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Unplug Technofascism!

Mainstreamed digital technologies and the forces behind them are a direct threat to our planet, our lives and our dignity. As citizens around the world observe with apprehension how our fundamental rights, democracies and natural ecosystems are eroded by big tech companies and complicit governments, Code Rouge is joining the fight against technofascism.

Another technology is possible, but we must act NOW. Our future is being decided as you read these lines.

The tech industry is destroying human lives

The tech industry is deeply embedded within the military-industrial complex, and stands shoulder to shoulder with states engaged in imperialist violence. Their algorithms control autonomous weapons systems which are used for the indiscriminate slaughter of human beings in armed conflicts around the world, including the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The same technologies are deployed for mass surveillance and authoritarian repression, particularly migrants, asylum seekers, racialised communities, trans people, people seeking abortions, people who speak out against the genocide of Palestinians, and anyone that opposes states’ authoritarian policies. Governments use algorithms to shed accountability for their violence and discrimination by making it seem “scientific” and “rational”.

Instead of creating freedom and economic security, digital technologies are destroying working conditions around the world through new forms of automation and labour exploitation, turning ever more people into gig workers with increasing precarity. The algorithms themselves are built from massive intellectual property theft and exploitation of low-paid workers in the Global South. Platforms and algorithms are also an ideological weapon: a giant propaganda machine for advancing the racist, sexist, genocidal worldview of ruling elites, reinforcing historic racism, promoting anti-feminist and queerphobic discourses, and censoring anti-war, anti-genocide, anti-fascist narratives. The algorithmic mediation of society through social media platforms and chatbots causes immense social damage. These technologies alienate and manipulate people while at the same making them addicted and dependent. This causes the breakdown of social relations and solidarity, which only strengthens the ruling elites.

The tech industry is destroying the planet

Behind the algorithms that are destroying human life lies a massive physical infrastructure that is destroying the planet. Tech infrastructure consists of a vast global network of mines, undersea cables, satellites, data centres, power stations and consumer devices. This system consumes huge quantities of resources, causes immense ecological damage, and is entirely dependent on deeply entrenched colonial systems of exploitation.

Digital infrastructure requires huge amounts of land. Often this land is acquired through exploitative mechanisms which displace local residents and farmers, and destroys ecosystems. The hardware that runs the algorithms consumes huge amounts of electricity, often from fossil fuels. This puts local grids under strain, exacerbates the energy crisis, and accelerates the climate catastrophe. Huge amounts of water are required for mining operations, chip production, and cooling systems. This causes water tables to drop and creates water scarcity for local communities while intensifying climate and environmental issues. The huge quantities of rare earth minerals (lithium, cobalt and copper) for batteries, servers and consumer devices, are obtained from mining operations across Africa, Asia and South America. Their extraction often involves child labour, dangerous working conditions and environmental devastation. These critical minerals, which take billions of years to form in the earth’s crust, are used for chips which have a lifespan of just 1 to 2 years. The entire system generates mountains of toxic waste which gets dumped in the Global South causing ecological and social devastation for local communities.

Big tech is a Trojan Horse for technofascism

The immense damage to people and planet caused by the tech industry is legitimised by a twisted ideology. It insists that unregulated acceleration of technological development is a moral imperative and the divine right of the tech billionaires. They believe that technology can, and will, solve all the world’s problems so long as tech CEOs have the power to do whatever they like. They see human beings, nature, and society as programmable machines to be "optimised" by technocratic elites. This worldview harbours the fundamentally racist (eugenicist) conviction that human intelligence can be quantified and automated. The tech industry spreads their ideology through media corporations, think tanks, and politicians, which they influence using their enormous lobby power. False narratives about “efficiency”, “competitiveness” and “growth”,...