Taharar! writes:

Taharar! Concept Paper
http://www.taharar.org

Taharar! ["liberate yourself!" in Arabic] is an autonomous project that aims to empower individuals, collectives, and groups working on issues of social justice in West Asia and North Africa by providing them with alternative communication and technical services, information, resources, and support. Taharar!'s vision is to combat the digital censorship prevalent in West Asia and North Africa by providing an accessible pool of resources in local languages (including Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, Kurdish, etc.) that people to create democratic alternatives by controlling their own secure means of communications through the use and proliferation of free, open source software and technologies.Taharar! places itself alongside other revolutionary tech collectives (such as riseup.net, resist.ca, among others) whose purpose is to aid in the creation of a free society - a world with freedom of expression and freedom from want, a world without oppression or hierarchy, where power is shared equally - by providing communication and computer resources to allies engaged in struggles against capitalism and other forms of oppression.


        * We value, support, and engage in struggles for human liberation, the ethical treatment of animals, and ecological sustainability. We join in the fight for freedom and the self-determination of all oppressed groups. We oppose all forms of prejudice, authoritarianism, capitalism, and vanguardism.

        * We organize on the basis of autonomy, mutual aid, resource sharing, participatory knowledge, social advocacy, anti-oppression work, community creation, and secure communication.

        * We work to create revolution and a free society in the here and now by building alternative communication infrastructure designed to oppose and replace the dominant system.

        * We promote social ownership and democratic control over information, ideas, technology, and the means of communication.

        * We empower organizations and individuals to use technology in struggles for liberation. We work to support each other in overcoming the systemic oppression embedded in the use and development of technology.

Taharar!'s Goals


        * Promote the use and knowledge of Free and Open Source software in West Asia and North Africa by making tools and resources available in local languages through the collection and translation of existing material. To achieve this, Taharar will coordinate and collaborate with F/OS communities and tech collectives around the world.

        * Combat digital censorship in West Asia and North Africa by providing the tools and knowledge necessary for people to control their own means of communications and subvert government and state-imposed censorship.

        * Promote civil rights and liberties, particularly digital rights and the right to digital privacy

        * Offer infrastructures of communication and technology (email, listersevs, web hosting, etc.) that people from the region can benefit from.

        * Create a network of activists throughout the region committed to furthering the goals and aims of Taharar!

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You can contact Taharar! at: taharar[AT]riseup[DOT]net