Welcome to ReOrganized

Welcome to the first issue of ReOrganized, a newsletter for organizers like us to talk about how tech expands and constricts the work of building people power. Through ReOrganized, we’ll consider how tech shapes your organizing and campaigning work.

What do we mean by tech? Well, it’s not just about “Big Tech”; here, tech means the internet + broadband infrastructure, surveillance technology, algorithmic decision-making, and more. Feeling overwhelmed? That’s OK. If you’re an organizer who isn’t sure how you feel about tech beyond a hatred for Jeffrey Bezos, you’re in the right place.

We are living through an era of wild technological innovation that has upended our lives. We navigate the world through a blinking cursor, listen to music from endless AI-generated playlists, sign viral petitions to “end inequality” directed at no one, and get emails from countless politicians begging for us to “rush a $5 donation before midnight.”

Tech has changed how we live, and it has also profoundly changed how we fight for political power. ReOrganized is here to get organizers together to talk about all of that. Let's dig in.

Tech accelerates structural inequities

On every issue organizers care about, tech plays a role. Let’s look at reproductive care. In our post-Roe reality, the internet is the place where many, if not most, people turn to find information on accessing reproductive healthcare. 

But the problem is this: the companies that run the biggest parts of the internet — Google and Meta — have made policy and tech design choices that aid and abet the restriction of abortion access. 

In November, Kairos published User Error: The Internet Post-Roe, a report digging into the decisions Google and Meta have made since the overturn of Roe v. Wade. From allowing disinformation to stay online to handing over our data to police, these companies have made it harder to get reproductive care and made it more difficult for organizers to support communities and to win campaigns.

Organizing people in the internet era

At Kairos, we draw connections between tech and movements because we know it will strengthen our campaigns and our organizing practice. For years, Kairos has worked with powerbuilding partners to break the walls of anonymity of our digital lives and find new ways to build with our communities online to win political power.

How is your team navigating organizing challenges using technology? Does tech feel like an opportunity or an obstacle to building politically powerful bases of people? How did tech affect your organizing or mobilizing in 2022?

If you're asking these questions, you have great timing (!) because the Kairos Organizing team is launching our first Learning Lab next month. The Lab is designed to help you bring strong digital strategy to your organizing work, and we’d love for you to join us. Click here to learn more and join the Lab.

We would love to hear from you. If this brought up a thought, disagreement, or question, send us an email or leave a comment and we’ll respond.

Until tech works for all,

Sandhya 

Director of Learning & Analysis, Kairos