to find out how the telecommunications services offered by this non-profit cooperative have evolved.

On the second day of the Mobile Social Congress, we’ll denounce the negative impacts of mining, a process essential to obtaining the raw materials for electronic devices. We’ll look at how it impacts the rights of women and the environmental rights of affected Latin American communities, through testimony from two activists from Bolivia and Ecuador. In a workshop, we’ll talk about the Congo and we’ll look at the role of civil society in the war over natural resources the country is experiencing.

In addition, regarding the working conditions at the factories producing electronics, we’ll focus especially on flagrant violations of safety rules regarding the use of toxic chemical products without adequate protection, and the serious impact this is having on workers’ health. We’ll talk about multiple petitions from civil society aimed at Samsung and Apple, some of which also address workers’ miserable wages and their lack of real freedom of association. A specific workshop will guide us through a campaign organized on the 10^th anniversary of the production of iPhones in Foxconn’s Chinese factories.

The interview with the Scottish university consortium APUC will provide a glimpse of the work they’ve done together with Electronics Watch to improve the conditions at factories through public contracting.

This is the complete PROGRAM, including the different panels, interviews and workshops that will take place: